5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (25 Dec - Results & Review)

by Scott Carlson

1. Finding The Diamond

Cody Rhodes
WWE.com

Cody Rhodes’ 2023 could have been the greatest year of his career had he finished the story at WrestleMania 39. It also could have been a disaster after everything fell apart at Mania.

But the American Nightmare turned in a really, really good year feuding with Brock Lesnar and the Bloodline throughout much of 2023 post-Mania, and WWE was wise to zero in on Rhodes’ rivalry with Lesnar, which started off shaky, but grew into an excellent feud. They rightly aired large parts of their rubber match at SummerSlam, which showed Cody’s resolve and ability to overcome the Beast, along with Lesnar’s acknowledgement of his opponent.

Rhodes’ current feud with Shinsuke Nakamura has largely missed the mark, and the conflict with the Judgment Day ran on for months in every permutation possible, but the three-match series with Brock was a defining, positive story for Cody, and a smart one for WWE to identify and highlight.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.