Cody Garrett Runnels is an American professional wrestler popularly known by his ring name Cody Rhodes. He is son of star wrestler Dusty Rhodes and half brother of wrestler Goldust (Dustin Rhodes). He is better known for his finishing moves, Cross Rhodes and The Silver Spoon DDT; and the signature moves Crossbody and Alabama slam in the ring. He was born on 30 June, 1985 in Marietta, Georgia, USA. Cody completed his high school study from Lassiter High School East Cobb, Georgia. Cody began to take wrestling lessons from his father from a very young age. Cody greatest achievement in his school days was when he won the Georgia state wrestling tournament of 189 lb.
Cody Rhodes professional wrestling career began when he signed with WWE and joined WWE’s developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in 2006. Cody teamed with Shawn Spears at OVW and won many tag team matches. They won OVW Southern Tag Team Championship from The Untouchables (Deuce and Domino) on 18 October, 2006. They lost the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship back to The Untouchables on December 6. Cody and Spears regained the championship from The Untouchables on December 20, in Street Fight match. He was also victorious in many single matches and won OVW Heavyweight Championship from Paul Burchill in a House Show.
He made his WWE television debut in the backstage segment of the Raw’s July 2, 2007 episode with his father Dusty Rhodes and wrestler Randy Orton. From this episode he began a storyline with Randy when Randy after introducing him to Cody slapped Dusty showing great disrespect to him. A week later Cody slapped back to Randy Orton. Cody was in the ring for his debut match after moving to main roster of WWE on July 16, where he faced Randy Orton. He lost his debut match to Randy and challenged him again after a week for rematch which too ended with the similar results.
Cody teamed with Hardcore Holly, after he lost three matches to him. Cody gave a very tough competition to Hardcore Holly in those three matches and made several near falls which impressed Holly very much. They made an unsuccessful attempt to win the ‘World Tag Team Championship’ in Survivor series (2007) on 18 November in tag team match against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. Three weeks later Cody (with Hardcore Holly) beat the Lance and Trevor on Raw’s 15th Anniversary special episode to win Tag Team Championship.
Cody turned on Hardcore Holly in Night of Champions (2008) and revealed himself as DiBiase’s partner. Cody dropped the Tag team champion title to Batista and John Cena on Raw’s episode of 4th August. Cody and DiBiase regained the World Tag Team Championship from Batista and John Cena after a week in their rematch. They lost World Tag Team championship to CM Punk (Phillip Jack Brooks) and Kofi Kingston on Raw’s episode of 27 October.
Cody Rohdes, Randy Orton and Ted DiBiase formed an alliance called ‘The Legacy’ in January 2009. Legacy didn’t help Rhodes and DiBiase in winning any title or championship. Legacy helped Randy Orton to win the Royal Rumble 2009 and WWE Championship. Legacy was disbanded in April, 2007 when Cody Rhodes was moved to SmackDown from the Raw.
Cody Rohdes after moving to SmackDown on April 27, 2010 beat John Morrison in his debut match on April 30. Major win for Cody after moving to SmackDown came in Night of Champions when he along with Drew McIntyre defeated Mark Henry and Evan Bourne in Tag Team Turmoil match to won WWE Tag Team Championship.
Cody faces Rey Mysterio on 21 January, 2011 episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown where he injured his nose and remained out of action for about a month. Cody faces Rey Mysterio in WrestleMania XXVII in April, 2011, and defeated him in the singles match.
Cody Rohdes in his ongoing career of wrestling with WWE has so for won the World Tag Team Championship for three times. He has won the OVW Heavyweight Championship and OVW Southern Tag Team Championship twice in beginning of his career. He became the face of Gillete (Safety razor brand of Procter & Gamble) in 2009 and appeared in its video’s campaining the product. He appeared in the guest role in an episode of fantasy, comedy drama Warehouse 13 which was aired on channel Syfy.