Cody losing at 39 ended up making him a bigger star in the long run honestly
I don't think that's necessarily bc he lost tho tbh, it's more like the climate of the 2nd match for the company as a whole was just so much better that Cody winning then was a way better moment than if he would have won the year before.
Like, IMO the best timeline isn't Cody losing the first year but winning a different grudge match or something, I still don't think he should have challenged Roman if he didn't win.
It all worked out in the end ither way tho so just hypotheticals either way really