THIS Is The Man Who Should End Cody’s TNT Title Reign (And How)

He will face heels throughout this run, allowing him to operate as the ultimate babyface at which he excels, but when programmed with a babyface, a heel psychology better accomplishes the wider goal. If Cody - Cody, Caesar! - has to cheat just to eke out a win, what does that say of the resolve of his opponents? More than a competitive, 50/50 babyface match would.

This feeds into the red herring aspect of the end of the line, too.

Cody is nothing if not self-effacing - for proof that he is self-aware enough to grasp the optics of how he is presenting himself, watch him rip to shreds the "Daddy eats first!" t-shirt debacle on the Pro Wrestling Tees documentary - and so it's not unreasonable to think that he is leaning on this perception as misdirection.

Cody isn't Ric Flair. He isn't a Horseman. He's literally a Rhodes. The Flair is the man who defeated him at Revolution: MJF.

The rhetoric spat by MJF and FTR (the Andersons, in this analogy) is eerily similar. MJF and spokesman Dax Harwood seethe at the idea of a new school of wrestling because its mere existence must mean that something had to be changed about the old. They consider that which defines the new school a series of in-ring affectations that serve no purpose but to pop an ungrateful and fickle crowd. They in particular are appalled at dives and flips. They value the economical approach of winning pro wrestling matches and earning big money. Between the blind tags and the hidden diamond ring, they have each mastered the artifice of effective heel work.

They are a perfect philosophical fit to run roughshod over AEW as the next iteration of the Four Horsemen.

CONT'D...(4 of 5)