3 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw After WrestleMania 39 (3 April - Review)

2. Cody Gets Owned Twice In 24 Hours

There’s beating down a babyface to build sympathy, and then there’s just abusing a corpse.

Cody Rhodes lost his match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 39 Sunday night, a booking decision that will be questioned for some time. Triple H told fans later that night that this was just the end of one chapter, and a new one would start Monday.

Then we got to Raw on Monday.

Rhodes challenged Roman Reigns to a rematch, was rebuffed, challenged for a tag match, and then Brock Lesnar answered the call to be his partner. Fast-forward to the main event, where Lesnar turned on Cody during the introductions and made him look like a chump.

The beatdown was epic and done to drive maximum sympathy for Rhodes, which it did. But it also meant Cody lost his title match and then got battered the following night, making a man many were ready to call world champion into a gullible human punching bag.

If we had faith in WWE’s ability to tell stories, we could “let it play out” and see if this is part of a master strategy to build Rhodes up into an even bigger star, but we’ve been down this road far too many times to accept that. Sorry, until it actually happens and the ref’s hand hits the mat for the third time, this is gonna scan as a burial.

Ball’s in your court, WWE. Prove it wrong. Would love to take this back, but eternal patience is not a virtue many fans have.