The BEST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2026)

8. 2019 | Thronebreaker

Kenny Omega brought a bit of anti-WWE sauce to Being The Elite when he buried Donovan Dijak. The Young Bucks despite making a mainstream career of it stopped poking the bear as October 2019 drew closer. Hangman Page, a conscientious objector to the looming AEW Vs. WWE war, was principally interested in telling his own slow-burn story. The Elite were, in the main, weirdly timid about promoting All Elite Wrestling as a new, disruptive upstart. Wasn’t this defiance of the awful monopoly the ultimate selling point? 

Ironically, since he made the jump over to WWE as early as January 2022, it was Cody Rhodes who understood the assignment. He knew that the AEW fans - who despised WWE and were overjoyed that their cynicism towards the product was justified by the market created for a shock new competitor - wanted to mock the company and knock Vince McMahon and Triple H off their perch. Triple H had described AEW as a “piss-ant company” at the 2019 Hall of Fame ceremony. The first shot had been fired. A response was needed; a huge statement that signalled AEW’s intent to take over the wrestling world. Cody Rhodes delivered it in an iconic “F*ck you” moment at AEW’s first-ever show: Double Or Nothing 2019. 

When making his entrance ahead of his classic match against brother Dustin Rhodes - which, as a blood-soaked traditional U.S.-style classic was a far better flex over HHH in truth - Cody smashed a throne associated with Triple H with a sledgehammer. 

Childish but incredibly effective, this scene sparked an interminable culture war from which escape is sadly impossible - but Cody, aware that AEW needed to write a major headline, played to his new public beautifully.