"Why do I wanna be TNT Champion?"

Cody : "Why do I wanna be TNT Champion? Wrestling is so linear you're gonna hear the same answer to that question over and over again. You'll even hear the announcers strike some of the same hyperboles as they describe the stakes. The wrestlers will give you that real wrestling school, paint by numbers interview where they say things like --- you see: ‘The boys in the back.' Or my favourite: They perpetually say their own name or the person they're wrestling against or the person who's interviewing them over and over again. Like I said, wrestling is linear. They might even do the – [Cody zeigt die Gürtel-Geste.] - that thing. You see, where you pantomime, where you indicate that you want the belt. I've done it a thousand times. We've all done, we're all guilty. Wrestling is linear. But these are not linear times, are they? I think we'd all give our last dollar for a little bit of normalcy, a little bit of linear. It's my personal hope that we get through this just fine. We wanna live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery, right?

So why do I need to become TNT Champion? It is not the fame. It's certainly not the added money. It's not the specialized lower third that they put on the screen. It's not even my specific, unique circumstance to trying to carry your last name that is worth 58 years in gold. It's much simpler. It's because I don't wanna lose. AEW has four major pay per views: Double Or Nothing, All Out, Full Gear, Revolution and I'm 50-50 and I felt lost and I don't ever want to lose. The motto, the expression, what the Nightmare Family means, it's sitting at the side of my neck is when we say: DO THE WORK! It's not: Do the work and lose.

And this tournament is flush, it's rich in talent. Take Colt Cabana. Probably the second most experienced guy in the tournament. Does a better flip, flop and fly than me, Dustin and Bully combined. Ask anybody in any locker room world over – they'll tell you they love Colt Cabana. Well frankly: I do not trust a wrestler that doesn't have any enemies.

Kip Sabian. As far as the UK goes they know how to make a wrestler. He's a stud. And that hellfire fiance of his – she's quite the wrestler herself. But what happens when two cohabitate? They either gonna motivate themselves upwards or they gonna drag themselves down to ‘complacency city' or right next to ‘jobber avenue'.

Darby. I'm not gonna take credit for Darby but I feel like I handpicked Darby. He's clearly the fastest rising star in all of wrestling in any company, hands down. He's putting on weight by the day, he's assassin quick. But Darby is a freshman on varsity squad. I don't think he has the mental aptitude to finish this tournament.

My oldest friend – if you can put it that way: Shawn Spears. My former tag team partner, kind of my Dick Murdoch. Could be a world champion pretty much anywhere he wanted to be. But Shawn Spears is ‘King Boo-Boo Face' and he will mentally defeat himself before we ever even lock up.

Sammy Guevara. Don't let all the flips fool you and believe me, Sammy is one of the very few wrestlers in the world who can even do all the flips. He has an udder nasty mean streak. Don't believe me? Ask Kenny and Hangman's eardrums.

My brother. I love my brother. But wrestling Dustin at Double Or Nothing, beating Dustin at Double Or Nothing split my soul to the bone. I don't ever want there to be a rematch, but I'd me remiss if I didn't say that I think he is the best wrestler in tournament.

That just leaves us with Big Lance. Jake Roberts has sure had a lot to say to me – about Lance. You think I'm shaking in my boots? Because of your one-time reign with a title that I personally held? So I'm talking to you from first-hand experience. A title that puro and casual fans alike consider to be as much worth as much as this ashtray. Come on, I'm not shanking. If you think I am, think again. I'm not gonna comment further, I'm not afraid of Lance Archer.

Every one of those guys – they want to be TNT Champion. The difference with me: I need it!"