15 Wrestling Matches You Won't Believe Happened In 2018

8. Nick Aldis Vs Cody (ALL IN)

Jerry Lawler Joey Ryan
Heyman hustle

Question: Who has the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship right now?

If you guessed Cody, you’d be wrong, but that’s perhaps because he was the last person to make you genuinely give a toss about it. And probably the first since TNA launched their own World Title in its place a decade earlier.

By no means is this a hit piece on the ‘10 Pounds Of Gold’ that Billy Corgan paid substantially more than a tenner for, but if that belt could still draw 10,000 fans on its own, there’d have been no need for ALL IN in the first place.

Much of that show reflected what makes the current independent scene so enchanting, but Cody’s genetic excellence and contemporary nous for storytelling made the all the old tricks matter the most.

’The American Nightmare’ and Nick Aldis assembled an NWA-style bout, with an NWA-style build that had an NWA-style finish playing to the roars of an NWA-style crowd, and it was a truly magnificent piece of work.

For one night (and tragically not a lot longer) Cody helped elevate the belt to the level it was at when his Dad battled so proudly for it against Ric Flair, Harley Race and others. And people couldn’t wait to pay to see it. His work was done.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett