AEW Dynamite comes to us once again here tonight. The eight-man single-elimination TNT Championship Tournament begins this evening! Cody Rhodes takes on Shawn Spears in an AEW All Out rematch here in the first round. My name is Jordan Huie, you are here with us at the Overtimer where you can expect the same coverage as always for tonight’s show. That means a live recap and results as they come, plus previews of the announced matches. With the show already ongoing, let’s get to it!
TNT Championship Tournament First Round: Cody vs. Shawn Spears
This one goes back a long, long ways. Shawn Spears and Cody were of course close personal friends from way back in the day, going back to Cody’s training in OVW. It seemed that on some level Spears was always jealous of Cody rising up ahead of him and always being a step above him. It came to a boil when Cody got Spears signed to AEW but made it clear he didn’t expect much more out of him than being “a good hand”, which really set him off. At AEW Fyter Fest last year, Spears delivered the chair shot that would end up defining him in AEW. He bust Cody wide open with the shot in a nasty scene which made for an immediately hot feud. Quickly christened the Chairman of AEW, Spears ultimately lost to Cody at AEW All Out and since then he really hasn’t gotten that momentum back.
He has quite the chance to get back into the thick of things though, here in this TNT Championship Tournament. For Cody though it’s a much more significant thing, arguably the title means more to him than anyone. After all, he’s barred from ever competing for the AEW World Championship, lest he renege on the stip he set for himself after AEW Full Gear. So in the TNT Championship, a title that behind the scenes Cody seemed to be the main proponent for even before this happened, he has a singles title he can actually compete for.
I didn’t end up getting the chance to do a real bracket prediction like I wanted but suffice to say, I think the obvious thing everyone is picking – for good reason – is a Cody/Lance Archer final. And if nothing else this first match sure seems a lock. Cody to advance.
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