This week’s AEW Dynamite marked Cody Rhodes’ first TNT Championship defense since he won the title back from Brodie Lee in a vicious Dog Collar Match. Unfortunately for Rhodes, his first defense didn’t pan out the way he hoped, as Orange Cassidy was on the verge of beating him just as the 20-minute time limit expired. Cassidy will challenge Rhodes for the title again on the Oct. 28 episode of Dynamite, and the winner of that match will face Darby Allin at the Full Gear pay-per-view on Nov. 7.
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Rhodes popped up on Twitter on Thursday morning to respond to the match’s finish, pointing out the champion’s advantage rule while saying things would get settled in the rematch.
Not personally satisfying – I wanted a W.
But the “champions’ advantage” is something every competitor is aware of.
Any narrative about OC not being able to slug it out or push it into that next gear, total BS. Dude is a warrior.
In 2 weeks we can settle it. https://t.co/StGvI7k1MP
— Cody (@CodyRhodes) October 15, 2020
In a new interview with USA TODAY this week, Rhodes talked about what he wants to change about his performance in AEW Dynamite’s second year on TNT.
“I wanted to really promote the brand, I wanted to pound the pavement, but in speaking I kind of confined our product, I tried to give an identity to a product (when the) identity is evolving, its identity is growing. AEW is going to have a different identity in Year One than it has in Year Two, and we want that identity and that flavor profile to improve. But to say it’s one thing would be incorrect because wrestling is something that there’s no one specific way to do it right. There’s many different ways to do it right.”
“So I spoke too much as an executive in my efforts to promote the brand and a lot of this kind of click-bait journalism (followed) in areas where what I said was taken out of context and might have rubbed people the wrong way or might have created more tension between an NXT fan and an AEW fan. A little less talk from me, a little more action, is one of my goals (going forward).”
Here’s what AEW has lined up for the Full Gear event so far:
- TNT Championship: Cody Rhodes/Orange Cassidy vs. Darby Allin
- AEW World Tag Team Championships: FTR vs. The Young Bucks/Private Party/The Butcher & The Blade/The Dark Order
- AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament Finals
