When Cody Rhodes requested and was granted his release from WWE in 2016, the “Grandson of a Plumber” took it upon himself to borrow a page from his father's playbook and blatantly promote himself from a makeup-wearing caricature into an undeniable force with enough star power to headline a brand new promotion on national television.

And the first declaration of his newfound freedom? The list.

That's right, on his way out the door, Rhodes shared a picture of everything he wanted to accomplish on the indies, with everything from future opponents like Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and the Young Bucks, events he wanted to wrestle in like Battle of Los Angeles, and even his desire to have a personal ring announcer, which sort of happened from time to time with his wife, Brandi Rhodes, who became a fixture of his presentation.

When a fan on social media pointed out just how incredible a move Rhodes' list was in hindsight, the “American Nightmare” weighed in on the picture and its implications, celebrating everyone who helped him out along the way.

“It was just a list at first – but with it, I’m very glad we actually walked and not just talked,” Cody Rhodes wrote on social media. “And I remain very lucky so many good folks followed along.”

Though some of the finer details of Rhodes' time away from WWE have been lost to time, with fans barely ever talking about his time in Impact or even his Bullet Club feud against Kenny Omega in Ring of Honor, in the end, if the goal was to go from undesirable to undeniable, it's safe to say Rhodes accomplished his goal with flying colors, as he's now set to headline a WarGames team in the main event of Survivor Series alongside Randy Orton. All things considered, that's about as good as anyone could imagine.

Cody Rhodes has a big fan in this former WCW Champion.

Speaking of Cody Rhodes and the man he's made himself into, Lex Luger recently committed some time to discussing Dusty's son's ascension on his Lex Expressed podcast and where he wants to be come April, the main event of WrestleMania 40.

Say what you will about the match last year but in Lugar's opinion, the match should be inevitable for Rhodes, as he's “got that rizz, man.”

“I hope so. I'm not sure when it'll happen, but I'd love to see it. I am a huge Cody Rhodes fan. He has a sense of the history of the business from his upbringing being a multi-generational wrestler, he respects it, and the way that he carries himself. He's just got, the modern-day term for the new generation, he's got the rizz. He's got it. He's got the confidence and the charisma,” Lex Luger said via Fightful.

“He's got that rizz, man. From his gear that he wears the time and effort that he puts into it… Cody reminds me of the certain guys who just put all that together. So, I'm a huge Cody Rhodes fan. I was switched back and forth [from babyface to heel] in my career. Some people go, ‘Oh, man. They switched it too much,' but I always had that confidence that it's going to be okay, that, ‘I'm a star, I'm going to be okay,' and I feel like no matter what they do with Cody, he's a star and he's going to be just fine. If he gets the rematch, great. If he wins, he wins. If he doesn't, he doesn't. He's becoming one of those generational stars. He's got that confidence in himself and I don't think there's going to be any stopping Cody. He'll be a top star in the wrestling business for as long as he wants to be.”

You know, while it's weird as you-know-what to hear “The Total Package” use words like “rizz,” his assertion is pretty much right on the money, as Rhodes really has established himself as the sort of performer who can headline shows pretty much anywhere in the world, sell a ton of merch on WWE.com, and have children screaming his name whenever he steps into the ring. Sure, he isn't wrestling five-star matches anymore, or at least not as often, as he has just one as a member of WWE versus two in AEW, in a way, being a sports entertainer just seems to fit his personality better than everything else he was going before, as working arenas around the world and connecting to the kids in the crowd is certainly his bag as a red, white, and blue babyface.