Cody Rhodes vs. Logan Paul

[8.0] "Character driven in ring storytelling. The story of this one was Cody wanting to teach Logan Paul a lesson since during his time in the WWE, all of his big matches that he won it has came as the result of antics via cheating or using brass knuckles so before their match Cody let him know during the contract signing and the final promo segment before queen and king of the ring that as physically gifted that he is as long as you continue to treat WWE as a side hustle, he will never reach the heights Cody has by becoming world champ one day. The first part of this lesson was mentioning that the 92' wargames match took place 32 years to the day in Jacksonville Florida, the same location of the Jacksonville Coliseum which now goes by VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. A match that Logan Paul doesn't even know about or even watched for that matter. From the displays of chain/amateur wrestling between both men during the early feel out process, which was very physical, very deliberate, to then Logan getting a lot of time in control with his work on top with a deliberate attack on the ribs with some brilliant selling from Cody before he made his comeback that turned into a nice back and forth affair after Logan countered a crossbody attempt from Cody. Logan did a lot of little things well in this match in my opinion, his facial expressions after getting some close near falls to becoming the new champ, his heel work/trash talk added another element, as well as his banter with Michael Cole who was on his ass about going back on his word out of desperation. Anytime Logan was on the fence, he would attack Cody's ribs to slow down his momentum when he was sprinkling in his comeback and hope spots. What's one way to teach someone a lesson in wrestling? To do things you aren't accustomed of doing and via performance in said match. Cody sprinkled in his signatures offence, pulled out a vertabreaker and hit a final reckoning, paying homage to his brother Dustin since aew double or nothing was taken place later on that night with it being the 5 year anniversary from when he faced his brother on that show in a match that has aged so well to this day, pulling out two moves he hasn't done before in the WWE since his return back in 2022, a nice little history lesson here. I also loved how that he wanted to pin Logan dead center in the ring when he could have won the match via countout to show Logan what it looks like to be a fighting champion and by doing things the honourable way, nice little detail there. That moment nearly cost him tho cause then he attempted to put Logan through a table like how Logan tried to do earlier with the pedigree attempt before Cody reversed it into a cutter on the table. I like how Corey Graves mentioned the same thing happened to Roman at mania when he let his frustration for Seth cost him the match when he had a chance to put Cody away but got caught up in shield lore that still haunts him to this day because of how earth shattering the betrayal was. Instead of bringing Logan back into the ring after that cutter spot, he wanted to continue the lesson he wanted to teach Logan in the match by putting him through a table out of frustration for the bullshit Logan has pulled in this match until Logan got the better of him, pushing him into the steel steps ring first and then delivering the lucky punch leading to the splash onto the announce table, which then proceeded into another one inside the ring for another close nearfall. None of Logan's buddies took away from this match, he is a heel, he's gonna do what he has to do to try and win the match out of desperation. It's a Logan Paul match after all, before he dropped the us title, when was the last time no shenanigans were involved in any of his matches? Especially near the end since Logan Paul promised to the world he wasn't going to use brass knuckles even tho he did earlier in the match and when he attempted to do it again, Ibrahem Al Hajjaj put a stop to it while the referee was down after Logan tried to pull a fast one out of desperation when he hit Cody with a low blow. Shortly after, Cody reminded Logan just who the hell he is, the fuckin ace. Putting Logan down with 3 Cross Rhodes, the same thing he did to beat Roman, who celebrated a birthday that day, another lesson right there in itself. Despite the bullshit Logan tried to pull, it wasn't enough to get the job done. A much different match than the one in France but it all worked out in the end to a pretty compelling title defence for the Codester, who did a pretty good job to show how adaptable he was working different styles from all the various matches he worked from his time away from the WWE during his first run as world champ. A lengthy review but well worth the read. ****"

[8.0] "Another regrettably fun Logan Paul match. Overall the in ring stuff was good, Logan had his viral moment with the splash through the table, and the dynamic between him and Michael Cole was pretty funny. Cody was always gonna win this though. (7.75/10)"

[5.0] "Cody is just not someone who can bring a fun match out of logan because he has such an old school basic style. So this match just ends up never clicking but with how over Cody is and Logan being a decent athletic wise this does never turn into something bad. Could have used Cody maybe looking a little more strong but feels like a small thing just because Logan is an outsider"

[9.0] "Such a fantastic and really fun match between both men with fantastic action, spots and chemistry between each other and Logan Paul always seems to bring the best out of his in ring capabilities whenever he's wrestling in Saudi Arabia."

[5.0] "The match itself is objectively fine, I really don't think it's anything special, but it's a competently wrested match, my issues lie within the fact that I just did not care whilst watching, I'm fine with predictable matches but this was a step too far where I wasn't in any way invested, I don't like Logan Paul, he has massive go away heat for me and I'm disappointed that Cody's title reign in being wasted in what feels like a mid-card feud."

[7.0] "[3.5*] I am actually surprised by how much close this rating is to Gunther vs Orton. I mean, in my honest opinion, the KOTR Final is like a Fillet Mignon, and this one is like the new Super McDonalds Burger. The other one is so much more sophisticated, with a lot of small details, dedication to the selling, psychology and etc. This one is much more of a mainstream match, that represents exactly what Logan is, with a search for viral moments and focus on the big spots. I think both styles are necessary and I respect both. I was highly entertained throughout the whole bout, those 25 minutes flew by and it was indeed a super easy-watch with a formula that could not go wrong. Cody did his usual things like the Dustin finisher, the bionic elbow, the drama when he asks the referee to stop the count (lmfao) and even a fucking Vertebreaker. Logan hold himself pretty well, even on the more technical start of the match, and his major highlight was obviously the splash through the table. As much as the KOTR Final, I think the ending was the worst part of the match, and I really disliked this random announcer being the hero of the night, that sucked. Sportswashing sucks."

[7.0] "I found the match endless and the finish with Cody unleashing as always 3 cross rhodes was useless as hell. They managed to make a good wrestling matchup regardless."

[6.0] "I can't understand why there was such a stupid ending like that. Cody Rhodes made a shitty figure after this match, due to this interference by an anonymous local celebrity in Saudi Arabi. Why the fuck did they think an ending like that would make sense? (6.5/10)"

[5.0] "Good match, I really liked the story they were telling with this match. However the involvement of that random guy for the finish sours the match a bit for me. The match coukd have definitely ended up being rated a lot higher if not for that, because I actually enjoyed a lot of the aspects of this match (like the face/heel dynamic between the two, and the altercation between Logan and the commentators)."

[7.0] "Couldve been match of the night but does too many of my pet peeves for me to give it a top tier rating. Absolutely hated the finish, Im sure whichever celebrity interfering made the Saudi audience pop like mad but theres no way he shouldve been directly tied to the finish of the main event. Other than that, excellent. Great quick offence from both built around Codys rib injury towards the start with a nice story involved of Logan pissing Cody off so much he risks his title just to teach him a lesson. A great character moment, which this match is full of."

[8.0] "Cody Rhodes once again puts on match of the night with another banger title defense, this time against Logan Paul. Don't get me wrong, Logan's talented, but I still hate the majority of his matches specifically because he is there. But still, overall it was a really fun match that I enjoyed."

[7.0] "This was kind of slow at first but worked its way up tremendously, there were shenanigans but mostly done right for what I can remember."

[8.0] "this was the perfect saudi main event and it was better than expected. logan has started to sell really well, the figure four especially. the heel work here was smartly done and the drone shot of logan was beautiful. my only problems are the need for cody to hit a triple cross Rhodes and the comedian helping him at the end. ****"

[9.0] "great match, everything was well written, great ending and basically everything worked out perfectly. I was very pleased with it"

[7.0] "Good main event, but a little underwhelming considering it's rated similarly to Orton vs Gunther, and this wasn't even close to that previous match, but it was fun, I had a good time most of the time, but there were also several moments and elements that pissed me off, like the fact that Logan hit Cody with a bottle in a normal match, should've been a DQ, and the main storytelling of the match, Logan's brass knuckle, didn't had any anticipation or didn't even felt important for the match, they had an opportunity to built a great story there and he used the brass knuckle on the first opportunity he got, the cheating meant nothing. The ending was also a weird moment, a ref bump, a low blow, and then when Logan was about to hit Cody with the weapon, the freaking ring announcer, or whatever that guy is, helped Cody to win the match. This was good and had great moves, but after that smart and amazing Orton vs Gunther match, the flaws and inconsistencies this had were much more evident, and made my experience worse, Cody asking the ref to stop the countout wasn't necessarily bad, just cliche and overbooked, didn't liked but can live with that. A good match, made for casual fans, but kind of dumb for the people that would actually wanna see something clever and refined, which is a shame, but the match wasn't bad at all, it had action the whole time and no boring moments, I liked several spots - {***1/4}"

[6.0] "I don't get the praise for this one at all. Logan's an impressive wrestler for a youtuber but his work here was generally unimpressive for the main event of a PPV, nor is Cody the kind of wrestler that's going to drag him to something special. Mediocre title match."

[5.0] "Okay closing match to the PLE, with some impressive (but sorta typically choreographed) spots from Logan in an otherwise solid performance, with Cody putting in an all-around solid championship defense. Despite that, this match just didn't do much for me, with its pretty obvious match progression and lack of stakes or surprises going in really killing any interest or engagement."

[6.0] "Yok canm ne yaptn m sen ne zaman gelir acaba neden ki ne kadar çok sey var m acaba diye düsündüm ama çok seviyorum seni bebegim sen bilirsin ama sen beni hiç mi yok mu ya ne kadar çok seviyorum askm benim seni çok seviyorum seni çok seviyorum seninle"

[8.0] "A perfect main-event for what it had to be; good spots, good Climax toward the end and a satisfying ending. My only big complain is that the structure of the match as the biggest highlights and the finish were pretty predicatable since the beginning. Other than that, a solid main-event. ****1/4"

[9.0] "I love this match I don't like how Logan always gets a title shot without earning it but his in ring is great this match is fantastic and both men are so good this match also uses some very unique moves that I really liked ****3/4"

[7.0] "A pretty solid main event where Logan Paul shows why this is his second world title match in a big time spot. My personal favorite spot of the match is either the Cody Cutter onto the announce table or the Splash with the 360 camera angle through the other announce table. 3.5 stars at best and it will be fun on the road to Summerslam with Cody and Gunther already as the main event, it will be good for Cody to finally have a real story line for seemingly the first time since Wrestlemania."

[7.0] "A fun spectacle and another good main event to add to Cody's early reign. Structured quite well with some great spots which made up for the lack of drama with the finish being quite obvious at this stage of both men's careers. Cody doesn't need to use the 3 cross rhodes finish so often. Should be saved for particular opponents in the biggest of matches."

[8.0] "Another pretty fun match for the main event. This was probably one of Paul's best matches so far in WWE. Both of these guys made each other look good, which is great. Speaking of great, that 360 camera angle of Paul right before he did the Frog Splash to Rhodes through the table was awesome. As was seeing the Vertebreaker in a WWE ring."

[8.0] "This match was a fire match, but I had a few minor problems with it. First, I'll say that the wrestling was mad fun, as we would expect from any high-profile Logan Paul or Cody Rhodes match. It was technically sound, the two had good chemistry, and there were some super fun spots (like Cody flying straight into Logan's hidden brass knuckles and Logan Paul's insane drone camera-angle splash to Cody through the commentary table). Additionally, the story was good, with Logan trying his best to cheat and Cody still kicking out of things and overcoming him. Although it was really stupid that Logan made a whole fuss about how he WON'T use the brass knuckles this time, even giving them to Michael Cole, yet he used them without any hesitation. At least the story could've been that Logan tried beating Cody clean but after many attempts, eventually gave in and used them, but nah, bro didn't even TRY to stick to his word. My only significant problem with the match is that the Saudi Arabian comedian got involved with the finish. It was like the Jon Stewart finish that completely ruined the otherwise-amazing Rollins vs Cena Summerslam match. There's no story there, just a comedian from the home country getting involved just for the sake of a cheap pop. Pointless and made the finish ridiculous. My second problem (which is much less serious) is that Cody used 3 Crossrhodes in a row to beat Logan. Like, how is 1 Crossrhodes going to be enough to put away the phenomenal AJ Styles but it takes 3 for Logan...? I think the 3 Crossrhodes should only be used in the biggest matches, like when he used it to defeat Rollins and Reigns at Wrestlemania 38 and 40 respectively. Otherwise, there's no need. Imagine if Randy Orton hit 3 RKOs in a row to put away his opponents every match for no reason? You see what I mean?"

[2.0] "I felt somewhat curious about this match but felt it would not be fore me, and lo and behold, it really wasn't. Logan Paul just strikes me as a more athletic Shane McMahon, he can do a couple of impressive things and he is presented with almost superhuman levels of care to walk him through matches which help him look as good as possible. That's not to say WWE is wrong to do so, it seems to be working great, and clearly Logan is putting in effort as well. That's all well and good but it just doesn't produce the kind of match stirs up any interest in me. I'm more high than low on Cody generally but for me he wasn't the ideal choice to walk Logan through this match, hence the heavy reliance on bells and whistles, and again there's nothing wrong with that. It just wasn't for me, so it goes. Logan's leap out the table was neat."

[8.0] "There are a lot of complaints about the interference at the end of this match and some people are comparing it to the interference at Seth Rollins & John Cenas unification match. The difference between the two is Ibrahim Al Hajajj didnt cost Logan Paul the match and the world title but he just stopped him from cheating. Anyway this match was match of the night and may even be better than the Cody vs AJ match. The argument between Logan and Cole was brilliant and was cool to see Graves stand up for his partner. The highlight in my opinion was Logan Pauls frog splashes. Whilst the announce table one was of course amazing and nice to see as he hasnt used it recently, the height he got on the in-ring splash was simply incredible and I love the split legs he does in mid-air. I think this match was brilliant and definitely a recommended watch."

[8.0] "A really good match as is the standard for these two. There was no doubt Cody would win and the build made this less interesting than it could have been but given the circumstances this still was a good main event. The drone shot of the frogsplash to the outside was the highlight."

[6.0] "The fact that this match got fifty 10/10 ratings is kinda embarassing, when did the WWE fanboys invade cagematch ? Both guys worked well but the booking of the match sucked, Cody got big super cena vibes (once again) after kicking out of every move in the book and he was booked like a stupid babyface who got fooled by the heel even though he knew very well that Logan was going to cheat plus he almost lost the match after refusing to win by count-out. Then a random local celebrity helps him to win...Not worthy of a ppv main event"

[6.0] "Cody's matches as champion are not really connecting with me so far unfortunately. This had a clear face/heel dynamic but it felt like it lacked heat. Cody refusing the count out in the way he did made him look a bit silly. Some dude interfering at the end."

[6.0] "this was all right, but way too much interference and nonsense and stuff which just doesn't make sense, which I understand is what happens in every Logan Paul match, but it always gets on my nerves. The product placement seems cheap and tacky too. There were some good moves though."

[7.0] "It is no longer news that Logan Paul is a star and a great pro wrestler, who still has flaws due to inexperience, but who always delivers big moments in his matches. Cody Rhodes vs Logan Paul was another one of those matches that I really wasn't expecting much and ended up positively surprising me. Cody's selling on the ribs was very good, it helped to level the fight and Logan's offense was also very good, he is very athletic and not only applied dives and jumps but also brought a bit of boxing background to hit and leave Cody. even worst. Logan stealing in every way and getting easily distracted are things that cocky heel personally like, it helps to consume time and disguise his imperfections, Cody's returns with the Bionic Elbow, Reckoning and all his old good stuff were good, still more than that the crowd was on his side and impressively hot. We had a fucking VERTEBREAKER in WWE and I confess that it made me very excited in a match with several dead moments, unfortunately Logan's selling is not good and seauere sold the move after just a few moments, reaching a bizarre and overbooked ending that kills the entire moment . The Arab guest interrupting the match to help Cody, taking the part that Logan played for me by shouting, slowly so that everyone could hear: "Who the hell are you? ", feel the same, Logan! Tres Cross Rhodes to end the match was too much and inappropriate, it should be saved for special moments, it's your damn FINISHER, not a common move, not an opponent like Roman Reigns, Cody is the main champion and that ending made him look stupid . It wasn't a bad match, it was very good up until a certain point, it had great moments, but a ridiculous ending to a long match. [3.75*]"

[7.0] "Good, solid match with Logan really starting to come into his own as a presence. He's very athletic and is competent enough to be led through a good match by someone with more experience. He also sold the figure four incredibly well. It reminded me of Terry Funk against Ric Flair at their I Quit match in 1989. I don't know if it was intentional but it was effective either way. Very fun match."

[6.0] "I'm not a Logan Paul hater, at least not in WWE, and I think he did just fine here, but he's not wrestling to the level that anyone else is here. There were some pretty obvious botches, Cody wrestled almost the exact same match as he has in his last two defences, and the change to have the US Title not on the line, was STUPID and paper thin as to who was going to win here. The match was okay, but if this is Cody at his absolute best top level? We need a new champ, and soon."

[9.0] "Despite not being a big Logan Paul fan, I honestly thought this match was absolutely amazing with Cody actually getting lots of offense in and at many points it looked like he was about to win especially near the end where Saudi Arabian ring announcer Ibrahim Al Hajjaj would stop him from using the brass knuckles leading to a great Triple Cross Rhodes for the win. Yeah I was expecting this match to be good but it still absolutely Did blow me away on how great it was, Cody is absolutely on Forever with these PLE Title defense with him first putting on a Match of the Year Contender against AJ Styles at Backlash earlier this month and now this great match with Logan. I am really enjoying his reign and Overall this was the match of the night for me and a really great one."

[8.0] "There's some annoying things about this match, but all in all I thought this was great. They do some basic lockup stuff at the start, and Cody's stuff looks good, but Logan's stuff looked awkward to me. The brunt of the match was focused around Cody's ribs after he went for a diving crossbody and ended up missing. Logan was pretty consistent in focusing his offense on Cody's ribs throughout this match and I thought Cody did a great job selling for the most part outside of going for the Cody cutter on the announcer table with bad ribs that's just stupid. Maybe they overcooked the ending a bit too much, but you had do to something that makes it look like Logan had a chance to win. The ring announcer getting involved was pretty useless, but this was another great Cody world title match.****"

[8.0] "Good match with an obvious outcome. It was very much a spot fest type of match as it normally is with Paul. Paul deciding to argue with Cole on commentary was an odd decision as normally heels act as if they cannot hear commentary about them even when they are right there. They did a good job making Cody look in peril but I just did not buy the idea Paul would lose."

[7.0] "I really enjoyed this main event even though the previous match of the night felt much more the main event. This was full of silly fun spots, Cody looked in peril a number of times and well done for making me think he might lose!"

[6.0] "Very average. Logan constantly narrating his heat segment was extremely annoying. If you cant show emotion and tell your story with your work, you shouldnt be in a 20 plus minute main event match. Cody sold decently well, but this just never felt like a world title match."

[5.0] "If this is what folks want from their World title matches, they're very welcome to it. Rhodes isn't very good - he telegraphs his bumps and his signature moves looked super weak here. Paul has the It Factor for sure, but he went from screaming about a broken leg while in a badly applied figure four to busting out all kinds of springboard offence. The viral moment was the highlight, the finish was lame **1/2"

[9.0] "What a beautiful match. At first, I thought the process of the match would be very slow due to the two wrestlers not knowing each other enough. The great moments that these two created, along with the new look that they created for the TV audience and the great Jeddah fans who were energetic and cheered properly unlike in the past, made this match we will remember for months."

[9.0] "After all of the Dusty tributes Cody has been doing in his recent matches it's nice to finally see Cody against a Ric Flair type of foil. Not that I think Logan is the next Ric Flair or anything, but he is keeping that over-the-top unserious heel persona alive and well, and with so many of the funny wrestlers currently being faces, I appreciate LP giving us the kind of heel that you're supposed to laugh at. I was really more into his performance here than Cody's, and I am really excited to continue watching Cody defend this belt. We knew he would be a fighting champion and he seems determined to put on a classic with everyone in the locker room, he's keeping the promise he gave on the Raw after Wrestlemania."

[7.0] "Good match, bad finish. There was no reason for a random to interefere in the match. For some reason, the crowd that was good all night was kinda dead here in the main event. Still, it was a decent main event but it never felt like a big match feel that deserves to main event a PPV."

[5.0] "There were a couple really cool moments, but this booking does Cody Rhodes's reign no favors at all. I was hoping for far more. Seeing the Vertebreaker was cool, and that Logan Paul camera angle was awesome. The interference and the brass knuckles felt too "cute" and really brought the match down for me."

[5.0] "If this was Cody and someone else I am sure I would have enjoyed this more but these Logan Paul matches are so repetitive. And now they are giving him 25 minutes! I couldn't maintain interest and the King match should have headlined. Even the Saudi's sounded like they didn't like Paul so who does he even appeal to really? With only Cody's championship on the line there were no stakes and the winner was obvious. There was a lot of overbooking, its Cody I guess, but does he really need help from some random guy 99% of the worldwide audience doesn't know in order to beat a YouTuber? The Vertebreaker was cool and hopefully it's a sign of more big moves returning to WWE."

[9.0] "I seriously cant stand how good Logan is at this. This was an absolute blast. Everyone knew Cody was winning, so like his match at Backlash with Styles, all we wanted was a great match. And I think we did. Logan is such a good heel and Cody is such a good face and they worked magically together. Some super cool stuff here and the second half is really damn good. The whole brass knuckles thing I didnt care for but I did actually pop when Logan got handed some by some dude and popped Cody in the abdomen. Michael Cole getting threatened by Logan only for Corey Graves to stand up for him got me so hype. I hope that leads to a feud after Summerslam. The Cody Cutter and Splash onto the tables were fun and the splash in particular had some remarkably beautiful camera work. The ending was hype. Im ok with that random Saudi celebrity getting involved because he wasnt costing anyone the match, just preventing cheating. And when Cody caught the brass knuckles in this hands me and my sister were so hyped we stood up. I do wish Cody wouldnt use the triple cross rhodes all the time as I think it should be saved for massive matches but its not a big deal. Just a fun match and another notch on Logans belt of bangers. Codys title reign has been very strong so far and Im excited for his next challenger. I hope to god its Carmelo or Nakamura."

[7.0] "I thought this was pretty great but they overcooked it and diluted the match with some needless extras instead. It was fan service rubbish that wasnt necessary. Who asked for the Saudi guest announcer to be involved? Logan Paul was correct in asking who this guy was. The match was shockingly great besides that. I think Ive come around on Logan Paul. Hes got a few idiosyncrasies that I would prefer to be lessened but he was great in this. Cody does his part as champion, being the glue that held this match together, being the solid foundation that let Logan Paul shine. And Paul is so expressive and has some much conviction that it works. He has really shed the image of the celebrity wrestler, and become a good wrestler. His selling is great, especially during the figure four leg lock. The panic, the groans and everything told me that he needs to escape this move or his leg his broken (him screaming it helped for sure). There were a lot of story elements such as Pauls punching abilities, Codys injured ribs, the brash arrogance of Paul vs The righteous Cole. Probably a little too much, but it was all very compelling and interesting. Its a little flash over substance compared to Orton vs Gunther but its a lot of fun. ***1/2"

[7.0] "This was good fun. Some corny acting by Logan, but that didn't take anything away from the thing. Cool big spots & solid babyface all around performance by Cody."

[5.0] "This match exposes the poor commentary conditions of modern wrestling. The heel threatens the announcer and he still puts him over later in the match as a great wrestler. they can't help themselves, so worried that any one wrestler might get some heat lol. I hope we aren't setting up for Graves vs Paul. Several teases. We get a ref bump late in the match. It sets up a vertebreaker (this used to be banned in wwe). A low blow by Paul follows with the ref out and back out are the knucks. The ring announcer for some reason stops the knucks and we get a pin. This was ok. Nothing special, a lot of pomp, not much in the way of great wrestling it was more big story because they can't have Paul lose straight up. **1/2"

[8.0] "A damn good way to close King and Queen of the Ring with Cody Rhodes and Logan Paul. I wasn't expecting much but this went absolutely beyond the hype it was given. The story wasn't that full fledged in my mind and not built as good as it should have been but this was pretty good. A must-watch match with good pacing and a good story to back it up. 8.5/10"

[9.0] "Cody continues his reign with another great title defense again Logan Paul, whos very quickly risen through the ranks to become a must-watch every time hes on a PLE. This match was everything it could and should have been."