Cody Rhodes overcome AJ Styles in main event of Backlash to retain world title

Cody Rhodes defended his world title against AJ Styles in Backlash 2024. It was his maiden title defense as the Undisputed World Champion and the match turned out to be great. Both the American Nightmare and the Phenomenal One put on a show and entertained the crowd. In the end, Rhodes proved to be the most resilient of the two. AJ gave his best performance in a while.

Both wrestlers had a brilliant entry as the crowd sang songs for them. For Styles, the crowd came with the local song 'Phenomenal'. For Cody, the crowd sang his theme song. Throughout the weekend, the crowd was exceptional, probably the best in recent times. Both wrestlers fought well and did not give any room for their opponents. It was a hard-fought match.

Both Styles and Cody gave their everything. The fans were excited about the match and the World champion was fired up. He tried to read the Phenomenal one. Styles delivered a good performance and showed why he is still capable of main-eventing the PLE events. He defeated LA Knight on his way to becoming the number one contender to have a go at Rhodes for the world title. 

Cody Rhodes has the last laugh

Both wrestlers tried to outclass their opponents. The crowd cheered for the match to stay as long as possible. There were a couple of brilliant Cross Rhodes from the American Nightmare. The most brilliant of them was the second one which came from the top rope. The crowd sang 'Seven Nations Army' and chanted 'This is Awesome' as the match headed to the final moments. 

Cody and AJ exchanged blows, and punches, and tried to pin each other. They came out of each other's blocks and clutches. Styles was tired out by Cody who sustained a couple of Styles splashes. The resilience of Cody turned out to be better than that of AJ which proved to be the decisive factor in the match. Cody delivered Cross Rhodes and pinned Styles to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.