#this timeline

Red is one of the most contradictory of all of the colors. It can symbolize life, sin, rage, passion, love, as well as divinity. It also symbolizes war and violent death, as in the red horse of Revelation ('para bellum').

Red first starting bleeding into Malakai's promos when he was warning Lee Johnson, where he held a Death tarot card. Upright, Death is about endings and beginnings, change and transformation. This goes back to the Hindu imagery of Kali, the goddess of change through violent destruction.

Cody returned a few weeks later in a full red suit and massive flame imagery. The most jarring being the Nightmare Family logo on fire. ( 'tot in de assen zijn wij wedergekeerd' - 'to ashes we have returned' - (thank you to the amazing Dutch fans for this translation 💗))

Like Malakai's God promo, Cody is becoming isolated, in his own way, but instead of thriving like Malakai in that solitude, that darkness and rage and sin (the red suit) may be consuming Cody. And whether or not Cody is the fire itself that will burn down the Nightmare Family with him, so that the House of Black can be built upon the ashes, as oppose to Malakai himself dismantling the family.

The next time red was in Malakai's promos was the 'Road To Grand Slam', where at the end was the red tie.

I'll def admit I was stumped for a bit lol 😓 Red is authority and power. But it was the placement of his tie that finally jumped out to me. Over his chest, his heart.

It instantly reminded me of the Sacred Heart. My knowledge on the Sacred Heart is pretty small, unfortunately, but it carries the visuals of Jesus' sacrifice and martyrdom. I've never seen Passion of the Christ, but I remembered a post Malakai had made of the image of Satan from that movie. It's from when Jesus is asking to be released from his burden, and Satan tempts him.

Where Christ bears sin, Malakai says he is our sin. A dark inverse to the Messiah.

So if the tie does symbolize the Sacred Heart, that maybe it represents the sin, and rage/passion, maybe even the blood of the martyr. And may be both an omen to that sin and rage finally consuming Cody, to a martyr being given. I don't know if Cody himself will be the martyr, the Christ either walking the Passion or losing his battle, or even inversely the Man of Sin (2 Thessalonians 2), or if Malakai will view himself as a twisted, macabre version of a Christ, a 'martyr' to the heel turn that Cody has desperately fought...

Cody said he would retire before he ever turned heel again. Before he could take his boots off in the ring, Malakai broke the crutch over his back, in a way denying him this easy way out. We already see Cody starting to crack a bit, when he stared confused and frustrated into the booing crowd and when he backhanded the ref with a closed fist.

I'm wondering if, with Malakai having been goading his opponents, that he may taunt Cody into beating him down. That even though Cody wins their final match, this physical war, Malakai wins the spiritual war by making Cody cross his morals and going too far.