Dustin Rhodes’ TNT Championship win at AEW All In 2025 was a bittersweet one as it came as the result of Adam Cole’s health concerns and his subsequent title relinquishment. According to Rhodes himself, he even initially tried convincing AEW President Tony Khan to award the vacant championship to someone else that night.
“That day was, I can’t explain it,” Rhodes said on “What Happened When.” “It was not expected, and due to the circumstances, I understood. With the way they were building Kyle Fletcher, who is a machine, just an unbelievable talent, I tried to talk Tony out of it and he said no. I was like ‘Okay.’ I had a little run with it. I only had one successful match with [Lee] Moriarty, and then the next one was Kyle Fletcher. Right before, I’m thinking to myself, let’s make it a Street Fight. So I went in and asked Tony, he said, ‘Yeah, we’ll make it a Street Fight.’ So we cut the promo and got it, did the business for the following week. Went in, had a great plan. My knees just about gave out.”
As Rhodes alluded to, original plans called for Cole to defend the TNT Championship against Kyle Fletcher at All In. Due to Cole’s unfortunate status, they then changed to a four-way match – involving Fletcher, Rhodes, Daniel Garcia, and Sammy Guevara — to crown a new champion. Rhodes later picked up the win by reversing Garcia’s Dragon Tamer into a small package for a three count.
Rhodes’ reign as TNT Champion didn’t last long as Fletcher unseated him three weeks later in a bloody Street Fight on “AEW Collision.” Afterward, Rhodes revealed that he, like Cole, would be out of action for an extended period of time, in his case due to double knee replacement surgery.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “What Happened When” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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