5 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 16 - Review)

4. Cody’s Road To The Rumble

Monday’s Cody Rhodes video didn’t beat around the bush: The American Nightmare is Royal Rumble-bound.

The third instalment traced his post-surgery journey, getting back into shape, rehabbing his repaired pectoral, and finally announcing that it’s not a question of “if,” but “when”… and the when is Royal Rumble.

That was the simplest and most direct route, and it worked perfectly. We didn’t need some convoluted wink-and-a-nod video to hint at his return. We all know he’s coming back, so you might as well build anticipation instead of trying to surprise fans.

Great job all around.

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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.