As the card for All Elite Wresting‘s first show, Double or Nothing, takes shape, the absence of an opponent for one of the company’s Executive Vice Presidents has been a topic of speculation. Kenny Omega is set to face Chris Jericho in a grudge match and the Young Bucks to defend their sketchily earned AAA World Tag Team Championships against the Lucha Brothers. However, though Cody was announced to be facing Darby Allin at the second AEW show (Fyter Fest, in collaboration with CEO) in June, he was – in the kayfabe of The Road to Double or Nothing web series – still working on booking his May 25 opponent.
All those keeping up with AEW web content knew about the ??? in “Cody vs. ???” was that this was someone with a close, personal connection to the American Nightmare, leading to theories this wrestler would be revealed to be Goldust, Cody’s real-life brother with whom he held the WWE Tag Team Championships three times in 2013-2014. Goldust denied this on Twitter in March, but on April 20, a new episode of Road to Double or Nothing proved the theories to be correct and the denial to be false.
Goldust, who hasn’t wrestled since taking time off to get knee surgery in July 2018, opens the video by establishing, “This not a new beginning for me in my career. I have done it all in my career.” He compares his legacy with Cody’s, talks about their father, Dusty Rhodes, debuts some serous-looking facepaint, and establishes this as very much a dramatic, familial conflict, with the one moment of BTE-crew-typical humor the bleeding out of the name “Stardust.” The match was later announced as “Cody vs. Dustin” by AEW’s official Twitter account.
What do you think of this match announcement? How do you feel about this version of Goldust/Dustin Rhodes/Dustin? Let us know in the comments!
