I too regret that angle. Didn’t anything for anyone. And it was the last of the original Cody who turned face after his match with Dustin. I’ll give it this, though. The reactions after that strap match with QT have made him infinitely more interesting. The most interesting since his dashing days.

Imagine if Cody had just stayed gone instead of fight Agogo and came back some time more recently. He'd probably get a pop, maybe idk.

Battle of the Belts which was only an hour-long, two-match card (Baker/Riho, Sammy/Cody) to begin with is apparently getting changed again on Rampage tonight due to "medical protocols". The rumor is that Cody tested positive but it's not confirmed yet. Would jive with him putting out a pro-vaccination message yesterday, though.

Battle of the Belts is a pretty big misstep all told. Only an hour but at the time people purchased tickets it wasn't made clear. I think a ton of us assumed Page-Danielson would be on that card.

Pretty obvious that the TV network dictated their desire for the show and AEW went ahead and obliged. But the fans are paying for 2 hours of Dark matches and then 2 title matches which might now only be 1.

If the Cody rumor is true, then maybe they have Page come in as the babyface he is and defend against Sammy, with the story being he's so beat up from Wednesday that Sammy has really good odds of winning?

Unless they have a really good make-up plan for the live audience, I'd be pretty bothered if I bought tickets for this show.

They didn’t have to call this Battle of the Belts. They could have given it a less leading name and this could be CM Punk vs. MJF. Or the six-man with Sting & Darby involved.

I like the idea of Page. Not really much other options. Unless they do a random tag or tbs title match.

Cody gallantly surrenders the TNT Title because of his situation. Battle of the Belts needs the TNT Champion. Sammy Guevara, Miro, Malakai Black, Andrade El Idolo, PAC and Dante Martin do battle in a Ladder Match to crown a new champion.

Either that or Sammy just loses to Malakai Black or something.

Yeah Battle of the Belts has been a pretty big misstep I would say. I think that they have promoted it very poorly with matches that are not really going to draw anybody just see it on a Saturday night that wouldn't watch it regardless.

The show being an hour long is completely ludicrous in my opinion. They should have just done a 2-hour rampage special and that's what this quarterly event should be just a 2-hour rampage. But a 1-hour show I can't even comprehend really what the people in attendance are going to experience beyond Dark tapings which are brutal.

Yeah not there best work. Maybe having JB win his first title on the show might have been the go but not a whole lot you can do with an hour.

Or failing that put Hangman vs. DB on and let them go close to an hour again.

Dustin vs. Sammy interim championship… I don’t hate it tbh.

I want Dustin to get a nice little title run. Even if it is just an interim one that doesn’t end up counting.

Give Dustin his moment and use it to turn Cody into the entitled douchebag he’ll he’s supposed to be.

Keep crying that xrod keeps owning your punk ass everyday you stupid ass AEW fanboy

Actually that would be more interesting to me than Sammy. This could perhaps be a way to properly turn Cody. Dustin takes interim champion and Cody starts to avoid Dustin and eventually tension builds and the match is booked. Cody has to get ultra violent to win and does a Hart/Austin style heel turn... Well really just a regular heel turn but I the way that Bret did.

I dunno, the last time Cody went into a match vs Dustin as a heel and got ultra violent and beat him into a bloody pulp he somehow ended up turning face right after and hugging him

Cody is cracking. Making interviews saying how this heat is hurting his feelings, he used to do no wrong now he just can't get it right. He isn't John Cena, he's gonna cave and turn.

Lol, thanks for quoting this. Damian Rey is truly a different kind. He’s entered the BigCrippyZone.

I like the idea of Dustin winning the Cody expecting Dustin to hand him the belt. But I am concerned it buries Sammy a bit.

I assumed Sammy was either winning the rematch or losing and going on some sort of redemption arc so I guess it’s down to what that particular plan is.

It could bury Sammy if it’s just a flat finish. But Dustin is smart enough to work out a way to make Sammy look great and like it was his experience that edged him out.

You could also do an angle after the match. Whoever Sammy’s next opponent is could get involved here.

I’m not much of a Sammy guy so putting that out there but my fear is he doesn’t have the mic skills to pull off the aftermath required.

Arrogantly smiling as you awkwardly flip through some signs is not enough to pull off a “I fell short, I need to be better, watch me do this” type story.

Eh, I don’t disagree (although I haven’t seen that much of him lately). But maybe this is a chance for him to grow?

That’s the dream in this situation I guess

Shouldn’t you be meal prepping your ham salad sandwiches?

wonder what this guy said to mjf to make him snap

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sorry I don’t fit your category of making my company diverse.</p>&mdash; Maxwell Jacob Friedman™️ (@The_MJF) <a href="https://twitter.com/The_MJF/status/1479954687935852547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

former tpww poster 'the mercenary' noted aew should not be praised for 'the forbidden door' because WWE did it first with smokey mountain wrestling in 1993

Don’t love Sammy. Especially babyface Sammy.

I like babyface Sammy. He’s just not doing anything interesting outside of Tay Conti.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Just want to state a fact about AEW.

AEW fucking rocks. It's not perfect but I think by far and large it's providing the best wrestling TV show in over 20+ years.

If you don't like AEW, you are a republican.

If you don't like Cody, suck it. Cody is the biggest best baby in the buisness.

If you don't like The Young Bucks then you are a fucking nerd and have high cholesterol.

Mox is in shape. If you think Mox is fat, you know nothing about fitness.

Do you think good shape means 6% body fat, abs and ever muscle and sinew ripped and showing? Then you are gay.

Mox's bulk body is his best look ever, he's a real scary bastard who has addiction issues, why the shit should you see his abs? No. Mox does HIGH WEIGHT low rep workouts focusing on compound lifts like bench, overhead, row, deadlift and squat. He doesn't fuck around with anything else and he smokes a cigarette between sets.

Do you dislike Republicans because they dislike AEW, or do you like AEW because you dislike Republicans? :?:

Now, it's Kenny Omega's turn...

Among other things...

Someone showed disdain for Riho vs Baker, and one of the folks (who had a picture of him holding a child) was accused of Abducting and inappropriately touching said child by Kenny "I wrestled an 8 year old girl" Omega.

Deflected to Cornette's breathing when someone pointed out Marty Scurrl's issues.

Whined about being Cyberbullied in response to Tyler the Creator.

Did he say that? That's such a stupid thing to say.

Holy shit, what a fucking nut-bag. I found the Twitter thread. I didn’t know what I expected after you described it, but holy shit. That’s really not the maturity an EVP should be demonstrating. I don’t see how Tony Khan can just ignore that.

Lol, he says Cornette wheezes and is difficult to listen to? This is coming from Kenny “Phone Sex Conversation” Omega? Does he really want to go after Cornette for his verbal ability? Self-destruction.

He’s probably just mad they got outmaneuvered by Impact Wrestling.

Or that he didn’t win Sports Illustrated’s Wrestler of 2021. Seriously wouldn’t surprise me.

Just keep ‘em all off Twitter.

The guy who started all the rubbish with Twitter is an Arsenal fan so that says it all. Plus he was trying to imply that Omega was up to dodgy things with Riho when she was a kid (how I interpreted it) from the picture he posted.
So in retaliation Omega was trying to make the point that someone could see the original posters pictire of him holding a kid and take it out of context.

The guy he replied to basically called him a paedo, he hit back with the same. I'm here for the petty, you want to go after someone because your jealous of there fame dont be suprised when they swing that fame back on to you.

I just recently joined Twitter and my God, wrestling Twitter is something else lol