AEW: Darby Allin needs one more step before he can beat Cody Rhodes

Darby Allin was the fan-favorite to win AEW’s tournament to crown the first TNT Champion, but, once again, he fell short against Cody Rhodes.

Although it’s not a bitter rivalry, the long-standing story between Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin is one of the most captivating plotlines in AEW right now.

It all started at Fyter Fest when Allin established himself as THE upstart in the company’s Men’s Division, taking the former ROH World Champion to a literal limit in a time limit match. Allin won the respect of both Cody and the fans of the new promotion.

He took that momentum into AEW Dynamite, skating into the ring and taking more hellacious bumps on television. Allin was quickly tabbed by many fans as the most likely future star among the wrestlers AEW will one day call “homegrown” talent.

But Allin couldn’t defeat Cody the second time the two faced each other on New Year’s Day, as Cody’s new manager, Arn Anderson, dialed up just the right advice for his new protege.

So fans thought the third time would be a charm. It seemed like everything was lining up perfectly for Allin, who defeated fellow rising star and former Inner Circle rival Sammy Guevara in the quarterfinals, to finally vanquish the current male face of AEW.

Instead, Allin fell short for a second time, but under even more dicy circumstances. Allin seemingly had the match won, hitting a picture-perfect “Coffin Drop” on Rhodes for what looked like the finish.

But in a bizarre twist, Cody grabbed Allin while lying down from the finish’s impact, turned himself over, and rolled up Allin with his opponent’s shoulders on the mat for a controversial three-count.

The finish deflated fans who were one thousand percent behind Allin and ready to see him go up against the massive Lance Archer, who did indeed take care of business against Cody’s brother Dustin later that night.

Instead, AEW fans had to watch as Cody used his veteran guile and years of wrestling experience to pick up a win that felt cheap but could do a lot for Allin in the long run.

Cody already had a massive experience advantage against Allin going into this match, and the benefit of having Arn Anderson in his corner has been evident. Although Arn wasn’t at ringside for this match, his influence was probably felt in the “film room”, as Cody clearly had planned to use this roll-up as a counter to Allin’s “Coffin Drop”, knowing full well that Allin would hit it in this match. After all, Allin knows Cody well and is on the cusp of beating him, so “The American Nightmare” had to find a trick up his sleeve.

Allin will get his win over Cody, and it will be amazing. But in order to finally defeat the crafty Cody, he needs to learn how to find his own tricks and turn a weakness of Cody’s into a strength. Going for a “Cross Rhodes” was a nice idea, but was he really going to win by stealing a finishing maneuver? Allin needs to think deeper than that, because he’s going up against multiple great wrestling minds when he faces Cody.

Once Allin can figure out a plan of attack and win the chess match against Cody, he’ll find a difference-maker that will yield a massive victory in the future. And who knows? Maybe instead of a win in a tournament match for a television title, he’ll beat Cody on an even bigger stage.