6 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Crown Jewel 2023

3. Cody Stays The Course

WWE Crown Jewel 2023 Cody Rhodes Damian Priest
WWE.com

Ever since Cody Rhodes declared that he was getting back on track to finish the story – and win the WWE Championship his father never could capture – everything he did needed to be in service of that goal.

Putting Judgment Day behind him is part of that process, and Rhodes took a step in that direction Saturday by defeating Damian Priest. Señor Money in the Bank got plenty of offense and hung right there with the American Nightmare, but Cody being on a mission was not going to be denied.

Jey Uso provided a huge assist in chasing off the rest of Judgment Day, and with it being a fair fight, Rhodes took Priest down with a flurry of signature spots. Damian came close, but Cody needed to stand tall at Crown Jewel, and he did.

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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.