12 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Full Gear
2. Cody Falls To Jericho
In terms of audience reactions, Cody vs. Chris Jericho started hot, cooled off after just a few minutes, and finished molten. This makes it an absolute triumph of crowd control. The duo got everything they wanted from every stage of his match, building towards a loud-as-hell conclusion thanks to one of the smartest bout layouts you'll see all year, though nobody should be surprised, given the quality of the build.
A slow-burning 30-minute epic, this subverted several expectations. When Jericho fannied around on the outside early on, mouthing off at judge Dean Malenko instead of engaging with Cody, AEW told you "this thing is going the full hour." When Cody announced his stipulation on Dynamite, AEW told you "Cody is winning." Neither of these came to pass. Instead, Jericho triumphed in a perfect finish that saw MJF throw in the towel after the AEW World Champion's own second, Jake Hager, had been sent to the back for one interjection too many.
This was an extremely economical match that saw these two pros make great use of the space between moves, and it didn't drag for a second. Full of spotlight moments like Cody's face-first ramp bump (and ensuing blood) and his mother straight-up slapping 'The Alpha' in the face, it succeeded by squeezing as much juice from each beat as possible, and the Liontamer that effectively ended Cody's night was nothing short of brutal.
It's hard to imagine a better scenario here. Everything was on-point, from the pacing to the character work.