6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (30 Jan - Review)

by Scott Carlson

1. A Codyriffic Main Event

Cody Rhodes Finn Balor
WWE.com

If there was any doubt whether fans would accept Cody Rhodes as a top babyface upon his return or that he might have ring rust, you didn’t need to wait very long until those doubts were assuaged.

Rhodes faced Finn Balor in the main event Monday night and had fans thoroughly behind him throughout the match, cheering like crazy at everything as the American Nightmare battled back in his first one-on-one match in nearly eight months. Balor of course targeted Cody’s arm and pectoral, but Rhodes impressively showed off how well rehab worked, hitting a delayed vertical suplex, and then a delayed superplex.

All of this served to show that Rhodes might not be 100% (in storyline), but he can give you glimpses of being back and able to go. It might be a recurring story as WrestleMania draws near, with Cody continually showing his recovery until he’s able to dethrone Roman Reigns at Mania.

Still, this was a fun main event with solid action and a good result, with Cody needing some allies to neuter the Judgment Day.

Advertisement
Contributor
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.