5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (18 Dec - Results & Review)

5. Cody Fires Up

The never-ending pre-recorded Shinsuke Nakamura vignettes had run their course a while ago, but that didn’t stop WWE from promoting another one Monday night: “The American Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Cute title aside, the story was fine, but it was what happened toward the end that salvaged this from being just another Nakamura pre-tape promo. Cody Rhodes stormed into the room and attacked Shinsuke, battering him and chasing him into the arena, where security constantly tried to pull the two apart. They battled all the way to ringside, where Rhodes attempted a Cross-Rhodes on the announce desk, but security saved Nakamura.

The brawl broke the mundane routine of these promos and livened things up, which was sorely needed. One criticism though: They were using captions and B-roll (including animation) as part of Nakamura’s story, and yet Cody broke it up “live” to trigger the brawl. That doesn’t make any sense.

But it’s Cody, and he’s awesome at pushing through nonsense like that, so it can be noted here and then accepted as is.