In retrospect, Cody doing his 'I'm never gonna be world champion' thing is lowkey passive-aggressive as hell. He's going to consistently have bigger entrances and more attention on what he's doing than pretty much everyone short of the world champion, if not that pertson as well. He's literally turned his existence into the #2 title on the show, and that's something he can't lose in a match and have to rightfully fall back afterwards.
Cuz gotta be a heel, or he gotta fukk off for a couple months. Watching him force himself to be a face is like watching pre-Heyman Roman, with literally none of the physical charisma