5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (25 Oct - Results & Review)
4. Thank God For Talent And Poise
WWE should thank their lucky stars that Cody Rhodes and GUNTHER are who they are, because this Crown Jewel Title stuff is feeble. Not many fans care much about a belt they'll see hoisted above someone's head once in Saudi before it's put behind glass for a year. It's the new "brand supremacy" snore Survivor Series used to be lumbered with.
Cody and GUNTHER were in fine fettle on Friday, to be fair. They had a snappy face-to-face that made everyone forget about the guff international belt for a few minutes. Both guys made their case to being the best champ in the company, and their respective promos showed off key differences between them as characters.
Rhodes is the workhorse who cares about WWE as a whole, whereas GUNTHER is one who's only out for himself and doesn't care who knows it. He pushed Cody's buttons, took a few punches for it, then Ludwig Kaiser and Randy Orton got involved to set up the tag-team match coming next week.
All of this made sense, and it was well worked despite the third title nuisance.