5 Ups & 8 Downs From WWE Raw After WrestleMania (April 4)

by Scott Carlson

1. Cody Sets Sights On WWE Championship

In case there was any doubt, Cody Rhodes quickly dispelled them Monday night, making it abundantly clear he returned to WWE to capture the company’s top prize in honor of his father.

Rhodes opened Raw and spent much of his first promo talking about Dusty Rhodes, and how he never got to be WWF/E Champion, and that young Cody had vowed at 8 years old to win the title for his dad. Cody then said that while he couldn’t present the title to the American Dream, he could strap it around the waist of the American Nightmare.

The reunion was interrupted by Seth Rollins, who strutted to the ring to confront Rhodes… and then shook his hand and told him, “Welcome back.”

All in all, this was a good return for Cody, positioning himself as a top-tier guy right out of the chute, which was what he needed to do.

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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.