5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (2 Jan - Review)

2. Building Up To A Return

Probably the worst-kept surprise in wrestling since June has been that if – God willing – Cody Rhodes recovers in time, he’ll likely be in the Royal Rumble match.

As untimely as the injury was, it was fortuitous that his timeline seemed to put him on that path to show up in the Rumble, get the huge return pop, and then start on his path to WrestleMania.

But rather than pretend Cody doesn’t exist to maximize the pop, WWE started airing video packages essentially reintroducing Rhodes to the audience. Monday’s video talked about Cody leaving WWE and what brought him back, which was very heavy on his father, Dusty Rhodes, and his attempt to become WWF Champion decades ago.

The video reiterated pretty clearly that Rhodes’ reason for coming back to WWE was to win the world title his father never did, leading up to his Hell in a Cell match against Seth Rollins, which is where the package ended and will resume next week.

Airing a multi-week video package to build up Cody and essentially reintroduce him to the audience is a great move to get fans rallied behind him and hopefully hit the ground with as much momentum as possible. If done well, it could really help hype his expected return, rather than simply play the surprise angle.