AEW and NXT Wednesday Night War: 3 winners of night #16

Everyone in that “10 Lashes Segment”, especially Cody and MJF

You know, for all the conjecture that WWE, specifically Vince McMahon, espouses about creating a “sophisticated” television product, you haven’t seen many matches or angles over the last decade that have matched what we saw Cody — arguably the best babyface in North America — and Maxwell Jacob Friedman — arguably the best heel in North America — pull off on Wednesday’s Dynamite in terms of emotional investment, at least on purpose.

(And yes, I realize the Edge/Randy Orton closing segment from a couple of weeks ago was on par with this, but things like that on WWE’s main roster are the exception and not the rule.)

As you probably know, this was the week that “The American Nightmare” had to endure ten lashes from Friedman as part of a series of stipulations to get a match against his archnemesis at Revolution.

This plot device isn’t a new concept — Cody was even a supporting character in a similar angle involving Bully Ray and Flip Gordon in Ring of Honor in 2018 — and early on, it wasn’t hard to figure out why bookers have relied on it in the past.

Every second of this, from MJF whipping Cody with Cody’s own belt to Dustin Rhodes begging Friedman to whip him instead to Brandi Rhodes encouraging Cody to survive one more lash to Friedman kicking Cody low after Cody lasted for all 10, intensified the audiences’ desire to see Cody beat the crap out of MJF at the PPV. This was as close to a perfect angle as you’ll find.