4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Dec 8 - Results & Review)

1. A Rather Pointless Brand Crossover

Cody Rhodes
WWE.com

Right, we need to have a chat about brand crossover.

WWE ignores their own Draft shortly after hyping it every single time. People are used to that, so it usually gets a pass. However, the creative team still needs to make sure that any appearances on "the other show" by Raw or SmackDown workers means something. Cody Rhodes flying in on Friday meant sod all.

He was brought in to gush about 'Tribute To The Troops' and line up some more military stuff. That was pretty much it. Sure, Cody had a face to face with CM Punk backstage later, but it wasn't enough to justify why he was even on SmackDown this week in the first place. Why would Adam Pearce slap a green light on this?

Rhodes is an excellent talker. There's no doubting that, but his troops material was paper-thin and meant him showing up turned out to be a waste of everybody's time. That definitely isn't something that should ever be the case for a top name like Rhodes.

Baffling.

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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.