AEW: Battle For the Belts (1/8/2022)

3 championships were on the line. And while that seemed like a small amount, the quality of these matches were beyond breathtaking. What seems to be as an original AEW branded show, Battle For the Belts just felt like a second hour to Rampage but on a much grander scale.

Match 1: Interim TNT Championship Match; Sammy Guevara vs Dustin Rhodes. (Rating: 4.5/5)

This was scheduled to be Cody Rhodes defending the championship against Guevara; unfortunately Cody wasn’t cleared to compete due to the current pandemic. So the winner was going to be the placeholder champion until Rhodes made his return by competing in a title unification for said winner. Dustin Rhodes is a 52 year old man: a 52 year old man that without a doubt competed in the best one on one match this week in the world of wrestling. Rhodes looked absolutely amazing in this match against Sammy Guevara! So many false finishes, it left you on the edge of your seat hoping that Rhodes would’ve become the interim champion so he’d have a one on one classic with his brother Cody, especially when near the closing minutes of the match Dustin hit a Canadian Destroyer off the ring apron through a table with Sammy going headfirst through it. Two Cross Rhodes and a reversal out of a Tiger Driver later, Guevara hit Dustin with his Go To Hell finisher to get the win and once again become the TNT Champion.

Match 2: FTW Championship; Ricky Starks (c) vs Matt Sydal. (Rating: 3/5)

It’s safe to say that the FTW championship isn’t going to be leaving Team Taz any time soon. Starks’ reign so far hasn’t been getting a lot of tv time on the main Dynamite or Rampage shows but with the limited time he had on television last night he put on a hell of a performance against one (of many) of the best high flyers All Elite Wrestling has to offer. Starks won via pinfall and with his Team Taz partner Powerhouse Hobbs, they got the beatdown on Sydal before former Team Taz signee Dante Martin came out and evened out the odds; even staggering the big Will Hobbs prior to their upcoming Dynamite match this Wednesday.

Main Event: AEW Women’s Championship; Britt Baker (c) vs Riho. (Rating: 3.5/5)

Arguably, this was the best match in this long going feud. Riho seemed to have Britt’s number as she was able to avoid a lot of her signature moves and even avoided getting put in the Lockjaw on more than one occasion. The story of this match was that Britt Baker has always lost to Riho, regardless if they’re one on one against each other or in a tag team match like on Rampage. No matter what the match was or the stipulation, Riho was always victorious. The first ever AEW women’s champion was inches away on winning, however due to a distraction via her entourage Baker placed Riho in her Lockjaw submission move securing her the win and finally being able to defeat Riho in a match. As unnecessary that Riho’s number one contender’s spot was, this was really fun from start to finish; and it seems that Britt Baker, Jamie Hayter and Rebel’s friendship is due to implode as Baker was seen arguing with Hayter several times during the match, trying to prove that Baker doesn’t need the help to defeat Riho.

Final rating: 4/5