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

These Battle Of The Belts specials badly need that AEW World Title on them.

FTR Wardlow Samoa Joe
AEW

Announcers Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and even guests like Chris Jericho and Ricky Starks referred to AEW's twin Rampage/Battle Of The Belts IV presentation as must-see fare. All five men (in various ways) tried to tart up the truth that this was a glorified two-hour edition of the Friday night weekly.

Is that a huge negative? Nah, not really, but let's not pretend that Battle Of The Belts has ever been high on Tony Khan's list of booking priorities. In fact, as shown in this fourth installment, the All Elite boss views these specials as a necessary evil he just has to get through before moving on with Dynamite.

They're not unwatchable, in fairness. However, there is something to be said for sticking the AEW World Title on at least one of these f'n things so fans tuning in start to view them as a bigger deal on the calendar. If not, then they'll be less Clash Of The Champions and more WWE's revived Saturday Night's Main Event.

AEW put on an All-Atlantic, TBS and ROH Tag-Team Title trio for you during the second hour of Friday's back-to-back offering. Here's all the good and bad from a show that actually did more to motor some stories forward than Rampage.

First though, a question...

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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.