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Like WWE's Day 1 pay-per-view, it seems AEW will have a similar beginning of the year special. The special, titled Battle of the Belts, is said to take place on Saturday, January 8th, 2022 live on TNT.
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Podcast first reported the story on Twitter, citing a close source.
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The report comes after AEW filed for Battle of the Belts in January of this year.
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The Battle of the Belts special was a National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) event broadcasted "live in syndication" throughout the alliance.
The event took place three times: September 1985, February 1986, and September 1986, each time in Florida. Ric Flair featured on all three cards, defending the NWA Championship, along with other popular 80s wrestlers like Lex Luger, The Road Warriors, Barry Windham, Bruiser Broady, and more.
AEW announced that following its move to TBS next year, TNT will host quarterly "specials," with Battle of the Belts seeming to be the first. Back in September, AEW President Tony Khan spoke with Bloomberg Business of Sports about why AEW likes doing quarterly specials instead of following WWE's model of monthly pay-per-views:
"They do a lot of shows, at least one a month. I don’t put on that many of these big PPVs. I really try to focus on television product, Dynamite and Rampage. The three hours of television and our shoulder programming and developmental content is really a core focus for me and then the stories build up to the quarterly PPV events and it’s pretty exciting because the closer we get to the PPVs, you can really feel the excitement building, these stories building, people can’t wait to see these big matches," Khan said. (h/t Sportskeeda)
AEW has been changing the game of wrestling in North America by opening the proverbial "forbidden door" multiple times to work in conjunction with promotions like IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, NWA, and AAA.
In the spirit of throwing back to the days of the NWA, some could speculate that this special could feature champions from other promotions.
When will AEW move to TBS?
In late September, AEW announced it would be moving its flagship program Dynamite from TNT to TBS in 2022. AEW Rampage will stay on TNT on the 10 PM EST Friday night timeslot.
"The All Elite Wrestling (AEW) franchise expands its WarnerMedia footprint with AEW Dynamite moving to TBS beginning January 5, 2022. Until then, AEW continues to deliver world-class matches and the most entertaining moments in professional wrestling today, with all-new episodes of Dynamite airing Wednesdays on TNT at 8 p m. ET...," WarnerMedia, Press Release
The joint press release explained the decision to keep Rampage on TNT was strategic, stating that "executives...want All Elite Wrestling to have the widest-possible footprint across WarnerMedia properties." This explains the decision to have quarterly "specials."
What do you think will happen at AEW's Battle of the Belts? Do you think other promotions could be involved? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!
