8 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (July 13th)

By Scott Carlson /

2. Back Where He Left Off

When Eddie Guerrero tragically died in 2005, his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. was doing a golfer gimmick as Kerwin White. That character was quickly abandoned as Chavo reclaimed his family name and performed as himself again. Some might think it was pandering, but a large segment of the fans weren€™t going to buy Chavo as Kerwin given Eddie€™s real-life passing. WWE had a similar situation recently when Dusty Rhodes passed away. His younger wrestling son, Cody Rhodes, has been performing as Stardust for the past year. After spending several weeks off television, Rhodes returned Monday€ as Stardust. In fact, he delivered a promo about how all the €œheroes will fall,€ an allusion to a crossover feud that was brewing before Dusty€™s passing against Stephen Amell, star of TV€™s €œArrow.€If this is indeed the case, it means that WWE is basically staying the course with Rhodes, having him retain the Stardust character and resume building to a SummerSlam match against Amell. WWE had a chance to allow fans to really get behind Cody, maybe really reinvent him as a serious performer rather than comic relief. When Stardust came out to face Neville Monday, fans cheered to welcome him back, but his heel act led largely to silence, which is a shame. It feels like a huge missed opportunity, all in the name of preserving a SummerSlam celebrity match.