6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 11)

1. Painting Two Different Pictures

During his six years away from WWE, Cody Rhodes reinvented himself as a wrestler, not a sports entertainer. He went from Stardust on WWE Main Event to main-eventer Cody.

So it was only fitting that Rhodes’ first promo pairing was against the biggest sports entertainer WWE has in The Miz. And they made the differences between the two apparent from the jump.

Oh sure, both men wore suits and were perfectly manicured, but Miz continued his rantings about being must-see, while Cody had established himself as returning for his father, to win the title he never did.

The best thing was that they leaned into it, with Rhodes calling Miz “a full-blown carny” who embraces his role, making him just a reliable hand. Oooooh. And then to illustrate it, Cody called the world title a “belt,” which Miz quickly corrected with the proper WWE vernacular: “It’s a title; a belt holds up your pants.”

And later, Cody said he returned to beat the best wrestlers in WWE, prompting Miz to again play the role of WWE sycophant, using the company-approved term “superstars.” You seriously could not have two more disparate individuals in the ring, and it made Cody look all the more genuine and real, almost an outsider, fighting against the WWE machine.

Brilliantly done.