10 Biggest Highlights Of Cody Rhodes' AEW Career
2. The Sammy Guevara Ladder Match
When Cody Rhodes won the TNT title from Sammy Guevara on Christmas Day, only to hand it back weeks later, it scanned as a reset for Guevara’s title run. “The Spanish God” had underwhelmed in the role but a banger match and the big scalp represented by Rhodes was supposed to elevate the champion and get fans reinvested.
While none of that has changed exactly, with Cody having now left the company it also reads like a last hurrah for the three-time TNT champ. His promo hyping the ladder match now seems like his chance to get things off his chest and say everything he needed to, knowing he might not get another chance.
The match itself was most memorable for Cody taking a cutter from the top of a ladder but the whole thing was great. High spots and painful moments were reached logically by two workers who always looked like they wanted to win. They even earned a rare five-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
Now, Meltzer ratings are just the subjective opinions of one man but that one man has earned respect for his views over years of wrestling analysis. More specifically it was the subjective opinions of this man that led to the “three-star Cody” tag, an albatross around “The American Nightmare’s” neck. Consider those demons exorcised.
A five star classic for the belt with which he will forever be associated. What more fitting send off could there be? And what better bookend for his AEW career?