4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (12 Sept - Results & Review)

2. Street Fighting Cody’s Comeback!

Cody Rhodes Drew McIntyre
WWE.com

On the surface, Cody Rhodes defending his WWE Title vs. a re-heated Drew McIntyre would be bigger than a 'B' tier PLE, and that might be because Wrestlepalooza...isn't coming across as a 'B' tier PLE. Triple H has positively stacked this thing with banging matches and star power from top to bottom, and now Cody vs. Drew has been officially added to next weekend's lineup.

Cody brought the necessary fire to avenge McIntyre laying him out beforehand on the 8 August SmackDown. There was some nice continuity to note with him rushing out to stop his rival from caving Randy Orton's skull in with another Claymore through the side of the announce desk too. That was welcome, and it's not like Randy could claim to be some innocent victim.

He was inches away from punting Drew's head off his shoulders before the ref begged him to think twice.

Rhodes worked a short but sweet comeback spot on Friday's show. He was all business. Cody sprinted out, took the fight to Drew, then grabbed a mic and said he'd see him at Wrestlepalooza. The WWE kingpin then borrowed a page from John Cena's book by tweaking his "the champ is here" catchphrase to "the champ is back".

Thankfully, WWE had the smarts to cut back on Cody's usual entrance. It wouldn't have made a lick of sense had he taken his time to get out there and right up in McIntyre's face. Bonus points for the way Drew smirked in the aisle after resetting his own jaw back into place as well. He effectively got precisely what he wanted all along.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.