4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (25 Sept - Results & Review)

3. Cody Rhodes Didn’t Need To Talk Here

Instead of letting Randy Orton’s promo from earlier breathe, WWE wheeled Cody Rhodes out to run through some familiar dialogue then vow that he would, in fact, punt Randy’s head off his shoulders. Perhaps the only bit of real interest was Rhodes adding that Orton might not be the only one. That’s cool, but this was pure time filler for the sake of it.

Yeah, it might’ve been better to let Randy’s speech cook a little while longer.

Cody also flashed up 4 fingers as a sly tribute to the Four Horsemen when talking about winning his fourth World Title in the company. That's something worth noting: Rhodes is a true student of the game. He's a hardcore pro wrestling fan like anyone reading this, and he adores sticking little homages in wherever possible. Often, they happen without much incident, and they never detract from the point he's trying to make. That takes skill.

WWE fired Cody through the curtain errantly on this occasion though. It would've been a better choice to show him looking on sternly behind the scenes before Cathy Kelley approached him for comments about what Randy said. Rather than give her a diplomatic answer, Rhodes would've declined to reply then strolled off to his plush bus away from everyone.

That would've been way more effective than him brushing off Orton's promo (which was awesome) like it meant nothing to him. Sometimes, less is more. That's something WWE needs to think about in the future when they're mapping these things out.