If Bully were doing the booking, he’d have Dustin make his WWE return as a full-fledged heel, jealous of his younger brother and loaded with all kinds of verbal ammo, channeling their respective relationships with their legendary father, Dusty.

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“‘Dad always liked you better. Dad forgot about me,’ Bully imagined Dustin saying. ‘And now you’re the WWE Champion and what am I? I’m always gonna be second to you, Cody, but I’m your older brother and I can’t handle that.’ Just like Fredo said to Michael in ‘The Godfather.'” The story as Bully laid it out isn’t perfect, and he recognized its inherent flaw in that, if Dustin shares his side of the story, people may be compelled to cheer for him. But that’s easily countered with a good, old-fashioned uptick in intensity and violence. “You have to get past the emotional connection. Like, the minute I start feeling bad for Dustin is when Dustin needs to punch Cody right in the back of the neck.”

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The other problem that remains, at present, is that Dustin is still under contract with AEW, reportedly until September 2024, and Bully quickly shot down Mark Henry’s suggestion of “a working agreement” between AEW and WWE. “Not gonna happen.” But if and when the feud occurs, Bully said we’d see a master class from Dustin, who has conquered the craft from a mental perspective. “The emotion, the tears, would all be real,” he said. “The anger would be real. The resentment would be real.” In the meantime, names like Randy Orton, Sheamus, and GUNTHER were all thrown out as possible opponents for Cody (though Bully says WWE should keep GUNTHER away from Cody for now) but that the dream story, no pun intended, remains Cody vs. Dustin 2.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.