Cody Rhodes makes history; joins John Cena in coveted group

Cody Rhodes had a successful title defense at Wrestlepalooza 2025, where he retained his Undisputed Title against Drew McIntyre. The American Nightmare now has more to celebrate as he not only topped the 2025 PWI 500 list but also became only the fourth wrestler to secure the top spot in consecutive years.

There's no denying that Cody is currently on a kind of run in WWE that's only reserved for generational talents. 2024 marked the first time Cody Rhodes was placed at number in PWI 500 rankings. He repeated this feat by topping the list this year too, and in the process, joined the likes of John Cena, Bret Hart, and Stone Cold Steve Austin as the only stars to top the list in back-to-back years.

While Cena achieved this in 2006 and 2007, Hart did it in 1993 and 1994, and finally Austin in 1998 and 1999. Going by just how firmly he's placed atop the mountain in WWE, it's safe to say it wouldn't be a surprise to see Cody Rhodes continue this wave of momentum and possibly top the PWI list next year, too.

Vince Russo thinks WWE could pit Jey Uso against Cody Rhodes soon

On a recent edition of Sportskeeda's Legion of RAW, Vince Russo mentioned how Jey Uso, who's been teasing a heel turn, might fully embrace his dark side and go after Cody Rhodes soon. Russo then bemoaned that this might be a result of WWE not having enough contenders left for Cody, forcing them to turn Jey, one of its biggest babyfaces, a heel, just to keep his World Title reign going.

Cody's next match is slated to be against World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel 2025 next month in Australia.

Edited by Arpit Shrivastava