Cody Rhodes‘ bloody match with his brother, Dustin at AEW Double Or Nothing 2019 was an instant classic, and it arguably solidified the young promotion’s prominent spot in the landscape of professional wrestling. But it turns out this unforgettable contest isn’t the one “The American Nightmare” looks back the most fondly on.
In an interview with Kenny McIntosh of Inside The Ropes for issue 11 of Inside The Ropes Magazine, Cody explained that his bout with Dustin was incredibly important, but it isn’t the favorite match of his AEW career. In fact, he has never rewatched it.
“Where it ranks for me, it probably will disappoint a lot of people,” said Cody. “It’s probably the most important match in my AEW career, but it is not my favorite match that I’ve had with the company. Maybe that’s just because it was so real that it’s raw. It’s almost a beautiful thing, but it’s like you don’t want to revisit it. I’ve never watched it back.”
Cody elaborated by noting that a free agent told him this match between the two brothers piqued their interest in AEW. Still, the former AEW TNT Champion stated that the bout is somewhere in his top five AEW matches.
“And I was speaking to a free agent this morning who was talking about that match being something that had made this person interested in us, and the power of the match isn’t lost on me,” said Cody. “I know what it did for the company. I know what it did for me and Dustin, and for the fans, but I’d say top five, for me.”
Rather than this bloody classic, Cody pointed to his match with Darby Allin at AEW Fyter Fest 2019 as his favorite. He described how, in some ways, it was up to him to make sure that Allin was properly introduced to the audience. Looking back on it, Cody reflected on Allin’s growth in AEW and shared his pride in the young star’s connection with the fans.
“I think my favorite match is Fyter Fest against Darby [Allin] for the very first time, because there was a lot that went into that match behind the scene,” said Cody. “There was a lot of faith placed in me to introduce him, and I love that people now today go back and talk about how they knew Darby, but they didn’t. Darby had a wonderful run on the US independent scene, but that was his first main stage appearance and, looking at him now, I’m just so proud.
“He has a real connection with younger members of the audience and I feel like, in a small way, I was part of that. So that’s something I’m very, very proud of. I wanted to debut somebody correctly because I’d seen so many debuts done poorly and that was just a big responsibility.”
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