Flip Gordon’s rise to world title contention has been swift, using just a short time in Ring of Honor to climb the mountain, consistently standing across the squared circle from some of the organization’s best.
On Friday night in Nashville, Gordon will have the opportunity to join an exclusive club when he takes on NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis for the title at Honor For All. Even more so, if Gordon wins, he’ll be booked for All In in Chicago, defending the title against Cody Rhodes.
“Aldis is a world-class competitor. He’s much bigger than me. He’s been doing this way longer than me. He’s a world champion for a reason. This is going to be my biggest task,” Gordon said in an interview with Uproxx.
“It would mean everything to me (to bring home the title). The legacy of that championship, the opportunity at hand. Not only will I walk away the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, but I’d walk away booked for All In.”
Gordon has had numerous opportunities to punch his ticket to All In, Cody and the Young Bucks’ self-funded 10,000-seat show that sold out in under an hour. After losing to Rhodes back in March, Gordon dropped his second chance at getting booked against MJF and Madison Rayne back in early June.
Despite his All In stumbles, the 26-year-old Gordon is rattling off a career year. He’s lived out childhood dreams by wrestling in same ring as Rey Mysterio, landing in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in New Japan and working his way through CMLL in Mexico.
Gordon is negotiating his return to NJPW after a standout showing in Japan and has come to an agreement to return to CMLL later in 2018.
But come Friday, Gordon will put all his successes and failures in the back of his mind, with just one goal — win. He can have it all, winning the historic NWA title and finally landing at All In. Or he could miss out on everything, dropping a literal golden opportunity (10 pounds of gold in fact) to win a major world title and missing out on being booked for the September extravaganza.
“Friday is a career-defining match. If I win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, I go down in the history books forever,” he said.
“Wouldn’t that just be the sweeter payback. After everything (Cody has) put me through over the last year. For me to get the championship he wants. For Flip Gordon to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion before Cody. I can’t think of anything sweeter.
Flip before Cody. Kind of rolls off the tongue.”
The Nashville event, Honor For All, will stream live and free for all HonorClub members at 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday.
