Cody Rhodes has some special plans for his WrestleMania gear

Cody Rhodes made his "American Nightmare" gimmick famous through his independent run before WWE, which he wants to pay tribute to at the upcoming WrestleMania.

Cody Rhodes has some special plans for his WrestleMania gear

Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 38 (via WWE)

Cody Rhodes’ journey has been one of the most inspiring stories in wrestling in the last decade. From painting his face as Stardust to becoming the American Nightmare, he has had one of the most unbelievable evolutions in pro wrestling. This is why the Grandson of a Plumber has decided to pay homage to the promotions that helped him through his journey.

In his recent interview with Peter Rosenberg on Hot 97, the 2023 Royal Rumble winner revealed his plans for his attire at WrestleMania. Cody said, “Small spoiler, I guess, I was trying to come up with this idea for a weight belt for a very specific P.L.E. or pay-per-view, whatever you wanna call it where I wrote everybody independent promotion I worked at on it, because that was the most important thing I did was this connection with these fans and getting to know them and grassroots and that became really my bread and butter.”

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Cody Rhodes made an impression wherever he went. He made sporadic appearances in up to 30 other wrestling promotions around the world after being released in 2016. The American Nightmare, along with other members of the Elite, created All Elite Wrestling in 2019. The promotion positioned itself as an alternative for mainstream wrestling fans and quickly became WWE’s main competitor. If Cody Rhodes does go through with his plan, it would be exciting to see all the logos of different promotions at a WWE event.

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Related: WWE’s plans for WrestleMania 39 ‘Parody-promos’ reportedly revealed

What other promotions did Cody Rhodes wrestle in?

Cody Rhodes All In
Cody Rhodes wins the NWA World Heavyweight title at All In (via Cody Rhodes’ Twitter)

After he was released from WWE in 2016, Cody continued wrestling under his real name. He initially dropped his second name to make some distinction from his character in WWE. His first match on the independent circuit was at Evolve. The former WWE superstar wrestled all around the world in promotions like WCPW, NWA, IMPACT, NJPW, AEW, ROH, WrestlePro, NEW, IPW: UK, PWG, OTT, AML, RevPro, AAA, and much more.

It was his debut in NJPW, where Cody announced himself as the “American Nightmare.” He also aligned himself with the Bullet Club and eventually became its leader when he overthrew Kenny Omega. During this time, The American Nightmare also won numerous titles, including the top world titles in NEW and ROH. Moreover, he even won the ROH Six Man Tag team championship with the Young Bucks.

Cody Rhodes was also one of the major players responsible for the most newsworthy and historic independent wrestling PPV, All In. The event became the first non-WWE show to sell 10,000 tickets since 1993. Cody himself had a major match at the event, winning the NWA World title. It was an emotional moment for him to hold the title his father had held multiple times. At WrestleMania 39, a similar destiny awaits the Grandson of a Plumber as he will seek to win the WWE Championship, the world title that has always eluded the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes.

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