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AEW Battle of the Belts
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AEW Battle of the Belts
AEW Battle of the Belts is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from January 8, 2022, to October 19, 2024. The one-hour specials were broadcast on TNT in the United States and aired quarterly throughout the year, with a total of 12 episodes produced. The series was originally broadcast on select Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), but was moved to Fridays at 11:00 p.m. ET beginning with the fourth episode before its move back to Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. ET with the seventh episode. Some episodes aired live, while a select few others aired on tape delay, recorded in conjunction with AEW's other weekly television programs. The series was quietly canceled as it was not included in AEW's media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that took effect on January 1, 2025.
The theme of the show was originally that all matches were contested for professional wrestling championships with an average of three matches per episode; in 2024, this expanded to include matches for future opportunities at championships as well as standard non-title matches. Over the series 12 episodes, every AEW championship that was active during that time had been defended on the program, except the men's World Championship. These included five men's titles—the TNT Championship, the International Championship, the Continental Championship, the World Tag Team Championship, and the World Trios Championship—and both women's titles—the Women's World Championship and TBS Championship. There had also been five championships from AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) contested. These included four men's titles—the World Championship, the World Television Championship, the World Tag Team Championship, and the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship—and one women's title—the Women's World Championship. The former men's FTW Championship, which was used by AEW from July 2020 until its retirement in September 2024, also had defenses on the program.
Only three title changes occurred during Battle of the Belts episodes, two of which involved Sammy Guevara. The first was on the inaugural episode, which saw him defeat Dustin Rhodes to determine the interim TNT Champion, and the other was on the second episode in which he defeated Scorpio Sky to win his record-tying third TNT Championship. The third title change occurred on the 11th episode which saw Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs (Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich) defeat The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett) to win the vacant ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. There had also been four Championship Eliminator matches, a stipulation in which if the challenger defeats the champion, they get a future title match, but if they lose, they can no longer challenge that champion for as long as they hold the title. One of these Championship Eliminators featured the Women's World Championship of AEW's partner Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, which happened on the 11th episode. The only match to not have any championship implications occurred on the 12th and final episode, which was a standard tag team match.
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.
AEW President Tony Khan confirmed that due to the show's one-hour length, not all of AEW's championships would be defended on the specials, but their goal was to put on great championship matches. 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.
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AEW Battle of the Belts
AEW Battle of the Belts is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from January 8, 2022, to October 19, 2024. The one-hour specials were broadcast on TNT in the United States and aired quarterly throughout the year, with a total of 12 episodes produced. The series was originally broadcast on select Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), but was moved to Fridays at 11:00 p.m. ET beginning with the fourth episode before its move back to Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. ET with the seventh episode. Some episodes aired live, while a select few others aired on tape delay, recorded in conjunction with AEW's other weekly television programs. The series was quietly canceled as it was not included in AEW's media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that took effect on January 1, 2025.
The theme of the show was originally that all matches were contested for professional wrestling championships with an average of three matches per episode; in 2024, this expanded to include matches for future opportunities at championships as well as standard non-title matches. Over the series 12 episodes, every AEW championship that was active during that time had been defended on the program, except the men's World Championship. These included five men's titles—the TNT Championship, the International Championship, the Continental Championship, the World Tag Team Championship, and the World Trios Championship—and both women's titles—the Women's World Championship and TBS Championship. There had also been five championships from AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) contested. These included four men's titles—the World Championship, the World Television Championship, the World Tag Team Championship, and the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship—and one women's title—the Women's World Championship. The former men's FTW Championship, which was used by AEW from July 2020 until its retirement in September 2024, also had defenses on the program.
Only three title changes occurred during Battle of the Belts episodes, two of which involved Sammy Guevara. The first was on the inaugural episode, which saw him defeat Dustin Rhodes to determine the interim TNT Champion, and the other was on the second episode in which he defeated Scorpio Sky to win his record-tying third TNT Championship. The third title change occurred on the 11th episode which saw Dustin Rhodes and The Von Erichs (Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich) defeat The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett) to win the vacant ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. There had also been four Championship Eliminator matches, a stipulation in which if the challenger defeats the champion, they get a future title match, but if they lose, they can no longer challenge that champion for as long as they hold the title. One of these Championship Eliminators featured the Women's World Championship of AEW's partner Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, which happened on the 11th episode. The only match to not have any championship implications occurred on the 12th and final episode, which was a standard tag team match.
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.
AEW President Tony Khan confirmed that due to the show's one-hour length, not all of AEW's championships would be defended on the specials, but their goal was to put on great championship matches. 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.
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