10 Best AEW Finishers
3. Cody's Cross Rhodes
The Cross Rhodes, as was highlighted a few weeks back to less than ideal effect, is a seriously difficult move to execute, and it should act as another argument in support of Cody's in-ring excellence.
Too often, he is approached as a master old-school storyteller as if he is capitalising on a limitation. It's a choice, and a tremendous one, that weirdly betrays how technically proficient he is. The Cross Rhodes is a fusion of those two attributes. The move requires a certain torque, timing and agility to execute well. It's hard enough for the performer executing it to not get in the way of their own body, much less show enough of their opponent's head mid, gruesome snap. The result, when done well, is outstanding: it's a dizzying spike of an impact move dressed up in athletic theatre.
The set-up also allows Cody to project emotion; by grabbing the underside of his opponent's head from a standing position, his own is visible on the hard camera.
This starting point allowed him, at Double Or Nothing, to register an expression of remorse as he pulled from the hip and rolled his fingers across the steel.