Top 9 Biggest Botches Of Cody Rhodes' Wrestling Career

Cody Rhodes is one of the biggest names in the wrestling world nowadays, having spent years proving himself as a true main event star during his time away from WWE. He worked on all aspects of the business and it has paid off with him now being back in WWE with a prominent position on the card.

However, while the American Nightmare has proven himself as a great worker and a fantastic talker, that doesn't mean there has been perfection from him every night. Throughout his career, there have been mistakes and botches, all of which have helped shape him into the wrestler he is today.

9 Awkward Miz Encounter

Cody Rhodes' return to WWE was a huge deal, and the spotlight was certainly on him throughout that period. That was unfortunate for him when he faced The Miz on Raw because the match was littered with mistakes and issues as the two simply weren't on the same page.

Rhodes had Miz locked in a submission only for him to slip out of it, which they had to awkwardly scramble to save. That was then followed up by Miz trying to sunset flip Rhodes into a pinning combination, which also didn't work out.

8 A Dive Goes Wrong

Cody Rhodes is someone who will happily put his body on the line and take risks, but he is not known for his aerial ability. That was clear at Full Gear when he faced Chris Jericho, because a dive over the top rope ended up causing him a serious injury.

Rhodes went over the top to try and hit Jericho, but he side-stepped the situation to avoid it. Unfortunately, Rhodes rotated too much and couldn't get his hands down, so instead, his head bounced off the metal entranceway and ended up busting him open.

7 Scoop Powerslam Flop

Another issue that Cody Rhodes had with Chris Jericho was far less dangerous in terms of the impact that it had on his health, however, it was arguably even more embarrassing for them both. This took place on AEW Dynamite with Jericho attempting to attack the American Nightmare.

He ran at Rhodes, who was meant to see the situation coming, and hit a scoop power slam to take down the champion. However, the timing was off and as he lifted Jericho the veteran just collapsed onto him, which created an awkward botch.

6 Selling A Missed Kick

There are times in a match when a planned move just doesn't connect as planned, and it is obvious to the fans that this is the case. When that happens the wrestler in question shouldn't oversell it, because that can often bring even more confusion to the situation.

Unfortunately during a tag team match between the Rhodes Brothers and the Lucha Bros, that is what happened. Rey Fenix was supposed to nail Cody with a superkick from behind and it didn't come close, yet Cody sold it massively which didn't look great.

5 Fan Doesn't Want A Gift

Wrestlers always want to engage with a crowd, as building a fanbase is the key situation for anyone in the business. During his AEW career, Cody Rhodes began throwing out his weight belts into the audience each week when he was fired up, giving someone a gift that always went down well.

However, as his character started to be rejected by the audience one week that fun moment ended up in a botch. That's because the fan who caught it threw it back into the ring, setting up an embarrassing situation for the American Nightmare.

4 Confusing Money In The Bank Statement

Whenever a premium live event is announced WWE often has a video package to promote it so people will buy tickets, and when it came to the 2022 Money in the Bank event it was Cody Rhodes who was a part of the marketing. This was a pre-taped video, therefore most people would presume there wouldn't be any mistakes.

However, that wasn't the case because Rhodes strangely announced the winner of the ladder match would headline WrestleMania, which wasn't true. It was something that got forgotten about, but it was certainly an odd and confusing moment at the time.

3 A Flaming Mistake

Cody Rhodes had no problem pushing himself to the extreme throughout his AEW career to try and get over with the crowd. That was clear during a match he had against Andrade El Idolo which featured a flaming table spot to finish the match out in style.

The move was supposed to be damaging for El Idolo, as it was Rhodes who was delivering it. However, they got things slightly off with their spacing and it ended up being Rhodes that took the full brunt of the table bump, effectively burning his own back due to a mistake.

2 Chair Shot Goes Wrong

One of the most famous botches of Cody Rhodes' career took place when Shawn Spears nailed him with a chair shot to the head. These types of situations are rare in modern-day wrestling due to the concussion risk, but this spot was planned ahead of time, and safety measures were supposedly taken.

Regardless of that, it went wrong. Whether it was down to Spears' swing or Rhodes' positioning is unclear, but the impact was severe and brutal. It led to Rhodes bleeding heavily in what was a truly shocking and risky moment from his AEW run.

1 Malfunctioning Entrance

WWE wanted to make Cody Rhodes look like a big deal when he returned to WWE, and that saw him gain a big entrance to help build the excitement. Rhodes would rise from underneath the rampway and then appear, which got the fans pumped as he slowly rose from underground.

Unfortunately, on one episode of Raw as he was rising the technology failed him, creating a botch. The camera focused expecting him to come up only for his head to stop, just peeping out from down below as the lift stopped working leading to him having to awkwardly get himself out.