AEW Battle of the Belts

In May 2021, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) renegotiated its broadcasting deal with WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery), which saw AEW's flagship television program, Wednesday Night Dynamite, move from TNT to TBS in January 2022, while its other weekly program at the time, Friday Night Rampage, remained on TNT. Also as part of the deal, AEW agreed to produce four quarterly television specials on TNT that would take place on Saturdays. Former AEW executive and wrestler Cody Rhodes said that these specials would be similar to Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling's Clash of the Champions and WWE's ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' shows, calling them super events. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that the quarterly specials would be one-hour shows, but said they were originally planned to be longer, and also that they would feature pay-per-view caliber cards. On November 24, 2021, the television special series was announced to be titled Battle of the Belts with the inaugural event scheduled to be held live at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on January 8, 2022, at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The tagline was confirmed as "Saturday Fight Night". The name "Battle of the Belts" came from a National Wrestling Alliance event held from 1985 to 1987 by the promotion's Florida territory that was operated by Eddie Graham. On the day of the inaugural event, Khan revealed that matches for the January 11 episode of their former YouTube show, Dark, were scheduled to be taped before the Battle of the Belts I live broadcast, with all other AEW champions participating in these Dark matches. The inaugural episode itself featured matches for the AEW Women's World Championship, the interim AEW TNT Championship, and the FTW Championship. On February 15, 2022, AEW announced that Battle of the Belts II would be taped on April 15 at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas, which aired on tape delay the next day on April 16. After Tony Khan's purchase of Ring of Honor (ROH) in March 2022, the ROH World Championship was scheduled to be defended at Battle of the Belts II, the first non-AEW championship defended on the series. On August 4, 2022, Battle of the Belts IV was announced to be held on Friday, October 7. As Battle of the Belts was established as a Saturday night television special, it was expected that Battle of the Belts IV would air on tape delay the next day on October 8. However, due to WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view and livestreaming event airing that night, Battle of the Belts IV was instead scheduled to air live on October 7 at 11:00 p.m. ET right after the live broadcast of Rampage to avoid counter programming against WWE. Due to its Friday scheduling, its tagline was changed to "Friday Fight Night". This was also the first Battle of the Belts episode to not include matches for either the AEW Women's World Championship or TNT Championship, but it did feature the first defenses of the AEW TBS Championship, AEW All-Atlantic Championship (renamed International in March 2023), and ROH World Tag Team Championship on the program. On November 2, 2022, it was announced that the Battle of the Belts series would continue with Battle of the Belts V, scheduled to air live on Friday, January 6, 2023, which featured the first defense of the AEW World Tag Team Championship on the program. Despite the addition of Saturday Night Collision to AEW's weekly lineup, which premiered on June 17, 2023, Khan confirmed that Battle of the Belts would continue, although its future on TNT was uncertain. On July 4, 2023, PWInsider reported that the show would remain on TNT with Battle of the Belts VII scheduled to be held on July 15 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at 10:00 p.m ET after the live broadcast of Collision on TNT. This in turn returned the special to Saturday nights and also marked the first Battle of the Belts to be held outside of the United States. Battle of the Belts VIII, which took place on October 21, 2023, was the only Battle of the Belts to have four matches on the card; all other episodes had three. It would also be the first episode to include defenses of the AEW World Trios Championship and the ROH World Television Championship. The Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), a partner promotion of AEW, would have one of its championships featured on a Battle of the Belts episode. At Battle of the Belts XI on July 27, 2024, reigning CMLL Women's World Champion Willow Nightingale defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a Championship Eliminator match. This episode was also the first time that the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was contested on the show. The only match on the program to not have any championship implications occurred on the final episode, Battle of the Belts XII, which was taped on October 17, 2024 (aired October 19). This was a standard tag team match in which The Don Callis Family (Brian Cage and Lance Archer) defeated Jon Cruz and Jack Cartwheel. This episode also saw the first defense of the AEW Continental Championship at Battle of the Belts. == Events ==

Battle of the Belts I Battle of the Belts I took place on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event aired live at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT. In the main event, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. defeated Riho to retain the AEW Women's World Championship. On the undercard, Ricky Starks defeated Matt Sydal to retain the FTW Championship, and in the opening bout, Sammy Guevara defeated Dustin Rhodes to become the interim AEW TNT Champion; Guevara was originally scheduled to face lineal champion Cody Rhodes for the title, however, Cody was pulled due to COVID-19-related issues. In the main event, Claudio Castagnoli retained the ROH World Championship against Konosuke Takeshita. On the undercard, Thunder Rosa defeated Jamie Hayter to retain the AEW Women's World Championship, and in the opening bout, Wardlow defeated Jay Lethal to retain the AEW TNT Championship. In the main event, FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) defeated Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun) to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On the undercard, Jade Cargill defeated Willow Nightingale to retain the AEW TBS Championship, and in the opening bout, Pac defeated Trent Beretta to retain the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. This was the first time that these championships were defended on a Battle of the Belts special. In the main event, Orange Cassidy defeated Kip Sabian to retain the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. On the undercard, Jade Cargill defeated Skye Blue to retain the AEW TBS Championship, and in the opening bout, The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) defeated Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal in a No Holds Barred tag team match to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which was the first time for the title to be defended at Battle of the Belts. Battle of the Belts VIII Battle of the Belts VIII took place on Saturday, October 21, 2023, at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. The show aired live at 10:00 p.m. ET on TNT immediately after the live broadcast of AEW's regular Saturday program, Collision. Battle of the Belts IX Battle of the Belts IX took place on Saturday, January 13, 2024, at the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. The show aired live at 10:00 p.m. ET on TNT immediately after the live broadcast of AEW's regular Saturday program, Collision. In the main event, Orange Cassidy defeated Preston Vance to retain the AEW International Championship. On the undercard, Julia Hart defeated Anna Jay to retain the AEW TBS Championship, and in the opening bout, Ricky Starks and Big Bill defeated Le Sex Gods (Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara) in a Street Fight to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Battle of the Belts XI Battle of the Belts XI took place on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the Esports Stadium Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The show aired live at 10:00 p.m. ET on TNT immediately after the live broadcast of AEW's regular Saturday program, Collision. In the main event, Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs (Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich) defeated The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett) to win the vacant ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, which was the first time for the title to be contested at Battle of the Belts. On the undercard, CMLL Women's World Champion Willow Nightingale defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a Championship Eliminator match, while in the opening bout, AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm defeated Taya Valkyrie, also in a Championship Eliminator; as a result of both Championship Eliminators, Purrazzo and Valkyrie could not challenge for those respective titles for as long as Nightingale and Storm held their respective championships. This was subsequently the first and only time that a CMLL title was featured at Battle of the Belts. In the main event, Anna Jay defeated AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May in a Championship Eliminator match, thus Jay received a title match on the November 2 episode of Collision; had Jay lost, she would have not been able to challenge for the title for as long as May was champion. On the undercard, The Don Callis Family (Brian Cage and Lance Archer) defeated Jack Cartwheel and Jon Cruz in what was the first match in Battle of the Belts history to be a non-title bout, and in the opening bout, Kazuchika Okada defeated Kyle O'Reilly to retain the AEW Continental Championship, which was the first time for that title to be defended at Battle of the Belts. This would be the final Battle of the Belts special as the program was not included in AEW's media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that took effect on January 1, 2025. ==See also==