Cody Rhodes has finally broken his silence about a potential third match with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis and the signs are not good.
During his recent conference call, the AEW TNT Champion was quizzed on the possibility of a rubber bout as well as an AEW/NWA cross-promoted show. Seeing as both brands have done business to allow the NWA World Women’s Championship to appear on Dynamite and be put around the waist of an AEW contracted star, surely there would be no problem.
However, according to Cody, he doesn’t see the latter happening even though NJPW and Ring of Honor made it work with their G1 Supercard on April 6, 2019:
“The doors are open. The bridges are down. One thing I’m pretty sure, I don’t think we’ll ever do a cross-promoted show where we’re running two different banners. We’re very proud of our own identity. It doesn’t mean we won’t cross over or they won’t cross over.”
A blow for fans of both promotions. However, the cross-branding soon lead to the inevitable topic of if there would ever be a third bout between the Rhodes family member and the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Nick Aldis.
Both men have met before for the coveted NWA World Heavyweight Championship. In their first clash at All In on September 1, 2018, Cody shocked the Brit in order to lift the gold that once belonged to his father.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBxINBVhToA
Second time around, Aldis tied the rivalry at one victory apiece when the pair met at NWA’s 70th Anniversary Show on October 21, 2018, in a 2-Out-of-3-Falls Match to reclaim the gold he has held for well over 700 days.
Cody had this to say about a potential third outing with the history making Brit:
“I will say, the more that Billy and Tony talk and the more you see that NWA presence, I’ve often brought it up, ‘Well, the lingering question is going to be when, how, where’ with a Nick Aldis vs. Cody 3. If anyone knows anything about how the second match went down and if anybody knows anything about the general nature or atmosphere of that, it’s probably best if we leave it at two [matches]. We had a great experience. One of my favorite memories of my life was the opening, 30 seconds, first minute of All In and sharing that moment with Nick. Nothing but respect and love for Nick. I would bet you though, it would be very difficult for that third match to happen. The parties involved are very particular about the other party involved. It’s not impossible. We did it once before and it was a beautiful piece of business. I’m glad they were able to take that moment at All In and parlay it into more success for themselves. That’s the beauty of wrestling. We’re all lifting one another up or at least that’s the point. But I don’t know if you’ll ever see that third match. If it happens, I would be quite blown away if it happens. But never say never.”
It looks like for now the third match in their series will have to be a mere fantasy. However, the hope is there that should business be able to be done, then we can finally get a deciding bout between two of the greatest champions in the world today.
Credit for the transcript: Fightful