THIS Is The Man Who Should End Cody’s TNT Title Reign (And How)
The Tully is the man Tully is managing: Shawn Spears. Tully is the Dillon. And if all of this reads as pastiche, imagine how much MJF would delight in revelling in that at Cody's expense. Cody was enough of a mark to start his own World Championship Wrestling, but he was too dumb to continue its greatest lineage and be worth a sh*t in it.
Shortly after All Out, in order to reheat MJF following a loss in the World Title match the rankings demand must happen soon, he should challenge Cody for the TNT Championship on an otherwise standard edition of Dynamite. There, after a long (and let's face it) bloody war, the trademark showbiz of a big Cody match distracts or bumps the referee, but Wardlow - who has recently, subtly signalled his intention to win matches as his own man - refuses to hand over the ring. This is the culmination of simmering tension during which MJF, ironically, given how much he resented Cody for it, attempts to keep Wardlow under his thumb.
In the deft, dovetailing booking manoeuvre mastered by Tony Khan post-Double Or Nothing, this is when the new Horsemen form: to all but hand MJF the TNT Championship.
This is an effective means of developing MJF's immense potential, continuing one of AEW's legacy feuds without cycling through endless matches, and ushering in the next chapter of AEW's stable-oriented storytelling approach. The Nightmare Family Vs. the Four Horsemen; the Elite Vs. the Four Horsemen; several mini/secondary programmes with the midcard babyface groups, like Best Friends and Jurassic Express; even a babyface Inner Circle Vs. the Horsemen: AEW under this booking mentality has preserved the appeal of its biggest matches without relying on the turgid matches-build-matches formula. Cody Vs. MJF belongs in a steel cage at some point, and we know what gimmick match a Rhodes and the Horsemen made famous.
This fantasy booking will take some time to reach its conclusion, but maybe one day next year fans will actually get to see Blood and Guts live.