AEW News: Chris Jericho’s First World Championship Defense Announced
All Elite Wrestling’s Full Gear pay-per-view might be a couple of months away, but fans can already look forward to the show’s main event.
While speaking to Sports Illustrated, Tony Khan revealed that Chris Jericho’s first defense of his World Championship will be against Cody Rhodes, the executive vice president of the company who has also been on a hot streak in the ring of late.
“Cody earned this opportunity over the summer as he remained unbeaten in singles bouts, scoring pins on a pair of proven veterans, defeating his older brother, the legendary wrestler Dustin Rhodes at Double or Nothing, and beating bitter rival and former partner Shawn Spears at All Out — and battling to a draw with the exciting upstart Darby Allin at Fyter Fest. This is an AEW world championship match that so many All Elite Wrestling fans are excited to witness, and I’m glad we’ll be able to present it at Full Gear.”
Khan is right in saying that Rhodes has put on some impressive showings in the AEW ring. His match against his older brother at the company’s inaugural pay-per-view was given a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer, while his rivalry with Spears has been a real highlight. He’s also a firm fan favorite, so this match will likely delight the AEW faithful.
The match also makes sense from a storyline perspective. Fans of the company’s YouTube shows will have noticed the tension between Jericho and Cody, which stems back to their Road to Double or Nothing series from earlier this year.
Jericho believes that he deserves to be thanked and praised for putting the company on the map. Cody, meanwhile, hasn’t taken too kindly to the way the cocky veteran has been behaving since joining the upstart promotion. The bad blood between the pair should make for a hard-hitting bout at Full Gear.
?Match Announcement?#AEWFullGear
Saturday, November 9th – 7pm Local Start Time
@RoFoArena – Baltimore, MD
AEW World Championship Match
CHRIS JERICHO defends his championship against CODYTickets on Sale Tomorrow at Noon ET / 9am PT – https://t.co/UN1cNj1kQq pic.twitter.com/W3TPjQv1kT
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) September 6, 2019
Jericho’s reign as AEW World Champion has gotten off to an interesting start. After winning the championship at last weekend’s All Out event in a critically acclaimed match against Adam Page, the title was misplaced. As The Inquisitr reported, someone stole the belt from a restaurant that Jericho was attending, but it has since been recovered.
Whether AEW make mention of their champ almost losing the belt in storylines remains to be seen. However, the upcoming match is guaranteed to restore any prestige to the title that may have been lost as a result of the recent headlines.
