6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (May 2)

3. Seth Pushes Cody’s Buttons

Cody Rhodes Seth Rollins
WWE.com

Seth Rollins’ Joker in a midlife crisis gimmick is kind of a dead-ender, but he does find ways to weave in some really nice character work from time to time.

Against Cody Rhodes, Rollins has managed to do exactly what the American Nightmare said: he’s unravelling and exhibiting a superiority complex while wearing a ridiculous Johnny Polo getup. Seth though managed to step away from his obnoxious cackle long enough to open a wound on Rhodes, saying his father Dusty was an egomaniac who wasn’t good enough to be WWE Champion.

It was a low blow, to be sure, but it was the kind of desperate low blow an outwardly overconfident man who is unravelling would stoop to. And then Rollins got his comeuppance, as Cody attacked and nailed a Cody Cutter to sent Seth scurrying.

As with a lot of things on Raw Monday night, this was simple stuff, but it worked fine.

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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.