WWE SmackDown: What Will Cody Rhodes Need to Do to Become World Champion?

Cody Rhodes is going to win a world title at some point in his career. 

I think that just about every wrestling fan can see that he is an extremely talented superstar, and at just 26 years old, he has all the time in the world to win either the WWE or world heavyweight championship down the road. 

That being said, given how quickly Rhodes has progressed to such an elite level, many fans are surprised that he hasn’t already won the big one. 

There have been so many times when the opportunity presented itself for Rhodes to make that leap to world title contention, but for one reason or another, it just didn’t happen. 

This has caused a lot of people to wonder what's holding Rhodes back, and what he needs to do to eventually take that next step and become a world title contender. 

Unfortunately for Rhodes, this is completely out of his hands. 

This is not a matter of whether Rhodes has the talent to get there. He’s made huge strides in the ring, on the mic and as a character, and he is more than deserving of a world title run. 

This is simply a matter of what the creative team, rather than Rhodes himself, must do to ensure that Rhodes becomes world champion. 

In a day and age where top baby faces dominate and almost never lose, it’s not as simple as just becoming the No. 1 contender for either world title. 

Every title in the WWE is held by a baby face at the moment, and as proved by CM Punk and Sheamus, the top-tier baby faces almost never taste defeat. Even when they do, it’s usually in non-title matches in non-clean fashion. 

Rhodes is in a tricky situation here. 

Everything about him, including recently losing the Intercontinental title again, screams that it’s time to move on from the mid-card for good and become a world champion. 

Having said that, if he were to become the No. 1 contender for either world title through traditional means, there’s a strong chance that he would simply end up losing his title shot to Punk, Sheamus or some other top baby face. 

For that reason, Rhodes needs to do what—at least until now—has ensured a world title win.

Rhodes needs to win the world heavyweight championship Money in the Bank match. 

Throughout WWE history, there have been 10 MITB cash-ins, and every single superstar who’s cashed in that briefcase has done so successfully to become world champion. 

That’s a 100-percent success rate, which is much higher than that of winning the Royal Rumble or becoming the No. 1 contender through traditional means. 

You win the Money in the Bank contract, you can pencil it in. You are going to become the WWE or world heavyweight champion. 

That “you” should be Rhodes next month. 

The WWE has got into an annoying phase in which the top superstars are protected at all costs, losing almost exclusively in cheap fashion and almost always retaining the world title. 

One of the few times that a baby face world champion can lose the title and not look weak in the process is if a fellow WWE star cashes in an MITB briefcase after a hard-fought match. 

That’s what Rhodes must, should and (hopefully) will do in 2012. 

He wins the Money in the Bank match in July, waits a while, builds himself up as a credible threat to the world champion and then cashes in to achieve his dream. 

If not, who knows when his world title win will occur. 

The WWE’s protection of its baby faces doesn’t ensure anything, but Money in the Bank is the one thing that does.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.