AEW Planning First TNT Special For 8 January

Could AEW be brining back Battle of the Belts?

by Andrew Pollard
Tony Khan
AEW

It appears AEW is looking to kick 2022 with a bang by serving up a Saturday night special as the new year rolls around.

As per Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast and Wrestling Observer, a source has informed him that AEW is planning to run a special on TNT on Saturday 8 January.

Previously, WCW - and prior to that, the NWA - would run similar TV specials dubbed Clash of the Champions. That name is these days owned by WWE, so that rules out that name for this show. Zarian does add, though, that one possible name for this event could be Battle of the Belts.

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Battle of Belts is a name tied to Championship Wrestling from Florida and the National Wrestling Alliance, with the first Battle of the Belts taking place in 1985 and being headlined by then-NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeating Wahoo McDaniel in a two-out-of-three falls bout.

Main AEW programming will move from TNT to TBS in 2022, with 5 January being the first Dynamite to air on TBS. We've heard how Tony Khan's promotion is looking to host quarterly specials on TBS following this move, and it appears as if Battle of the Belts - or whatever the show ends up being called - will be the first of these on 8 January.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.