In something of a surprise, just an hour into the pay-per-view portion of tonight’s (Sat., Sept. 1, 2018) ALL IN event at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois, Cody (accompanied by Tommy Dreamer, DDP, and his dog) and Nick Aldis (accompanied by Jeff Jarrett, among others) made their way out to do battle for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship in one of the most highly anticipated matches of the evening.
Earl Hebner was referee, and he even got some microphone time to say he’s known both competitors for many years, and best of luck to them. The crowd was super hot for the match, a very traditional, old school heavyweight title match.
It felt big.
The crowd is hot for the start of Cody Rhodes-Nick Aldis #AllIn pic.twitter.com/JTlXvt0L7S
— Justin Barrasso (@JustinBarrasso) September 2, 2018
At one point, Cody was down on the outside after an elbow from Aldis and DDP came out to help him up. Shawn Daivari, who was out with Aldis, hit the scene to confront Page and, of course, they ended up in the ring so Dallas could hit the Diamond Cutter.
That got a big pop.
It also gave Rhodes time to get some color on the outside, for the sake of a good visual when they resumed the action. The remainder of the match featured Aldis controlling the action, and Cody taking a beating, so much so that his wife was pleading with him, saying “you don’t have to do this.” She even covered him before Aldis went for a diving elbow drop, and ended up taking the brunt of it when the champion came crashing down.
Cody couldn’t score the pin after the Cross Rhodes but after a series of reversals, Cody took advantage of a sunset flip with a rana pin that was enough to get the three count to win the title his father last won in 1986.
Get complete ALL IN results and coverage of the entire card here.