Match Spotlight: Cody Rhodes Vs MJF, AEW Revolution 2020

The AEW Men's World Championship match at the upcoming Revolution pay-per-view between MJF and Hangman Page will likely be one of the most chaotic main events in company history as they will compete in a Texas Death Match. However, there is another stipulation attached to it that could have major ramifications for the future of the world title scene, that being that if Hangman fails to beat MJF this Sunday, he will never challenge for the AEW Men's World Championship ever again. Younger AEW fans might hear that and think "surely that won't stick," but those who have been fans of AEW since the beginning will know that it has been done before and it did in fact stick.

At AEW Full Gear 2019, everything pointed to Cody Rhodes becoming the face of the company he helped create as he challenged Chris Jericho for the AEW Men's World Championship. Rhodes felt like this match was the pinnacle of his career and felt like if he couldn't beat "Le Champion," he didn't deserve to be the champion, and vowed to never challenge for the AEW Men's World Championship again. In Cody's corner was none other than Maxwell Jacob Friedman, who claimed that he was Cody's best friend and wanted to make sure that there would be a level playing field given Jericho's Inner Circle would always be on hand to make sure Jericho got the win.

As the match went on, Cody's hopes of becoming champion started to fade, but not to the point where the towel needed throwing in. The problem was no one told MJF that last point, and as Cody was fighting against Jericho's Lion Tamer, MJF threw in the towel and just like that, Cody Rhodes was never going to be the AEW Men's World Champion. Not a lot of people thought the stipulation would last as it seemed inconceivable that Rhodes would never be the AEW Men's World Champion, but sure enough, he never held the title and was back in WWE by WrestleMania 38 in 2022. 

With Hangman Page currently walking down the same dangerous path in terms of his own championship aspirations, we thought it would be the right time to look back on what could be in his future if he doesn't walk out of Revolution with the title around his waist. Cody had to jump through a lot of hoops to get revenge on the man who could end Hangman's title dreams this Sunday, but was the revenge worth it? Let's roll back the clock to the final AEW pay-per-view before the world shut down due to COVID-19 and take a look at Cody Rhodes vs. MJF from AEW Revolution 2020.

AEW Revolution 2020 is regarded by many as one of the company's best ever pay-per-views. It's a show that holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts, not just for the fact that it was the last major American show before the world shut down because of the pandemic, but because it was the culmination of several weeks of TV where AEW finally found its weekly groove. Had the pandemic not happened, who knows what would have happened if the road to Double or Nothing happened in front of a live crowd? So many matches from this show are held in high regard, but Cody Rhodes vs. MJF isn't usually one of them, and for good reason, because it doesn't live up to the hype.

I know it has nothing to do with the match, but the live performance from Downstait is really bad, like really bad. There's a reason why WWE have never brought them in to play Cody to the ring at a WrestleMania, and this entrance is one of them. This match is also the first time where the world got to see the famous neck tattoo, which we've all become used to by now but let me tell you when it was first revealed, it was very funny.

On to the match and it's the typical AEW Cody match from the company's first year. He always wanted to be the "emotional" match that was in the middle of the show which played on old tropes from the past while the rest of The Elite took the high spots and the NJPW-epic style. It worked well for his match with Dustin Rhodes, and you would have thought it would work here given the clear babyface/heel divide, but sadly this match is not as good as it was in 2020. It starts slow and continues to be slow for what feels like ages before things really get going, and how things get going is when they actually play into all of the shenanigans that led to the match. MJF ripping Cody's boot off to bite the toe he broke in the Steel Cage Match against Wardlow was a personal highlight, and credit to Cody for wrestling the rest of the match with one boot. 

MJF gets busted open for absolutely no reason, but he sells the blade job very well and you can feel the crowd getting behind Cody as MJF is finally getting what has been coming to him. Even Wardlow is neutralized on the outside as Arn Anderson threatens to hit him with a chair, and Brandi Rhodes tries a Crossbody which doesn't go exactly to plan. However, Cody let the heat of the moment get to him as he hit MJF with two Cross Rhodes', but as he was going for the hat-trick, MJF managed to sneak in a sucker punch with the Dynamite Diamond Ring, and MJF gets the win over the "American Nightmare."

I completely get why Cody Rhodes did what he did in this MJF story. He was looking to make a new star and put them over in a big way, so having Maxwell Jacob Friedman pick up the big win makes sense. But in a story where your potential in a wrestling company has had a ceiling put on it against your will, you would think that having Cody go over in this match would make the most sense. You can give him the feel good victory, the consolation prize of not challenging for the top prize but taking care of the guy who cost you that chance.

After this story, the world was plunged into darkness with COVID-19, but it's interesting how Cody never really joined forces with the rest of The Elite around this time. It reached a point where Cody was meant to be part of the first-ever Blood and Guts match with The Elite against The Inner Circle, but when that match was reworked into what became the inaugural Stadium Stampede, Matt Hardy teamed with The Elite and not Cody. "The American Nightmare" did get three reigns with the AEW TNT Championship, a title many thought was designed for him since he couldn't win the world title, but those reigns could never match what he could have done as the world champion.

It must have really bothered Cody at the time as well. The idea of him never challenging for the AEW Men's World Championship at the time seemed ridiculous, but as time went on, the main event scene grew and evolved to the point where it actually didn't need Cody. It had moved past the need for him as the Hangman Page story grew and grew, Kenny Omega's belt collector gimmick, and Jon Moxley being the ace of the company made people go "Did Cody just shoot himself in the foot?" Yes, yes he did. The stipulation might not have stuck had he stayed with AEW, but I don't think he stayed in AEW because of the stipulation. The man himself has even said that he became something of a "gatekeeper" for younger talent after he couldn't challenge for the title, and that was a role he didn't end up wanting because he still had to finish his story at some point. 

The stipulation of him never challenging for the world title was very stupid for Cody in hindsight, and if it never happened, the landscape of AEW and the wider world of professional wrestling would look very different (don't worry, we have something on that coming soon). But I think everything worked out for everyone in the long run. When Cody went back to WWE, he got the chance to be the guy in a company that needed a guy like him, it really was a perfect fit. AEW has not just survived, but thrived since his departure, and as for MJF, he's the current world champion, so it's safe to say he's doing alright for himself as well.