16 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Double Or Nothing 2019
2. All Rhodes Lead To Hell
Heading into Double Or Nothing, your writer was quietly confident that Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes would deliver. The former isn't a Kenny Omega/Young Bucks-level athlete, but the Nick Aldis bout proves he knows how to build an awesome pro-wrestling pantomime, and his elder brother is one of the smartest and most underrated wrestlers ever. They'd find ways to get the crowd invested while working around their limitations, and everyone would be satisfied by the end.
... but holy sh*t, who could have seen THIS coming?!
Cody vs. Dustin was incredible. What started off as a textbook heated face vs. heel clash become something entirely more gruesome when the elder Rhodes was busted open by an exposed turnbuckle. Whether he bladed or not, Dustin bled bucketloads. It was borderline disgusting as plasma seeped from his wound, covering his face in a crimson mask, running into his eyes, down his cheeks, and pooling on the mat. This grisly visual did nothing but enhance the match.
This was a rough, tough, attritional fight that told the perfect in-ring story. Cody was out to make true on his promise to kill the Attitude Era, and while Dustin almost stole it with a number of dramatic near-falls, he ultimately failed. An impossibly brutal neck bump preceded the decisive Cross Rhodes to put Dustin down. Afterwards, a post-match angle so moving it had Excalibur and Jim Ross wiping tears away saw the brothers embrace; their beef squashed, their story told, and their hearts spent.
It may have been the best singles match of either man's career.