3 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW: Battle Of The Belts

AEW stretch things too thin; Britt Baker retains; Battle Of The Belts = Rampage?

Sammy Guevara AEW
AEW

AEW could've subtitled Battle Of The Belts, 'For Those Who Just Didn't Get Enough On Friday's Episode Of Rampage'. Too long? Well, BOTB wasn't. It clocked in a just over 60 minutes in length, and that'll feel like a bit of a disappointment to those fans who were expecting more.

Listen, the show wasn't bad - it zipped along and featured wrestling that ranged from solid enough-really good, but yours truly left the experience wondering if Tony Khan could've made this a bigger deal. It lacked the sparkle and shine people have become accustomed to with All Elite hype, and there were a lot of top names missing that could've helped make the night special.

The entire experiment came across as half-baked, which isn't good enough.

On the plus side, the opener defied expectations going in to steal match of the night honours. Typically though, some wonky psychology really stopped it from going a notch higher. Elsewhere, Riho's latest flirtation with the Women's Title came to an end, and AEW used the night to set up several other bouts on Dynamite.

Here are all the 'Ups' and 'Downs' from a card that really should've been more memorable.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.