10 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Fight For The Fallen (Jul 15)

2. Kiss The Sky

Fingers crossed Sonny Kiss opened a few eyes last night. The vile, disgusting hatred thrown his way once the Cody match was announced stood as an ugly reminder of how pathetic our species can be, though performances like this one will keep him shining while the bigots stay miserable.

The match ruled. Kiss emerged with a new entrance theme and an accompaniment from the Jacksonville Jaguars' cheerleading team in a callback to last year's Fight for the Fallen. Cody, meanwhile, worked full d*ckhead. He leathered the 'Concrete Rose' early and tried to finish him off with an early Disaster Kick. AEW's fluid alignment scale allowed him to get extra spicy with Kiss, drawing admonishment from Arn Anderson, who told his charge to get his head out of his *ss.

This fired Sonny up as well, amplifying his own aggression. P*ssed off, he facepalmed a camera on the outside and started going nuts on Cody with his fast, giffable offense, scoring an incredibly close nearfall from a 450 splash. Emptying so much of the tank early on looked to be backfiring for 'The American Nightmare' until he decimated Kiss with a ruinous Alabama Slam on the ramp, though a couple of sloppy covers had Jim Ross had the announcer criticising Cody for not having his head in the game. Something wasn't right with Rhodes, allowing Kiss several avenues back into the match, though he ended up putting Sonny away in the end.

Fast, exciting action with a clear, cohesive in-ring story, this was one of Cody's best TNT Championship matches to date, and a levelling-up for Kiss. Here's hoping more opportunities come his way soon.