8 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (8 Dec)

6. "Good Luck, Kid"

Cody Rhodes knows exactly what he's doing when it comes to manipulating his crowd reactions - and last night's segment should hopefully put an end to the idea that he is somehow out of touch with his audience.

The American Nightmare was a d*ck here. Sammy Guevara was due to be interviewed by Tony Schiavone when Downstait cut him off, with Cody knowingly emerging from the babyface tunnel. "From one good guy to the next," he said, declaring himself the next TNT Title challenger, saying "good luck, kid" in a deliberately condescending tone as he left.

Like the content or not, Cody's stuff is working. He is deliberately trying to generate crowd reactions similar to John Cena's at the height of his powers. Whether or not this is compelling stuff is in the eye of the beholder.

But it is working.

Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky followed up after Cody had left, promising Dan Lambert's return. Page was pissed at having to jump through hoops for his own TNT Championship when Cody can stride right up. This makes sense, though the Men of the Year's involvement felt tacked on.