10 ALL IN Impulse Reactions
7. The Rhodes Less Travelled
Cody lifting the NWA World's Heavyweight Title was in many ways ALL IN's only real inevitability, despite a distinct possibility that the organiser of such an event became resistant to putting himself over in its main event.
To that end, Cody found a compromise. And has been the case with virtually everything he's touched since leaving WWE, said compromise sprinkled genuine stardust on an otherwise pedestrian display.
The opening stages of his battle with Nick Aldis were a smidgen less than scintillating, but Cody tapping a familial vein (when he eventually got round to digging for claret after an eternity on the deck at ringside) painted the match in darker tones and his head the most delicious shade of red.
Blooded and beaten, it was at this point his plight became believable. To craft a David and Goliath final act in a battle between one the known organiser of the entire event and of wrestling's least prestigious Champions took an awful lot of work. But that's why they're still considered workers. And why Cody is one of the very best of his kind in 2018.
Like ALL IN itself, Cody saw the micro and macro realities of the match on the night, and delivered both in spades.