AEW Battle Of The Belts: Three Championship Matches
Tonight’s show is a special edition of All Elite Wrestling. It is the first-ever Battle of the Belts and it takes place in Charlotte, NC. The show is headlined by three matches, all for AEW gold.
The matches are Riho vs Britt Baker for the AEW Women’s Championship, Sammy Guevara vs Dustin Rhodes for the interim TNT Championship, and Ricky Starks defending his FTW Championship against Matt Sydal.
Dustin Rhodes vs Sammy Guevara
The first match of the night is for the interim TNT Championship. The crowd is very divided between the two men. Both got a lot of cheers. The match starts off with a headlock by Guevara onto Rhodes. Rhodes quickly counters and then he slows the pace of the match down.
Guevara quickly takes control of the match, using his speed to beat Rhodes in every aspect. The two then fight on the outside, where Rhodes re-takes control over the match when he hits Guevara’s leg into the steel steps. Rhodes then hits a piledriver onto Guevara on the floor.
Guevara looks like he hurt his leg and had trouble getting back into the ring, but was able to continue so, hopefully, it’s nothing serious. Rhodes then takes control for the majority of the rest of the match.
Guevara fights back into the match and throws Rhodes onto the floor. Guevara then jumps on Rhodes with an incredible springboard move. Guevara then throws Rhodes back into the ring and goes for another high-flying move which gets reversed into a CrossRhodes.
Rhodes had an excellent showing in this match, although, at times, he looked winded and like he was having trouble keeping up. There was a cool moment in the match when Guevara hit Rhodes with the GTH and Rhodes kicked out.
Fuego Del Sol interfered in this match and took a table out from under the ring and set it up. Arn came over and did his famous finger guns to scare Del Sol away. In what was probably the moment of the match, Rhodes hit a Canadian destroyer from the apron onto Guevara through a table set up on the floor. Guevara was somehow able to kick out of this.
After a bunch of pin reversals between Guevara and Rhodes, Guevara was finally able to pin Rhodes to win the interim TNT Championship.
Winner: And New Interim TNT Champion Sammy Guevara
After the match, Guevara was given the belt and Rhodes hugged Guevara and raised his hand up high. Daniel Garcia hit the ring and got into Guevara’s face after the match. This caused the two men to brawl and they had to be pulled apart.
Tony Schiavone is seen interviewing Guevara after the commercial break. Guevara challenges Garcia to a TNT Championship match on Dynamite next Wednesday.
FTW Championship Match: Ricky Starks (c) vs Matt Sydal
The match starts off with Sydal getting in Starks’ face and quickly takes the fight to the FTW Champion. Starks is able to counter and gain the upper hand but only for a short while because when Starks throws Sydal into the corner, Sydal reverses and kicks Starks in the head.
The two then brawl on the outside for a little while. Starks quickly takes control over the match when “Powerhouse” Hobbs distracts Sydal. Sydal was able to fight back into the match but to no avail. The match ends when Starks hits the Roshambo on Sydal. It was a solid match by both wrestlers.
Winner: And Still FTW Champion Ricky Starks
After the match, Starks and Hobbs beat down Sydal. Lee Moriarty makes the save but Hobbs quickly shuts that down. Dante Martin then comes out and sends Hobbs and Starks packing.
AEW Women’s Championship Match: Dr. Britt Baker (c) vs Riho
Riho makes her entrance first, followed by the AEW Women’s Champion, Britt Baker. The match starts with a collar-and-elbow tie-up between the two women. Hayter distracts Riho, which leads to Baker getting the upper hand early in the match. However, Riho quickly gets back into it and sends Baker outside the ring to regroup.
Riho hits Rebel with a cross body off the top rope onto the floor but then gets distracted again, which leads to Baker hitting Riho and gaining the control back. Baker remained in control for the majority of the rest of the match.
Riho was able to fight back in the match and make it more even. Riho hit a double foot stomp onto Rebel, who shielded Baker from the blow. Baker rolled back in the ring and reversed the second double foot stomp and took over from there. Riho had a great showing in this match. The match ended when Riho submitted to Baker’s Lockjaw.
Next. AEW Rampage: Hectic No DQ match closes the show. dark