Opinion: Could Cody Rhodes Bring Prestige Back To The NWA Championship?
The short answer is yes, but lets look at why.
During this past weekend at the historic 'All In' event, Cody Rhodes defeated Nick 'Magnus' Aldis to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion--winning a title which was previously held by his father, the late great Dusty Rhodes.
Now this is certainly not a dig at Nick Aldis, Colt Cabana, Rob Conway, Blue Demon Jr. or anyone else who has held the NWA Championship in recent years, but the title is no where near as prestigious as it once was. Hell, you could easily argue that it was far more prestigious than the WWE Championship for many years, even during the Hulk Hogan era of the 80's.
But now, that could all change, and thanks to one man, Cody Rhodes. It sounds crazy to say really, one man bringing years of prestige back to a single Championship, but it is not impossible. In a very short space of time, Cody has become one of the most talked about wrestlers, one of the biggest wrestlers, arguably the biggest outside of WWE, and one of the best wrestlers in the world today.
Cody wrestles for both Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, as well as throughout the independent scene. While it remains to be seen if the NWA will align with NJPW in some way, they have had been aligned with ROH since the spring time, which means with Cody as Champion, we may see him defend the Championship with some of the ROH elite and maybe even go that step further, and bring it to Japan also.
These moves would speak volumes for the NWA and the NWA Championship and bring it back into the limelight, back to being seen by Millions of fans worldwide on television again, for the first time since the NWA parted ways with TNA in 2007.
While the like of Nick Aldis, Rob Conway and others all had good reigns with some solid performances, they will all go down in the underrated era for the NWA as most of their matches had a major lack of publicity and recognition. Cody now has the opportunity to wrestle for the NWA Championship in front of thousands and thousands in attendance, and millions watching worldwide.
Being a member of the Bullet Club also adds to the newly found prestige for the Championship, and the possible matches with the Omega's, Okada's, Jay Lethal, Austin Aries and more would bring so much well deserved attention back to the former crown jewel of professional wrestling.
It won't happen overnight, but with his incredible ability, name worth, publicity and future opponents, Cody Rhodes may just make the NWA World Heavyweight Championship the biggest and best Championship in the entire wrestling world. Let's face it, having garnered mainstream media attention with All In, and truly putting forth a wonderful, big fight performance at the event; it'd be hard even for the man's biggest detractors to argue that Cody isn't a big star.
Cody Rhodes is one of the true "stars" in professional wrestling today, and the NWA World Heavyweight title is all set to receive a major boost in terms of credibility owing to the person who currently holds it.