RAW Talent: Most Improved Wrestler of the week - 29th July
In the current scheme of things in the WWE, there is only one superstar that gets all the praise every week. Leading up to SummerSlam, it is all ‘The Daniel Bryan’ show, and rightfully so. Daniel Bryan is one of the hardest working individuals in the industry, and deserves every good thing coming his way.
For over a decade, Daniel Bryan toiled in the independent scene before coming to the WWE, and since the very first day has been an underdog in the organization, working his way up. But today, we will look at someone who has had fluctuating fortunes in the WWE.
Once tagged as the next World champion in the WWE, he has fallen down the ladder and has been lost in the shuffle. This past week on RAW, he was involved in a match against Wade Barrett, and even though he wasn’t given enough time to show his potential, he showed glimpses of what he can achieve. He is none other than the son of the legendary ‘American Dream’, Cody Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes has been in the WWE for a long time, and being the son of one of the biggest legends in the business, a lot was expected out of him. I still remember his father’s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame when Rhodes had the chance to talk in front of the WWE Universe, and ever since then, people heaped praise on him and expected him to become a World champion.
Cody Rhodes is a phenomenal in-ring talent, and has slowly climbed up the ranks in the WWE. Being one of the best Intercontinental champions in the past decade in the organization, he was just one step away from becoming the World champion, before it all went wrong.
From ‘Legacy’ to being the WWE Intercontinental champion, having a tremendous run, Rhodes was groomed to become the next WWE/World champion. For whatever reason, he was then relegated to the mid card for the next two years, and his partnership with Damien Sandow was received positively by the fans and critics.
They became one of the most entertaining aspects of WWE, and even though Team Rhodes Scholars couldn’t win the tag team gold, they were more entertaining than the likes of Sheamus and Orton. Their downfall started when they were made to job to Sheamus, and were made into glorified jobbers. With the fans getting frustrated with the lack of push for Cody Rhodes, it soon became an internal joke that Rhodes’s moustache was more over than 80% of the locker room.
People thought something had to give, and at the Money in the Bank PPV, during the Money in the Bank ladder match for the World Heavyweight championship, Rhodes gave the performance of his career, stealing the show in the process. He was fingertips away from getting the briefcase when Sandow backstabbed Rhodes, taking down the briefcase on his own.
Since then, to the delight of the fans, Rhodes got into a program with Sandow, and this can arguably revive his career in the WWE. On Smackdown! last week, Rhodes threw Sandow’s briefcase into the Gulf of Mexico, bringing back the memories of Rock – Austin feud.
With Rhodes becoming relevant again in the WWE, he will likely face Sandow at SummerSlam. He is one of the most talented and accomplished superstars in the WWE, and it is only a matter of time before he becomes the World champion. Rhodes is charismatic, and has good mic skills to go with in-ring abilities.
Being the son of a legend is never easy, and he deserves to get a meaningful run in the WWE. With the current storyline between Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, we can expect a showdown between the two for the briefcase at SummerSlam, in a ‘Winner takes all’ match. Similar to Daniel Bryan, it is only a matter of time before WWE decides to pull the trigger with Cody Rhodes.