“Now you bow to me.”
-Downstait, “Kingdom”
At midnight on January 1st, pacific standard time, the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion became his own boss. Alongside Hangman Page, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson, the Grandson of a Plumber announced intentions to start All Elite Wrestling in 2019, and ascended from the working class to the ruling class. Cody Rhodes became a wrestling promoter, capping a tenure on the independent scene that has always felt a little bit like a scouting mission.
Cody’s 2018 was his first year beholden to any specific company. After a 2016 & 2017 that saw him work in every promotion from NJPW to Ring of Honor to IMPACT Wrestling to every outlaw independent company, Cody settled down as a full-fledged property of the NJPW/ROH partnership. He did not rest on the good-money deal though. In 2018, Cody dreamed a little bigger.
Fresh off losing the Ring of Honor World Championship at Final Battle 2017, Cody was starting to feel a little more like one of the boys. He started the year with a loss to Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 12. It was a bout that felt like the NJPW-style match that Cody had yet to have in the promotion. His matches with Juice Robinson & Kazuchika Okada had left fans with a bitter-WWE taste in their mouths, and the match with Ibushi provided a fresh blast of Listerine.
The next night at Korakuen Hall, Cody won a tag match for Bullet Club, and then attacked Ibushi after the match. He was stopped by Bullet Club leader, and Ibushi’s former tag partner, Kenny Omega. It was during Omega’s post-scuffle call for unity that he tried to welcome Jay White to Bullet Club. White would use the opportunity to attack Omega, and deliver a severe wound to Bullet Club.
The attack led directly to White taking Omega’s IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at New Beginning In Sapporo. Post-match, Hangman Page tried to challenge the new champion, but Omega stopped Page. This led to Cody Rhodes staging a coup and attacking Kenny Omega, delivering his Cross Rhodes finisher on the Bullet Club leader. Just as Cody was going in for the kill, he was rushed off by Kota Ibushi. In attacking Omega, Rhodes had accidentally reunited one of the most powerful forces in pro-wrestling, The Golden Lovers.
Cody and Kenny spent the early part of 2018 at each other’s throats. Cody often inserting himself into Omega and Ibushi’s lives. Omega and Rhodes came to blows in an Honor Rising tag match, that saw Marty Scurll take the fall for Team Cody. Cody then gained a modicum of revenge, defeating The Golden Lovers in a tag match at Sakura Genesis. The whole time Cody carried himself as the Brand Ambassador of Bullet Club, repeatedly proclaiming “Bullet Club is fine,” during this tempestuous moment.
It was during these early stages of the Bullet Club Civil War that Cody seemed to finally pull Matt & Nick Jackson under his wing. The strife got so bad that The Jacksons found themselves facing The Golden Lovers at Strong Style: Evolved. The next month, at Supercard of Honor, The Bucks found themselves playing a pivotal role in Cody’s main event victory over Omega. A stereo superkick to the face of The Cleaner earned The American Nightmare the pinfall, legitimizing his claim to Bullet Club leadership.
At Wrestling Dontaku, Bullet Club’s Five Year Anniversary, Cody beat Kota Ibushi in a blistering contest. He avenged his Wrestle Kingdom loss, and was riding a great wave of success. He’d recently made a bet that was about to pay off.
A little over a week after Wrestling Dontaku, Cody Rhodes, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson bet on themselves and sold 10,000 tickets to an event that had no advertised matches. Based on a bet with journalist Dave Meltzer, ALL IN would be a single night in September, from the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, IL. It was already the most tickets sold for a non-WWE affiliated professional wrestling event in America, since the dying days of WCW.
Cody turned the success of ALL IN into an opportunity, and after Kenny Omega won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Dominion, The American Nightmare was named the number one contender. In the main event of G1 Special In San Francisco, Rhodes & Omega had a weapons-filled brawl that felt like it could’ve fit in any WWE event. Rhodes was unsuccessful.
After the match, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Bad Luck Fale & King Haku attacked Kenny, and the rest of the colonizing forces of The Elite. They gave Cody a chair, essentially asking him to join them. Cody refused to betray the men that had bet on him, and was brutalized by the Tongans.
The attack led to a moment of unity in San Francisco. Having been consumed by petty jealousies, Cody, Kenny, The Bucks, Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, and the rest made amends in the ring, and helped each other to the back. Cody and Kenny hugged, and Cody abdicated any claim to the Bullet Club Elite throne to Kenny Omega.
That night in San Francisco also marked a big moment for another foreign star of New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Juice Robinson defeated fellow-NJPW Dojo-trainee Jay White to become the IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, becoming the first United States born champion in the belt’s short history. The victory marked Juice’s first championship in New Japan.
Cody spent most of the summer preparing for ALL IN. Juice spent the summer battling the top stars of NJPW in the 2018 G1 Climax. Robinson’s G1 was less than stellar, ending with a record of 3 wins and 6 losses. During the G1 Climax Finals, Cody pinned Juice Robinson in a tag match, and declared himself Juice’s next challenger for the IWGP United States Championship. Before that match could take place, Cody had a little match in Hoffman Estates, IL.
While the final match at ALL IN was a tag match that saw Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & Kota Ibushi take on Bandido, Rey Fenix & Rey Mysterio, the real main event happened half-way through the card. Cody Rhodes took on NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. Aldis entered the match flanked by business partners like Jeff Jarrett & Tim Storm, while Cody entered with his wife and his dog. For the first time since joining the independent wrestling world, Cody Rhodes didn’t feel like the corporate war raider that had been spending his run on the independents acting like Bullet Club’s brand ambassador. With his wife and dog at ringside, with his father’s ghost watching from some other plain, Cody Rhodes won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Carrying his father’s championship, a certified draw, Rhodes rode the great wave to Fighting Spirit Unleashed. Rhodes challenged Juice Robinson for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. For Rhodes, it was a chance to become a double champion. For Robinson, it would’ve been a chance at revenge.
It was a rematch from Cody’s very first NJPW match. At Wrestle Kingdom 11, Cody debuted in New Japan, taking on a man that was every bit The American Nightmare’s mirror. Juice Robinson was CJ Parker in Florida Championship Wrestling and WWE NXT, while Cody Rhodes was winning titles on the WWE main roster.
CJ Parker asked for his release in April of 2015, and bet on himself. He relocated and joined the New Japan Dojo, where he trained alongside standouts like David Finlay & “Switchblade” Jay White. Robinson caught on with the Japanese fanbase quickly. By the time Cody Rhodes asked for his release from WWE in May of 2016, Juice was already tagging alongside stars like Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Juice was the perfect first opponent for Cody. He was thoroughly trained in the NJPW style, while also versed in the WWE structure that has seemingly defined Cody’s style. Cody beat Juice that night in Tokyo.
At Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Cody beat Juice again. Cody was now a double champion. Could he make it three?
At the end of Fighting Spirit Unleashed, Kenny Omega named Kota Ibushi as his next challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but Cody wasn’t done with The Golden Lovers. Rhodes inserted himself into the main event of King of Pro Wrestling.
Rhodes once again failed to take the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, he lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. As 2018 neared its close, questions began to swirl about the future of Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes confirmed that his Ring of Honor World Championship match at Final Battle would be his last for the Sinclair Broadcasting-owned company. Rhodes entered Ring of Honor by pinning Jay Lethal, and then left Ring of Honor being pinned by Jay Lethal. The Young Bucks were also set to leave. Where were Cody & The Bucks going?
During all the uncertain time, New Japan management scrambled, booking Cody to defend his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Juice Robinson. Then January 1st happened. Now we know that Cody Rhodes is likely facing his very first New Japan Pro-Wrestling opponent in likely his last New Japan Pro-Wrestling match, at least for now.
Juice and Cody are both at the highest points of their careers. Juice Robinson heads into 2019 as a man of the people in Japan. Women love him, men want to get high with him, everyone wants to be Juice Robinson. Cody Rhodes heads into 2019 as the Executive Vice President of All Elite Wrestling, ready to step out of his father’s shadow, on the path to his own legacy in the wrestling world.
