Two title matches and a title eliminator will make up tonight's live AEW Battle of the Belts X following Collision from Highland Heights, Kentucky.
FTW Champion Hook will put his title on the line against Shane Taylor, extending a feud that started earlier this month in a traditional tag team match and then a trios match on Wednesday.
Hook has held the ceremonial title for 230 days with tonight being just the third defense of his second reign.
Ring of Honor Women's Champion Athena will make her return to AEW TV for the first time since July 2023 as she defends against Red Velvet in their first-time ever meeting. A win will give her a 21st successful title defense while Velvet has never held an AEW or ROH title.
AEW International Champion Roderick Strong faces Rocky Romero in a title eliminator bout, meaning if Romero can win, he earns a future title shot.
Battle of the Belts began the way Collision ended, with Bryan Danielson laid out on the ramp, courtesy of a Konosuke Takeshita brainbuster. Tony Schiavone & Matt Menard were on the call.
Hook & Katsuyori Shibata were backstage with Lexy Nair. Shibata offered his help through Google Translate, but Hook declined and said he would do it himself.
FTW Title Match – Hook defeated Shane Taylor to retain
A good David vs. Goliath match, with the crowd behind Hook the whole way.
Hook fired off with body shots, but couldn’t get Taylor up for a suplex to start off. Schiavone noted that since the match was for the FTW Title, FTW Rules were in place. Hook hit a running knee off the apron and pummeled Taylor with punches on the floor. Back in the ring, Taylor caught Hook with a jab and body punches. Taylor laid in chops to Hook while talking trash, but Hook came back with body shots.
Taylor shrugged off another suplex attempt and hammered Hook with a liver shot. Taylor talked more trash as he dumped Hook on the ropes with a gourdbuster. After a commercial break, Taylor landed a leg drop on the apron before throwing more punches in the corner. Hook egged on Taylor to bring more shots, which Taylor obliged.
Taylor threatened to send Hook back to his father in a bodybag, but Hook evaded a corner splash and fired up with strikes. Hook finally got Taylor up and over with a German suplex before following with an Exploder for a nearfall. Taylor caught Hook with a uranage before landing a big splash for a nearfall. Hook ducked a pair of shots before locking on Redrum. Taylor rammed Hook into the corner and dropped to his back, but Hook kept the hold on and got the win.
Rocky Romero was backstage with Lexy Nair. He didn’t know what was going on with the Best Friends but he couldn’t focus on that tonight. He was going to get one step closer to gold with a win over Roderick Strong tonight. Kyle O’Reilly came in and wished Romero luck tonight.
AEW International Title Eliminator Match – Roderick Strong (w/ The Kingdom & Wardlow) defeated Rocky Romero
Solid match, although it seemed like these two veterans were on different pages at certain times. The post-match is the important part, as Strong and the Kingdom turned on their former friend Kyle O’Reilly to set up that International Title feud down the line.
Strong worked a cravate to start, with Romero fighting out by going after the arm. Strong booted Romero and went to send him to the floor, but Romero held onto the ropes and baited Strong to the floor. Romero hit a kick off of the apron as we went to a commercial.
Romero fired up with strikes after the commercial break, hitting Strong with a rewind kick.
Taven went to cut off Romero, leading to Romero hitting him and Strong with dives. Romero hit a running Sliced Bread for a nearfall. Strong took some strikes in the corner before firing out of the corner with chops and a Sick Kick for a nearfall. Strong set up for a gutbuster, but Romero reversed into a DDT before hitting a satellite DDT for a nearfall.
Strong set Romero on the top rope, but Romero caught Strong with a top rope Sliced Bread for a nearfall. Romero went to the top rope, but Strong drilled him with a jumping knee out of the air to score the win. After the match, Kyle O’Reilly congratulated Strong before helping Romero up to his feet. Wardlow drilled Romero with a lariat before the Kingdom laid the boots to him. O’Reilly pulled them away from Romero, only for Strong to drill O’Reilly with a knee. He shouted at O’Reilly that he made the wrong choice of not joining up with the Kingdom.
We got a recap of Yuka Sakazaki’s return to AEW last week and Serena Deeb’s interest in her post-match. Deeb was backstage with Lexy Nair, where she complimented Sakazaki and noted how she wanted to get in the ring with her. Deeb noted that she’s undefeated and steadily climbing the rankings since she came back from injury, and officially invited Sakazaki into Deeb’s Dojo.
ROH Women's World Title Match – Athena (c) (w/Billie Starkz) vs. Red Velvet
This was a fine main event. Velvet continued to look good as an enhancement talent while Athena gets a spotlight win on TV. Aminata has gotten some spotlight on both Ring of Honor and AEW TV lately, plus she got screwed by Starkz for the TV Title at Supercard of Honor, so her stepping up to Athena makes sense for a logical next challenger.
Lexy Nair, who is associated with Athena on Ring of Honor TV, was the ring announcer for this match. Schiavone noted that this was under ROH rules, with the Code of Honor to start and a 20 count on the outside. Athena cartwheeled out of a headscissors, but Velvet booted her while she was celebrating.
Velvet hit a leg lariat as Tony Schiavone announced Roderick Strong vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the International Championship at Dynasty. Athena and Velvet fought on the apron, where Athena dumped Velvet onto the turnbuckle before dropping her on the apron as we went to a commercial.
After the commercial, Velvet hammered Athena with knees to the back before hitting a Destino for a nearfall. Athena dumped Velvet into the corner as it was announced that next week will be another three-hour block of AEW, as Rampage will follow Collision next Saturday. These guys are really making me earn my keep around here, I tell you what. Athena hit a pair of front slams, but Velvet caught her with a roll-up on the third for a nearfall.
Athena countered a wheelbarrow with a slam for a nearfall. Velvet cut off an ascending Athena with a head kick before bringing her down with a wheelbarrow suplex. Velvet hit a hurricane kick and a satellite DDT for a nearfall. Velvet went to the top rope, but Athena rolled to the floor. Velvet dived onto Athena, who caught her with one arm and slammed her with a Falcon Arrow. Velvet fired up but Athena booted her down.
Athena grabbed Velvet by the hair and sent her into the LED boards on the apron. Velvet caught Athena with a roll-up, but Athena kicked out and laid out Velvet with a forearm. Athena went to the top rope and hit the O-Face to score the win.
After the match, Athena and Starkz beat down Velvet and went to hit her with the belt, but Queen Aminata came to make the save. She headbutted Starkz and hit an Air Raid Crash on Athena to run them off.
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