Cody is the one who chose to continue to do the Stardust gimmick as a tribute to his dad btw for the people who overlooked the 600 times it's been said since then.
Salute to Cody. Not sure what exactly made him do it, but I'll assume that after doing the tribute, he's been stagnant for so long, and just saw the writing on the wall for any eventual success in the WWE. Like Sandow, he could pull off any character and make it work. I pretty much liked all his characters since Dashing Cody Rhodes, especially the Dr. Doom masked Cody run. I thought he had star potential with both of those. He also got to have a good run with his big bro both with and without costumes. Good luck to wherever he goes, even if it is back in the WWE years later.