Born into wrestling royalty in Marietta, Georgia, Cody Garrett Runnels is the son of the legendary “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of Goldust. Wrestling was in his blood from birth, and after winning the Georgia state amateur championship twice in high school, he followed his father and brother into the professional ranks. He debuted in WWE’s developmental system in 2006 and made his main roster debut the following year, spending nearly a decade in WWE building a respectable career as a tag team specialist and Intercontinental Champion — though he never quite broke through to the top of the card. His release in 2016 turned out to be the making of him. Rebranding as “The American Nightmare” on the independent circuit — a deliberate contrast to his father’s “American Dream” nickname — he toured ROH, NJPW and TNA before playing a key role in founding All Elite Wrestling in 2019. AEW gave him the platform he never had in WWE, and he thrived as both a performer and an executive vice president. When he sensationally returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38, he was a changed, fully formed star — and the story he told over the next two years was one of the most compelling in modern wrestling history. At WrestleMania XL, Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns to win the Undisputed WWE Championship, ending Reigns’ record-setting 1,316-day reign. The son of Dusty Rhodes had finally finished the story — and done it in a way his father would have been proud of.