Battle of the Belts — AEW’s first quarterly special for TNT — was a solid first step for the company’s foray into specials.
Solid is not normally a word I associate with AEW since — in my opinion — they have set the bar high for quality of their in-ring product, production and promotion. To deny this show had a lot working against it would be an understatement and it definitely impacted the overall feel going into the show.
First, AEW put all their energy into promoting Dynamite’s move from TNT to TBS. This was (and should have been) their primary goal. They loaded this debut up with d not one, but three title matches. Hangman Page and Bryan Danielson delivered another instant classic for the world title, Jurassic Express finally won the tag belts, and Jade Cargill became the inaugural TBS Champion. This full court press left Battle of the Belts in the shadows.
These titles not being defended on this show did take a little bit of the luster off the special, particularly one named “Battle of the Belts.” The one-hour runtime and the last second change of the TNT Title match made this special feel like an extension of Rampage or Dynamite as opposed to AEW’s version of the old JCP/WCW Clash of Champions specials.
Yet, despite all of this AEW relied on what brought them to the dance — really good in-ring action. Even if this show didn’t have the hype and hoopla of the debut, even if the show was only an hour and matches changed and were added on the fly, the wrestling was still fantastic.
AEW should use this episode as the blueprint for how to execute a successful special, but need to improve upon the hype for future shows — which should come since they won’t be promoting the move to another channel any time soon.
TNT Interim Title Match: “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes vs. “The Spanish God” Sammy Guevara
Before we get into the match let’s discuss a few things.
First, the idea of an interim champion is great. It’s something with we see in boxing and MMA and for everyone griping about AEW’s promise of a “real sports feel” — here you go. The idea of having an interim champion defending the belt and then eventually having to unify the interim belt with the actual TNT title is a fantastic, and easy story to tell and for people to get behind.
Second, how great is Dustin Rhodes? In his 50s, he’s become AEW’s “break in case of emergency” wrestler. He always seems to rise to occasion when called upon — whether it’s due to injury, illness, or as in the case of 2020 — a lack of depth on the roster. He came into this match with little chance to win, but man oh man did he make you believe that he just might steal this match.
Third, if there’s another talent that’s become an old reliable it’s Sammy Guevara. When put into big spots, the man never fails to deliver. First match ever, first match on Dynamite, Stadium Stampedes, Blood and Guts — you name it. Sammy’s TNT run could’ve been a lot better and hopefully this interim run will rectify some of this.
The match between these two was really stellar. The beginning where Dustin was “winded” when running the ropes to match speed with Sammy was a nice bit of comedy. Sammy’s Go to Hell on Dustin looked brutal, while Dustin’s destroyers were absolutely off the wall. The ending where Sammy kicked out of the table destroyer and then two Cross Rhodes was not overly logic, but definitely look cool. The right man won in this match, but when you go back to this match you have to appreciate how terrific these two were in the ring together despite having it put together seemingly on the fly.
Cody Rhodes status remains up in the air in multiple ways. Hopefully, he and his family are in good health — which is the most important thing. Now, when he does come back how will AEW book this? Cody’s fourth-dimensional chess (thank you We Watch Wrestling) has been magnificent to watch, and his comments about his journey in 2022 being weird and not something we’ve seen before are wildly interesting. So how do you book this? I believe Sammy needs a strong run of babyface wins over credible talent (e.g. Daniel Garcia, etc) to make him even more ingratiated to the fans. Then maybe Cody uses nefarious means to win the belt back? Does Jericho somehow get involved in all of this? The Inner Circle? Malakai? We just don’t know and that’s pretty exciting.
FTW Title Match: “Absolute” Ricky Starks (C) vs. Matt Sydal
Ricky Starks is a talent that’s been almost criminally underused (in-ring wise) since his neck injury in 2021. He’s a five-tool player (sorry Anthony Bowens) and someone AEW needs to put the rocket to this year as he has main event written all over him.
I’m still unsure if this match was the step in the direction of making this happen though. First, the FTW is not a title utilized often (if ever) in AEW and when it is, it’s not a title that’s really deemed on the level with the other titles in the company. It also feels like this match was just here to build Ricky up to in order for him to lose to Dante Martin.
If that was the purpose it definitely felt like Matt Sydal got too much offense in this match. Although, that is a hallmark of all of Sydal’s big money matches — he looks great, you feel like he has an iota of a chance to win, but ultimate falls short.
The post match brawl featuring Lee Moriarity, Powerhouse Hobbs and Dante Martin was fun — setting up the next few weeks of television programming. However, as a match, I feel like this was solid, but still the weakest match on the card.
Women’s Title Match: Dr. Britt Baker DMD (C) vs. Riho
The main event was built up terrifically and simply: Britt Baker has never beaten Riho thus making her the biggest threat to Britt’s title.
This simple yet effective storytelling made Riho, someone who’s been inconsistently on television since her return in early summer 2021, a credible contender. One thing AEW does with the majority of their title matches is that they give the challengers, no matter how slim, “any given Sunday” chance of winning the belt. There were multiples times where it seemed like Riho would pick up the belt from Britt. It would’ve been shocking to see Britt lose for sure, but ultimately the Good Doctor retained.
One thing about this match that didn’t work according to plan was the dissension between Jamie Hayter and Britt. This part felt a little overbooked as Jamie took the belt from Rebel, seemed to have beef with Britt, then at the end reconciled with her. I felt like something was missing here or maybe they didn’t need to do this much with the conflict between these two. I think they need to commit to whether they’re breaking her and Jamie up now or do a Wardlow/MJF style long term storytelling angle. I’d much rather the the Wardlow deal than having them split now. I think they need to keep Jamie under Britt’s wing and build her up even more and get sympathy for her before the breakup.
Riho looked great here, but the question remains what happens to her next — and this is a big question for AEW’s women’s division in general. This division is now at a crossroads — it has two singles titles, a much deeper roster, the potential to add more name value and is producing ratings and terrific matches at a higher rate than it ever has. At this cross roads does it help steady and offer one match and a few promos per Dynamite and Rampage complimented by a number of matches on Dark and Elevation? Or do they go full boar and book more women’s matches, angles, promos, vignettes, etc. across the board? Names like Ruby Soho aren’t signed just to fight local talent in between title shots, they have to more substance and thing to do than that. It remains to be seen for sure.
In conclusion, AEW Battle of the Belts was a solid start to the “quarterly specials” and hopefully new and exciting concepts will be employed and implemented going forward making them feel unique and self-contained as opposed to an extension of Dynamite and Rampage.
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