7 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE Raw (20 Feb - Results & Review)

4. Not Everything Can Be A Home Run

If you solely graded Monday’s Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman segment against the last two weeks’ of promos involving the American Nightmare, then it would be easy to call this week’s offering a disappointment and frame it as a momentum-killer.

But let’s look at this dispassionately for a second: Cody came into what could have been hostile territory, with Canadian fans potentially rejecting Rhodes 48 hours after favorite son Sami Zayn came up short against Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber. Not getting booed was a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Having fans still chanting for Cody was another achievement.

Even Heyman’s promo, which was nowhere near as great as two weeks ago, still had a point: If Cody wins the title at WrestleMania – but he won’t, Paul E insisted – then he would spend nearly every waking moment either defending the title or burdened by the trappings and demands of being a world champion. He then equated it to Dusty Rhodes never being home, and when he was, he wasn’t really there.

The obvious jab here was that winning the title might be the dream, but it could destroy the family life Cody has so carefully built – and there’s a roadmap of how it could happen right there with Dusty.

So yeah, call this a solid double in the gap. Enough to advance the story and avoid an unforced error or unforeseen outcome from the fans.