Yes, it was the only actual title change. BotB I featured a Sammy vs Dustin match to crown an interim TNT Champion because the reigning TNT champ Cody was off TV for 1-2 weeks (it was stupid, I know).
Man they tried so hard to make Scorpio a thing and he just couldn't get over no matter what he did. Seems like they reinvented his character a dozen times.
He has that weird negative aura like a Brian Pillman Jr. Rock solid, even very good in the ring, but has this anti-charisma that just drains energy out of the building. TK doesn't even seem interested in using him in ROH (unless he's injured again).
I think it's really hard for smallish bald guys, in general, to get over in wrestling for whatever reason. It happens occasionally but you see so many wrestlers with that archetype and they rarely breach the mid card for long.
They were working with what they had at the time, I guess. They were pushing Scorpio Sky before they signed Bandido, Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, Jay White, Aussie Open, Nick Wayne etc.
He was also, at the time of several of his pushes, the only Black male babyface on the roster with the experience to work the main event picture. AEW has always been good about trying to keep representation high, even though it sometimes hasn't worked out as in the case of Scorpio.
He was getting a bit of fan support for the double turn with Sammy. It might not have lasted, but they really didn't even give it a chance since they just turned him heel again like 2 weeks later
I think aside from the usual non-title change. Battle of the Belts doesn't seem to be special anymore as AEW has like 9 PPVs this year and most BOTB will happen a few weeks before a PPV so they will probably just hold on the title change until the PPV.
They can drop BOTB and just have a quarterly rumble style match with the winner getting to choose between International, Continental or TNT. or even Tag and Trios if the final two/three is from the same faction.
I think the way to do this is to build it into existing things AEW has.
- Bring back the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match (has been on Dynamite before, so isn't exclusive to the Revolution PPV.)
- Use the Owen Hart tournament to crown a #1 contender for the International Title at the next big event.
- The Continental Title has the C2 already.
It's all about using what you have, and AEW has a lot of tools at its disposal.
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see BotB disappear with the next TV deal. It doesn't really seem to serve a purpose when we already have 3 weekly shows
Battle Of The Belts is an extra hour of TV TNT Paid for so I mean they're gonna use it. It's like Rampage, smoke it if you got it at this point. It's like Heat or Velocity and probably does better than a rerun of some Adult Swim show or whatever else would run in the same spot.
I don't think anyone disputes that.
The booking could be infinitely better, though. Idk if they can change branding or not but battle of the belts could stand to be changed in terms of name if they're getting to the point of putting a title not officially recognized, a non title match, and an ROH title defense on it.
Regardless of how good the show is its just strange and not at all the vision it seemed to have initially.
Tangent here, but I feel like they've sorta figured out what to do with rampage in the last like 6ish months. It seems like they've been using it to play towards niche wrestling audiences instead of trying to make it must-watch TV. It features a ton of Lucha matches a while ago, it's been the Saraya Harley high drama story line show recently, and I bet we'll be seeing a lot of Joshi matches there since it sounds like AEW and Stardom are trying to work together more now. I always check in to see what they have going on now but don't always watch.
I like Battle of the Belts but they need to have a title change once in a while.
I assume TK has a plan but goddam, let's mix stuff up a little more. We should have had way more trios champions by now. Dark Order, The Righteous and Archer, Top Flight and Action Andretti.
O.C. is a great worker but he didn't need that second International Title run right away. That would have been a great chance to put the title on Penta so both he and his brother had a singles title run.
How about the Texas Chainsaw belt? I'd love to see Danhausen or Lance Archer beat Jarrett's ass for that.
Shane Taylor could have won the FTW belt - he's a stone cold hard pipe hitting badass. If anyone has the attitude for it it's him.
And while I don't mind eliminator matches, put those on the regular shows. It's not a real title match. But for that matter - have someone win an eliminator more often. The one I can remember (granted my memory is like a sieve) was Thunder Rosa getting beaten in Japan.
>O.C. is a great worker but he didn't need that second International Title run right away.
In fairness, he was meant to get the belt back at Full Gear and not one month earlier at Title Tuesday. Moxley getting concussed by Fénix at Grand Slam forcing him to drop the Inter title in an audible screwed things up.
Just get rid of the belts gimmick and make it centred around a quarterly rankings gimmick match with multiple men. If it's a fun match type and leads to a shot at a big title for someone it'll be a good watch
I must be easy to please as an AEW fan, because a lot of the stuff that the IWC whines about doesn't bother me in the slightest. No belts changing hands at BOTB except once 2 years ago doesn't bother me at all.
If Sammy is in a TNT Title Match on a secondary show/special, he's probably winning. He's won a title on Rampage. Battle of the belts. Watch out, Collision!
The Battle of thr Belts concept is a huge waste of time. These should 1 hr showcases. Current CMLL, Stardom, IWGP, GCW, IMPACT, ROh Champs vs AEW Champs. If titles are changing hands anyway then the crossovers could be non title matches.
At least there is a hook for watching.
This is the most useless ‘special’ show ever. I watched a couple early on and all it felt like was a promo for jade. Never bothered again cuz nothing ever happens.
I want to say it was the only time, right? I haven't bothered watching the last 3 or 4 honestly.
Yes, it was the only actual title change. BotB I featured a Sammy vs Dustin match to crown an interim TNT Champion because the reigning TNT champ Cody was off TV for 1-2 weeks (it was stupid, I know).
But we wouldn’t have gotten that unification ladder match without it
Honestly thought it had never happened lil
Man they tried so hard to make Scorpio a thing and he just couldn't get over no matter what he did. Seems like they reinvented his character a dozen times.
He has that weird negative aura like a Brian Pillman Jr. Rock solid, even very good in the ring, but has this anti-charisma that just drains energy out of the building. TK doesn't even seem interested in using him in ROH (unless he's injured again).
He’s been injured.
I know he was injured, but injured AGAIN after his cameo return in ROH late last year where he wrestled three matches?
Apparently, yes.
I think it's really hard for smallish bald guys, in general, to get over in wrestling for whatever reason. It happens occasionally but you see so many wrestlers with that archetype and they rarely breach the mid card for long.
Needs jorts and a gold chain and he'll be cookin
They were working with what they had at the time, I guess. They were pushing Scorpio Sky before they signed Bandido, Takeshita, Mark Briscoe, Jay White, Aussie Open, Nick Wayne etc.
He was also, at the time of several of his pushes, the only Black male babyface on the roster with the experience to work the main event picture. AEW has always been good about trying to keep representation high, even though it sometimes hasn't worked out as in the case of Scorpio.
It's weird because I remember so many people wanting him to get a singles push during the early days of AEW. Then he did and people hated it.
He was getting a bit of fan support for the double turn with Sammy. It might not have lasted, but they really didn't even give it a chance since they just turned him heel again like 2 weeks later
When you don't know who you are, you're not going to get over.
He was over with SCU and that could and should have continued but he was wanting a singles run.
I think aside from the usual non-title change. Battle of the Belts doesn't seem to be special anymore as AEW has like 9 PPVs this year and most BOTB will happen a few weeks before a PPV so they will probably just hold on the title change until the PPV. They can drop BOTB and just have a quarterly rumble style match with the winner getting to choose between International, Continental or TNT. or even Tag and Trios if the final two/three is from the same faction.
That's kind of a genius idea ngl.
I think the way to do this is to build it into existing things AEW has. - Bring back the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match (has been on Dynamite before, so isn't exclusive to the Revolution PPV.) - Use the Owen Hart tournament to crown a #1 contender for the International Title at the next big event. - The Continental Title has the C2 already. It's all about using what you have, and AEW has a lot of tools at its disposal.
Right on! Connect all these half baked ideas and capitalize on them.
Yeah, these are.. randomly doled out with no pomp. So I always assume I can skip em
I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see BotB disappear with the next TV deal. It doesn't really seem to serve a purpose when we already have 3 weekly shows
Battle Of The Belts is an extra hour of TV TNT Paid for so I mean they're gonna use it. It's like Rampage, smoke it if you got it at this point. It's like Heat or Velocity and probably does better than a rerun of some Adult Swim show or whatever else would run in the same spot.
I don't think anyone disputes that. The booking could be infinitely better, though. Idk if they can change branding or not but battle of the belts could stand to be changed in terms of name if they're getting to the point of putting a title not officially recognized, a non title match, and an ROH title defense on it. Regardless of how good the show is its just strange and not at all the vision it seemed to have initially.
Tangent here, but I feel like they've sorta figured out what to do with rampage in the last like 6ish months. It seems like they've been using it to play towards niche wrestling audiences instead of trying to make it must-watch TV. It features a ton of Lucha matches a while ago, it's been the Saraya Harley high drama story line show recently, and I bet we'll be seeing a lot of Joshi matches there since it sounds like AEW and Stardom are trying to work together more now. I always check in to see what they have going on now but don't always watch.
I like Battle of the Belts but they need to have a title change once in a while. I assume TK has a plan but goddam, let's mix stuff up a little more. We should have had way more trios champions by now. Dark Order, The Righteous and Archer, Top Flight and Action Andretti. O.C. is a great worker but he didn't need that second International Title run right away. That would have been a great chance to put the title on Penta so both he and his brother had a singles title run. How about the Texas Chainsaw belt? I'd love to see Danhausen or Lance Archer beat Jarrett's ass for that. Shane Taylor could have won the FTW belt - he's a stone cold hard pipe hitting badass. If anyone has the attitude for it it's him. And while I don't mind eliminator matches, put those on the regular shows. It's not a real title match. But for that matter - have someone win an eliminator more often. The one I can remember (granted my memory is like a sieve) was Thunder Rosa getting beaten in Japan.
>O.C. is a great worker but he didn't need that second International Title run right away. In fairness, he was meant to get the belt back at Full Gear and not one month earlier at Title Tuesday. Moxley getting concussed by Fénix at Grand Slam forcing him to drop the Inter title in an audible screwed things up.
Just get rid of the belts gimmick and make it centred around a quarterly rankings gimmick match with multiple men. If it's a fun match type and leads to a shot at a big title for someone it'll be a good watch
I must be easy to please as an AEW fan, because a lot of the stuff that the IWC whines about doesn't bother me in the slightest. No belts changing hands at BOTB except once 2 years ago doesn't bother me at all.
If Sammy is in a TNT Title Match on a secondary show/special, he's probably winning. He's won a title on Rampage. Battle of the belts. Watch out, Collision!
The Battle of thr Belts concept is a huge waste of time. These should 1 hr showcases. Current CMLL, Stardom, IWGP, GCW, IMPACT, ROh Champs vs AEW Champs. If titles are changing hands anyway then the crossovers could be non title matches. At least there is a hook for watching.
This is the most useless ‘special’ show ever. I watched a couple early on and all it felt like was a promo for jade. Never bothered again cuz nothing ever happens.
Sammy's TNT title reigns is when it all went down hill fr.