AEW and NXT Wednesday Night War: 3 winners of night #18

Cody

Every time Cody has a match, promo, or any sort of segment on Dynamite, it makes Seth Rollins’ comments on babyfaces not being able to maintain their popularity in today’s wrestling landscape. Sure, the job can become difficult when you parrot a bunch of pro-management rhetoric about your friend to the press or when the promotion you work for books you like a chump, but that line of thinking is ridiculous, as Cody showed in this steel cage match with Wardlow.

Given the big man’s relative inexperience — though he flashed some impressive power and athleticism — the match was kept relatively simple and featured plenty of smoke and mirrors from Arn Anderson, Brandi Rhodes, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF), but the story of Cody scrapping to overcome his larger adversary wouldn’t have been as effective if not for “The American Nightmare’s” selling — which included the expected Cody bladejob — and the connection he had with that audience; they desperately wanted to see their hero beat the monster to ensure his match with MJF took place.

Those fans didn’t go home disappointed, as Cody indeed bested Wardlow with a moonsault from the top of the cage (which didn’t hurt Wardlow’s credibility, as he kicked out of Cross Rhodes and it took an even bigger move for him to lose). And just when you thought Cody couldn’t become any more beloved, he cut this promo after the show went off the air.

I said it two weeks ago and I’ll say it again here: Cody is the best babyface in North America, and this match and post-show promo proved why.