Cody vs Havoc on AEW Dynamite this week: A preview
It was revealed, at 12 noon, on Sunday, March 22 via text from The American Nightmare Cody that he'll face Jimmy Havoc this coming Wednesday on AEW Dynamite. Yes, Cody gave out his number a few weeks ago on social media. For those that texted the number, you joined his community where he blasts text messages about his workout, his lovely dog Pharaoh, and match announcements like the one above. It is not a bot. It is real. The website Community is real and this is how both Cody and the Young Bucks are reaching more of their fans.
Now, this is a simple match. There's no story behind it. So I'll make one very quickly as to why this match could be happening.
It was originally planned before our current global situation that on March 25 AEW Dynamite would debut for the first time at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. It was advertised to have a huge main event with a stipulation called Blood and Guts. Blood and Guts would be similar to NXT WarGames.
It would be The Elite (Cody, Matt and Nick Jackson, Kenny, and Hangman Adam Page) vs The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Oritz, and Jake Hager). For months, these teams have battled against each other as single and tag team competitors. Now the situation changed and AEW took commendable actions to have this amazing battle postponed. Tony Khan spoke on the situation on AEW Twitter handle.
On March 25, Jimmy Havoc and Cody will be facing each other for the first time.
Jimmy Havoc is known to be a hardcore wrestler. He started his wrestling career in 2004 wrestling all over Europe, gaining championships, and adapting the hardcore style. Jimmy has wrestled for other organizations like MLW before ultimately joining All Elite Wrestling. Since signing with AEW, Jimmy has showcased his ability to put on good matches. He wrestled on AEW Dark for a bit against Brandon Cutler and Sonny Kiss. Havoc had a fantastic match against Darby Allin and Joey Janela during AEW's All Out PPV. So Jimmy Havoc has charisma and star power to bring his match with Cody to the very limits.
Now, Cody isn't a main star just because of his family lineage. Cody worked hard to get into this position. And it's not a waste to have him face Havoc. This will be his test of endurance, strength, and mind to overcome a hardcore athlete. If Blood and Guts were originally happening on March 25, Cody wouldn't have to worry too much. Cody's been in hardcore battles before like Money in the Bank matches from WWE, the first-ever cage match on AEW Dynamite, and busting his head open on the ramp.
This match is a warm-up to what Blood and Guts will be once it finally happens. Kenny Omega already has experience in hardcore matches. Not too long ago, he faced Jon Moxley in a Lights Out Match. The Young Bucks have had their share of hardcore matches with limited experiences like Cody and so has Hangman Page. Everything that AEW does is full circle and does have a little piece of story behind each action done. This match announcement is no different.
Who will win? The obvious choice will be Cody. However, we saw last week on AEW Dynamite that Cody became distracted by MJF yelling from the crowd side. This allowed Santana to gain a slight advantage over Cody until Cody slowed down the match with his snap power slam. Will MJF be at crowd side this Wednesday yelling and giving a reaction to have Cody distracted again? And if so, how much is Jimmy Havoc willing to capitalize on it?
Now, imagine if Havoc won this match against Cody. Not only will that bump him up in the AEW Rankings, but he'll start to live rent-free in Cody's mind. Havoc is a young performer and usually, fans cry about when "older" wrestlers don't put over the younger talent. Not calling Cody old, just using it as an example. If Cody puts over Havoc in this match, not only will it look bad on his AEW career ever since losing to MJF at AEW Revolution, but also bring down his moral as we head into Blood and Guts in the future. Cody will brush off the loss -- if it were to happen -- just like how he brushed off losing to Chris Jericho for the chance at becoming AEW World Heavyweight Champion. But if Havoc loses, Havoc still wins in the minds and hearts of his supporters.