— The Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman in-ring promo that aired on the last episode of WWE’s Friday Night Smackdown was well received by the audience and according to a report by fightfulselect.com, it was also universally praised backstage within the company as well.

— According to a report, the promo was a “beneficiary” of the looser scripting that WWE has adopted ever since Vince McMahon stepped down from creative as he generally favored interviews and promos being heavily scripted, rehearsed and played out. Paul Heyman was reportedly caught by surprise at what Cody was saying about ECW has people weren’t sure that Heyman had ever been told how important ECW was to the Rhodes family. The report goes onto state that Heyman basically wrote his part of the segment, Cody wrote his and and the final product simply came together perfectly.

— From a backstage perspective, Heyman, Rhodes and WWE higher-ups and officials were all “thrilled” with the content of the promo as well as the audience reception as it is ultimately leading to their main event match at WrestleMania 39. One official commented that Cody Rhodes is a “star” and Heyman a “starmaker” and they were put in a difficult spot but made a scripted booking decision turn personal and into a WrestleMania main event.”