The Brotherhood

On the September 2, 2013 episode of WWE's *Raw*, Cody Rhodes was fired after losing to WWE Champion Randy Orton in a non-title match, which Rhodes was forced into after he questioned the company's chief operating officer Triple H's authoritarian rule. Goldust returned the following week and similarly lost to Orton in a non-title match, thus failing to get his half-brother rehired. Eventually, their father Dusty Rhodes returned to *Raw* in an attempt to convince Stephanie McMahon to give his sons their jobs back. Instead, McMahon propositioned that Dusty could choose either one of his sons to receive a job, but not both. Dusty refused and Big Show knocked out Dusty as per McMahon's orders. In return, **the Rhodes Brothers** ambushed Triple H's henchmen the Shield on *Raw*. The next week, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon (later known as the Authority) offered the brothers their jobs back if they could defeat The Shield's Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns (the WWE Tag Team Champions) at Battleground. If they lost, they would never work in WWE again and Dusty would lose his job as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center. All three members of the Rhodes family were then attacked by The Shield, including United States Champion Dean Ambrose. On October 6 at Battleground, the Rhodes Brothers made their debut match as a tag team with Dusty in the corner and defeated Rollins and Reigns to earn their jobs back. Various WWE wrestlers and agents came out to celebrate with the Rhodes family, including Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, and Finlay.

On October 11 on *SmackDown*, the Rhodes Brothers gave The Wyatt Family their first-ever main roster loss. The Rhodes Brothers heaped more misery on The Shield as they defeated Reigns and Rollins in a no disqualification match to win the WWE Tag Team Championship on October 14 on *Raw* after interference from Big Show.

On the following *Raw*, The Shield faced the Usos in a number one contender's match, which ended in a no contest after Ambrose provoked the Rhodes Brothers into interfering. As a result, the Rhodes Brothers faced both the Shield and the Usos in a triple threat tag team match for the titles at Hell in a Cell and successfully retained them. The night after the pay-per-view event, the brothers experienced their first loss as champions to The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) in a non-title match.

In a continuation of their feud against the Authority, on November 11 on *Raw*, the half-brothers defeated Randy Orton in a handicap match. It was announced the following week that at Survivor Series that the Rhodes Brothers would team up with the Usos and Rey Mysterio against the Shield and the Real Americans in the traditional Survivor Series elimination match, but they lost after both were eliminated by Reigns, who was the sole survivor. On November 22 on *SmackDown*, the half-brothers defeated the Real Americans to retain their WWE Tag Team Championship. The Rhodes Brothers were scheduled to face the team of Ryback and Curtis Axel, the team of Rey Mysterio and Big Show, and The Real Americans at Tables, Ladders & Chairs, as they had recently been defeated by each of these teams. Once again, they successfully defended their titles.

On January 3, 2014 on *SmackDown*, the Rhodes Brothers defeated Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of The Wyatt Family to retain the championships and marked their first win of the year. They once again retained the gold on the special *Old School Raw* episode when they again defeated The Real Americans. However, on the January 17 episode of *SmackDown*, the half-brothers were defeated in a non-title match by The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) after a distraction from the General Manager of *SmackDown* Vickie Guerrero. As a result, The Outlaws were named the number one contenders for the titles. On the Royal Rumble pre-show on January 26, The Outlaws defeated **the Brotherhood** to end their championship reign. Later that day on the Royal Rumble main show, the Rhodes Brothers participated in the Rumble match; Goldust accidentally eliminated Cody, but was then quickly eliminated. The following day on *Raw*, their rematch for the tag team titles was inconclusive when the Brotherhood were attacked by Brock Lesnar. Thus, the Brotherhood received a rematch but in a steel cage; they ended up losing to the Outlaws.

In the following weeks, the Brotherhood feuded with different tag teams and stables. On February 10 on *Raw*, they teamed with Rey Mysterio and challenged the Wyatt Family, but The Rhodes Brothers yielded. On Friday, with the Usos on their team, they won against Ryback, Curtis Axel, and the Outlaws. This led to a victorious tag team match between the Brotherhood and RybAxel (with Larry Hennig) on the Elimination Chamberkickoff show. At WrestleMania XXX, the half-brothers participated in the 31-man battle royal for the André the Giant Memorial Trophy, and were both eliminated by Alberto Del Rio.

The Brotherhood then returned for tag team action with consecutive losses to RybAxel and the Usos; after the latter loss on April 21, dissension was teased between the brothers when Cody shoved Goldust and left by himself. After that, more tension was built up when Cody began frequently losing singles matches while Goldust frequently won; Goldust notably scored wins over Alberto Del Rio and Curtis Axel, two opponents which Cody lost to. When Cody managed a win over Damien Sandow in May, it was only because he resorted to cheating. The team disbanded at Payback on June 1, when they lost to RybAxel, with Cody telling Goldust to look for a new partner, after he felt he was the weak link in the team. Cody then attempted to find a new tag team partner for Goldust, such as Sin Cara or R-Truth, but the new teams still lost their tag matches.

On the June 16 episode of *Raw*, Cody announced that he had found the perfect tag partner for Goldust. This turned out to be himself, appearing under the ring name Stardust while wearing a jumpsuit and face paint similar to Goldust. The two quickly defeated RybAxel on that night, and also at Money in the Bank.

After weeks of primarily appearing in vignettes cryptically expressing their desires to acquire "The Cosmic Key" (their name for the WWE Tag Team Championships) that The Usos now have, they successfully defeated The Usos in a non-title match on the August 18 episode of *Raw*. On the August 25 episode of *Raw*, they challenged The Usos for the Tag Team Championships and won by countout, thus not winning the championships. They would accuse the Usos of a purposeful countout to retain the titles, and then attacked them, turning heel in the process.

At Night of Champions, Goldust and Stardust, now referred to simply as **Gold and Stardust**, defeated The Usos for their second WWE Tag Team Championship, and successfully retained them against the Usos in a rematch at Hell in a Cell. They also successfully retained their titles the following night on *Raw*; after Mark Henry turned on his partner Big Show to give Stardust the pin. After trading wins throughout the tag division over the next few weeks; Gold and Stardust lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to The Miz and Damien Mizdow in a fatal four-way match at Survivor Series that also included the Usos and Los Matadores, ending their second title reign at 63 days. After failing in regaining their titles the next night on *Raw*, the following *SmackDown*, the duo cut a more sinister promo than usual on their loss of the Cosmic Key, claiming that "science" had failed them and adding that "darkness would fall on the New Day", possibly referring to a stable that had debuted on the same episode. After being hastily defeated in a number one contender tag team turmoil on the December 2 edition of *Raw* by Kofi Kingston and Big E; Gold and Stardust returned later on in the match and attacked their manager, Xavier Woods, distracting them enough to cost them the match, thus setting up a feud. A match between the two teams was scheduled for the kickoff show of TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs on December 14, where Big E and Kingston defeated Gold and Stardust.

In early 2015, the two again began showing signs of tension between them as Stardust became further entrenched in his gimmick, leaving Goldust to try and communicate with his brother through his new persona. Stardust would respond to this by walking out on Goldust on the February 5 episode of *SmackDown* before their match had concluded. On the February 16 edition of *Raw*, Dusty Rhodes returned to speak to his sons for the first time since their debut in an attempt to smooth out the problems they were having. While Cody seemed to be in agreement with his family at first, Stardust hit his old finisher *Cross-Rhodes* on Goldust after he took the loss for their team in a match against The New Day, dissolving their partnership entirely. When Dusty approached Stardust backstage afterward, Stardust claimed that it was Dusty and Goldust that were responsible for the intense pressure Cody was subjected to from a young age. He then stated that Cody, and now his own family, were *dead to him*. A match between Goldust and Stardust was set for Fastlane, with Goldust promising to vanquish Stardust, reclaim his brother, and rekindle their partnership. Due to their father asking Goldust not to cause any real harm to Cody, Goldust won their first encounter via roll-up. Backstage, Stardust viciously assaulted Goldust and again proclaimed that his mental decline was his family's fault.

On November 22 at Survivor Series, Goldust returned to team up with The Dudley Boyz, Neville, and Titus O'Neil to face his half-brother Stardust, The Ascension, The Miz, and Bo Dallas in a ten-man tag team match, where Goldust's team emerged victorious. The following night on *Raw*, Goldust teamed up with The Prime Time Players to take on his brother Stardust and The Ascension in another match, which Goldust's team won also after O'Neil hit Konnor with his move *Clash of the Titus*. Cody Rhodes was released by WWE in 2016, bringing an end to their storied rivalry and chances of a reunion in that company.