10 AEW Disappointments We Really Didn't See Coming

9. Battle Of The Belts

Britt Baker
AEW

AEW Dynamite's move to TBS was more than just a lateral Network switch.

Not only is the channel available in more homes than TNT, but the company's flagship show shouldn't be shifted around by other sports as much as it had been in prior years. It was a good deal all round, with Battle Of The Belts specials included as icing on top of an enticing cake.

The alliteration, the Charlotte, North Carolina locale and every Champion adorning the poster - all of these things existed to get people very, very excited that Clash Of The Champions was coming back and some blockbuster contests would feature on yet another special night for All Elite Wrestling.

The end result fell spectacularly short of those expectations and was still fairly removed from even measured ones. Given just an hour and on the same week as Dynamite's TBS debut, the company seemed to intentionally half-a*se it in favour of scoring the major ratings result they garnered from the prior Wednesday. On that show, both the AEW World Heavyweight and Tag Team Titles were defended, while Saturday's new special only had a badly-built Britt Baker match for gravitas after Cody Rhodes missed it for COVID protocol reasons.

Far from being the company's worst show, it certainly felt the most obligatory.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett