Cody Runnels (born June 30, 1985) is an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Cody Rhodes. Runnels is signed to WWE where he wrestles on its SmackDown brand, and is the reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Runnels is the half-brother of Goldust as well as the son of Dusty Rhodes, and worked as a referee in his father's promotion during high school. Runnels started wrestling professionally in 2006, using his real name, wrestling for Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). While situated at OVW, he won various championships, both in tag team and singles competition, including the OVW Heavyweight Championship. He made his WWE television debut on July 16, 2007, under the ring name Cody Rhodes. In December 2007, Rhodes captured his first title with the company, the World Tag Team Championship with Hardcore Holly, and the two held it for six months.
Rhodes formed a secret alliance with Ted DiBiase during 2008. In the course of a match held on June 29 he turned on Holly by switching sides to join DiBiase, with whom he became World Tag Team champion. The new champions dropped their titles in August, only to win them back a week later. Rhodes and DiBiase were joined by Manu shortly afterwards, forming a faction of multi-generation wrestlers, although this alliance was to be short-lived. In January 2009, Rhodes and DiBiase formed a new alliance, The Legacy, with Randy Orton. Rhodes was moved to the SmackDown brand in April 2010, as part of the Supplemental Draft, and won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Drew McIntyre in September of the same year. In August 2011, Rhodes won the WWE Intercontinental Championship, his first singles championship in WWE.
In July 2009, Rhodes became one of the faces of the Gillette "Be a Superstar" advertising campaign, along with Chris Jericho and John Cena. "Be a Superstar" was a four-month long interactive campaign, which featured the wrestlers in numerous videos promoting Gillette Fusion products. In August 2009, Rhodes, along with DiBiase, The Big Show and The Great Khali appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. On May 26, 2010 it was announced that Rhodes would be guest starring in an episode of Warehouse 13 as "Kurt Smoller", a love interest of character Myka Bering. The episode aired in August 2010.
As well as being the son of Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of fellow WWE superstar Dustin Rhodes, who is better known by his ring name "Goldust". He also has a sister, Kristin Ditto, who is a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader. On March 31, 2007 at the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony Runnels and Dustin, inducted their father, Dusty, into the Hall of Fame. He is also the nephew of professional wrestlers, Jerry Sags and Fred Ottman, and the godson of Magnum T.A., another wrestler.
His boots featured a Triforce symbol from the The Legend of Zelda series of video games of which he is a fan; he has stated he replays A Link to the Past yearly. Runnels is also a big comic book fan, and used to wear wrestling gear inspired by Archangel, a character from X-Men. He cites Omega Red and Cyclops as his favorite fictional characters, along with the Inhumans.
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