The Time For WWE to Turn Cody Rhodes Heel is Approaching

Pro wrestling fans have heard this one before: It's time for Cody Rhodes to go heel. 

No, really though: This time is different. 

This time, WWE badly needs a spark. The promotion is in an obvious bit of panic as it scrambles around the main-event scenes before WrestleMania. 

Said mad scramble included abruptly putting a title back on Rhodes, tossing him in a main event and having Randy Orton go super-duper violent. 

Who better than Orton to get Rhodes on the heel path?

Think about the compelling story we're talking about here. We've seen Rhodes flirt with heel actions in the past, but never fully commit. He's on the record about thinking that being a babyface in today's pro wrestling environment is actually tougher. 

But the narrative here is king. There's so much history between Orton and Rhodes. Few are better to make this happen. Rhodes, over the build to 'Mania remaining, can sink down into the mud at Orton's level, then fully snap at WrestleMania to secure the win. 

It's hard to mess this up, too. This isn't John Cena turning heel. There's no outside garbage. There are no random Rock appearances before he dips out. There's no Travis Scott. Just two guys with a ton of history, family and personal things to sort out. It doesn't get better than this for a turn. 

Consider the legacy aspect now that we're on the topic of Cena, too. Cena is a GOAT, no doubt. But the lack of a heel turn for the biggest chunk of his career created that mad scramble at the end before he retired to make it happen. He wanted to give fans what they want, and, unfortunately, the heel turn will forever go down as a failure. 

If Rhodes were smart, he'd learn from that. Shifting into an all-timer of a possible sleazy, corporate Homelander-style bad guy for a stretch could be a defining point of his career and it would completely remove any pressure to do so at a later date. 

And by the time it wraps up? Literally, the entire WWE audience would be behind his return to babyface land. In the interim, he would help build the next wave of top guys. 

This won't go as far as saying the landscape of WWE demands a heel Rhodes. 

But it's getting close. 

Look around. Babyfaces are everywhere in WWE. LA Knight is a massive merch-mover who won't fade. There are a ton of kid-centric acts like Danhausen to captivate that part of the audience. 

And then there's Oba Femi, the upstart who literally has children in the stands on these weekly broadcasts doing his strut with him to the ring. He's so hot now that he's getting the Brock Lesnar WrestleMania match. 

Where are the heels? WWE fumbled Gunther's momentum and he's room temperature now. CM Punk is toeing the line, but too popular to be hated no matter what he does. Seth Rollins has done it far too often and is oversaturated. Bron Breakker isn't ready. Roman Reigns is still amazing, but perhaps not full-time. 

To say there's a void Rhodes could step into would be a pretty dramatic understatement. Provided he wants to. 

Recent rumblings hint at a half-measure again. According to Self Made Pro (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats), Rhodes will have more "edge" for the remainder of the build to 'Mania. 

An "edge" that ultimately leads to a loss and more babyface purgatory after 'Mania would be a colossal fumbled opportunity for Rhodes. 

It's been easy to say in the past that Rhodes needs to embrace the heel. But to his credit, WWE needed him where he was and those times might not have been optimal. 

But looking at the landscape of things now in WWE, never mind the career-long angle, now just feels right. And it's Orton: He benefits from being the one to draw it out, too. 

Rhodes is, in many ways, the ultimate pro wrestler. And he's geared to wanting to give fans what they want. Leaving his comfort zone and this one odd sticking point that flies against that idea and going heel is the right call. 

And Rhodes is, in many ways, a superb modern-day wrestler who blurs the lines and makes the media appearances well, too. He's got to see many of these factors and feel the pull, too. 

All Orton needs to do is keep helping him hear the voices, right?