AEW is going just as far as possible with this deal about wins and losses really mattering.
Just a few days ago, the promotion revealed Cody Rhodes, on the strength of his record, would challenge Chris Jericho for the AEW world championship at the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view scheduled for Nov. 9 in Baltimore. Which, sure, that makes sense.
But what if he loses before then?
As he tells Matt Fowler at IGN:
“This is one of the positive uses of ‘card subject to change.’ I’m coming off a win over Dustin, one of the best of all time, and coming off a win over Shawn Spears, who’s an absolute stud. Those were two huge wins. So me going for the title makes all the sense in the world. But it may not end up being me versus Chris Jericho. Because Chris Jericho still has a title defense before that in Philadelphia. And it may not be me if I take a loss to Sammy Guevara on the premiere episode. I think Chris Jericho is probably going to get through his first title defense, but if he doesn’t we’re going to stick to our word about win/loss records being a deciding factor. It’s really about the data and who has the best record.”
The promotion is still so early in its run that it’s impossible to know just how much flexibility there is with this policy. This works like a charm for now, but will it be the same once weekly television starts up? How about after a full year’s worth of matches?
I guess we’ll just have to stay tuned.