Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks pulled off the near impossible over the weekend, packing the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago with more than 11,000 fans for All In, the largest independent wrestling show ever.
The Young Bucks closed the show in a six-man tag match with Kota Ibushi, defeating Rey Mysterio, Rey Fenix, and Bandido, while Cody took on Nick Aldis for the NWA Heavyweight Championship early on in the main card. For many fans, even those that follow the independent circuit closely, the NWA title hasn’t been much of a focal point for a long time, but at All In, with a Rhodes involved, it was once again elevated to that elite strata of wrestling titles.
Cody and Aldis put on a strong match that featured plenty of nostalgia — such as Diamond Dallas Page running in for a diamond cutter on Shawn Daivari — and resulted in a Rhodes holding the NWA title once again. The emotion shown by Cody after the match was so raw that you couldn’t help but feel excited for him — that showed throughout the match in the crowd’s reactions to Cody, the heeliest heel in wrestling, getting the most babyface pops and chants possible from the All In crowd.
For those that missed the match, or just want to relive it, Dave Lagana and the folks with the NWA put together a phenomenal 13 minute video that features plenty of footage of the match, as well as Cody and Aldis talking about the importance of the match and footage of the build up to All In and the backstage preparations during the show.
You can tell how much it means to Cody, understanding what the title has meant to his family with Dusty holding the ten pounds of gold so many years ago. The footage of the guys in the arena before the show, in awe of what they’ve accomplished in putting on this event is also really cool to see.
