2019 Ongoing MOTY List: Dustin vs. Cody

2. Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody AEW 5/25

ER: This was incredible. Dustin is one of my favorite workers ever (not a controversial statement around these parts), a guy we've been seeing wrestle for literally more than 60% of his life, and his level of quality has remained relatively high over that 30+ year span. And his performance in this match makes a compelling argument for the greatest performance of his life. Cody doesn't do a lot for me, and I don't think it's controversial to say that the best performances of his career have come with his brother. Their 2014 tag team was especially memorable and what immediately comes to mind when I think of "Cody's best work era". But I find his mannerisms silly, that sledgehammer moment was one of the biggest air balls I've seen in a wrestling presentation, the kind of thing that would deservedly haunt a show had it not delivered. And while Cody did plenty of so-so offense here (and apparently three different moves are called the Cross Rhodes), I don't think he was a zero. I think his contributions added more than detracted, he was just always going to be the background guy. This was Dustin's show.

Dustin is looking more like the son of Dory Funk than the son of a son of a plumber. They both look like various stages of a David Morse biopic. And those sad eyes were a big key to this story. The build-up and execution of the moment Dustin runs face first into the middle buckle is one of my favorite wrestling spots of the decade, and it's great that it leads directly to the match being elevated to greatness. Dustin hits an all time blade job, I mean legendary status, and it informs every single moment in the rest of the match. Every Dustin comeback feels bigger, every bit of damage he takes feels more dire, and everything feels much grosser. At one point blood is streaming out of his head in a continuous stream; at another, Cody is punching him right in the cut and his hands and knuckles are covered in blood. It felt like a fight out of an S. Craig Zahla movie. Dustin has so much good offense throughout, his old man 619 and rolling senton combo to the floor, his nearfall powerslams sending both men over in a spray of blood, the code red out of the corner, and every single punch and slap bounced off Cody's head. The nearfalls all landed big, and although I agree with Phil that the way Cody won felt anti-climactic, I also thought it was cool that he had to keep putting down his brother to get to a "stop it, he's already dead!" moment. Wouldn't it be great for Dustin to go out working his last few years as a LA Park style old man draw?

PAS: Opening part of this match was just OK, Cody doesn't really have good looking offense and some of the spots felt more cute then impactful. I loved the set up for the Dustin blade job, with Dustin setting up the nut kick, Cody removing the second turnbuckle to block it, and and Cody drop toe holding Dustin into the exposed buckle. That Dustin blade job was an all timer, it looked liked Strawberry Fanta was coming out of a fountain soda machine. I liked Cody's knuckle punches to the cut, and the figure four spot was really well executed. The punch exchange at the end of the match actually felt like a fist fight between brothers, and I loved the Code Red. I thought the ending was a bit anti-climactic, but man what a performance by Dustin. It was all bleeding, selling and emotion. It is up there with some of the best last ride, old man matches I have ever seen, and last ride old man matches are some of my favorite types.


2019 MOTY MASTER LIST