Why Did Cody Rhodes Change His Name?

Longtime fans of WWE star Cody Rhodes will know that the wrestler has gone through several name changes over the course of his career. In the end, he'd wind up regaining control of the name passed onto him by his late father, Dusty Rhodes, though the journey wasn't always easy.

Born Cody Runnels before taking on his dad's stage surname, Rhodes made it into WWE at an early age. He joined the promotion's developmental system in his early 20s before wrestling his first "WWE Raw" match in 2007, days after his 22nd birthday. While he didn't immediately rise to the top of the card, Rhodes was featured regularly in his early years, but former WWE President Vince McMahon saw fit to throw the young man a curveball in 2014.

Rhodes was tasked with adopting the character of Stardust, meaning he'd stop going by the Rhodes name in WWE and would instead dress up in a costume similar to his step-brother, Dustin Rhodes, who performed in WWE as Goldust. Though he did what he was instructed to do, Rhodes later referred to the Stardust character as "awful." He found himself taking part in increasingly silly storylines, eventually leading Rhodes to ask for his WWE release in 2016, which was granted. Sadly, Rhodes wouldn't be able to take his original wrestling name with him – at least not initially.

Because WWE owned the rights to the name Cody Rhodes, when Runnels returned to the independent scene, he chose to simply brand himself as Cody. Thankfully, someone on his team came up with a work-around.

Rhodes' wife, Brandi, was a ring announcer for WWE but was granted her release around the same time as her husband. Because she did not perform in WWE as Brandi Rhodes, she was free to trademark the name herself. Thus began the wrestling partnership of Cody and Brandi Rhodes.

For years following his WWE departure, uncertain speculation floated around as to whether Cody would ever regain his last name. Though it seemed doubtful that WWE would ever give up the trademark after Cody helped create AEW, it happened in 2020. Rhodes was able to reclaim and trademark his name, allowing him to bill himself as Cody Rhodes in the newly-founded promotion.

Perhaps taking note of this act of goodwill, Rhodes later left AEW and returned to WWE in 2022. He's since become one of the company's biggest stars and the first member of the Rhodes family to win a world championship in WWE.