AEW Battle of the Belts

[MoS]

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D v. Riho - AEW women's world championship 

Dustin Rhodes v. Sammy Guevera - AEW interim TNT championship (I think?)

Ricky Starks v. Matt Sydal - AEW FTW championship 

[MoS]

Let poor David do commentary at least, JR is at ringside 

[MoS]

Sammy is so much more natural as a heel

[Flyin' Brian]

Is Dustin ok or is him acting winded part of some story they are trying to tell? 

[MoS]

2 minutes ago, Flyin' Brian said:

Is Dustin ok or is him acting winded part of some story they are trying to tell? 

He seems fine now. 

I really don't like that "rush into the ring at the last second to beat the countout and then lay selling again" spot we see so much these days 

[Flyin' Brian]

1 minute ago, MoS said:

He seems fine now. 

I really don't like that "rush into the ring at the last second to beat the countout and then lay selling again" spot we see so much these days 

Yeah, I know what you mean. Rather see a gradual recovery. This match has been laid out weird so far. 

[MoS]

Yeah on second thought, Dustin is definitely, if not winded, then not in in-ring condition. It seems to have been laid out to cover for his cardio. Lots of stalling/wandering about/random nothingness with a few big spots sprinkled in between, it's almost an anti-Dustin match  

[Flyin' Brian]

Another table spot so soon after what happened with Fenix might not be the best idea. 

[MoS]

I love how Arn has fully embraced the Armed Anderson meme

[Flyin' Brian]

3 minutes ago, MoS said:

Yeah on second thought, Dustin is definitely, if not winded, then not in in-ring condition. It seems to have been laid out to cover for his cardio. Lots of stalling/wandering about/random nothingness with a few big spots sprinkled in between, it's almost an anti-Dustin match  

Wonder if Dustin had Covid?

[MoS]

lmao Dustin might be in a bad condition, but he is a worker, he knows that if you are relying on sprinkled big spots, then you climax with a massive garbage (table) spot

[MoS]

1 minute ago, Flyin' Brian said:

Wonder if Dustin had Covid?

Maybe. I wonder what the protocol requirements for Cody were in that case. 

I love Dustin and I like Sammy, but that was a rather weak match.

[sek69]

That was a really good match, all things considered. 

[Flyin' Brian]

It was ok. Picked up about midway through. Something was wrong with Dustin, but he made it work. Cody can’t be out that long, so doing an interim champion is strange. Maybe time for one match for Sammy vs Garcia, then either Sammy is going to lose the title right back to Cody or is going to beat Cody which begs the question why lose to him in the first place?

[sek69]

Dustin had only had maybe a week's notice (assuming he probably knew before the rest of the world), so I would assume he probably needs more time than that to get his cardio up to be able to keep pace with Sammy. 

[ragemaster]

Watch the Bryan match with Dustin, his speed and cardio wasn't there in that match either. 

[MoS]

Starks's awesome 

[Sweet Brown Koko]

Agreed. 
 

Sydal only has one facial expression and it’s incredibly annoying.

[sek69]

At first I was like "having someone land on a table your leg is pinned under must suck" but then I realized if it's Riho doing it then it's probably okay. 

[MoS]

That was one of the better matches of Britt's title reign. 

[MoS]

edit - tp

[MoS]

edit: tp 

[C.S.]

I totally forgot this was happening.

Cody's Covid diagnosis really put a damper on the show (which is no one's fault, obviously).

I love Dustin, but the Interim Champ bit is hokey at best. 

Sammy needs to turn back heel ASAP. 

Also:

The wrong person won.

[gonzalez]

That Canadian destroyer raised that match’s stock for me. I mean as soon as you saw the position, you knew it was coming, but the cleanness of it was shocking. 

Overall, I thought this was very good for a 1-hour wrestling show, but underwhelming for a “TV special”. TV specials should be three hours long, and filled with all your top stars. Still the women’s title match is totally worth watching. One of the best matches I’ve seen in early 2022.

[Boss Rock]

Still need to watch the main, but the first two matches were solid. I agree that as a show it was pretty good, but not exactly what you would expect for a special. Felt like another episode of Rampage. I do like that they set up angles/matches for a lot of the talent that haven't got much screen time.