6 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE Raw (April 24 - Review)

4. Treading Water

Cody Rhodes has proven that he can be masterful on the mic, driving a storyline with just a few passionate words, his delivery elevating the quality of the text immensely.

But his show-opening promo taking aim at Brock Lesnar rang a bit too much like a typical WWE promo than a guy who has been cast as being unique and somewhat above the fray. Cody started by reminding us about the WWE Draft, because that’s what a good host does. He then turned our attention to the tron, so we could look at pictures of Brock beating him up three weeks ago, because every superstar has to use the screen at some point.

Cody still cut a good promo about how his scar is a reminder of how he beat Seth Rollins with a torn pec because the fans – in the same Chicago arena – carried him across the finish line. It was a cool visual, but he never really got to make the connection back to Lesnar or really make a solid point. It was a nice moment, but none of that really advanced the Brock storyline.

We already know: Rhodes thinks Brock’s a coward, Cody will face adversity head-on, and the fans having his back will be a huge boost. Beyond that, there wasn’t much to this part of the promo.