Cook’s AEW Battle of the Belts XII Review

Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for what may be the final edition of Battle of the Belts with AEW Battle of the Belts XII. What a long, strange trip it’s been from BOTB 1 to BOTB 12. We’ve got some big matches tonight with varying levels of championship implications. The AEW Continental Championship will be on the line, as will an eventual shot at the Women’s World Championship. Let’s go!

Cook’s AEW Battle of the Belts XII Review

Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuiness are our hosts.

We start with the continuation of the BCC’s attack on Top Flight. Dark Order comes out! They get a brief flurry of offense before eating another beatdown. John Silver gets beaten with a chair and rolled into the ring. Jon Moxley says he’ll let Dark Order have a chance to fight for their careers right now. He grants Dark Order a World Trios Championship match, which seems fair until you remember they’ve been beaten the crap out of their last two appearances.

AEW World Trios Championship Match: BCC (Pac, Claudio Castagnoil & Wheeler Yuta) (c) vs. Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds & Evil Uno): Claudio stomps John Silver down. Tag to Yuta, Silver tries to fight back for a second but Pac tags in and puts the boots to him. Back suplex by Pac. Tag to Claudio, who gets some overhand chops to his chest. Claudio slams Silver down three times, tags Yuta and they hit the Rocket Launcher! Evil Uno makes the save, probably not the smartest thing he’s ever done. Pac with some kicks to Silver, but Silver with a shot of his own. Reynolds crawls up to the apron and gets the tag. Boot to Yuta on the apron. Claudio knocks him down, but Reynolds dropkicks him in the knee. Hurts his ribs in the process. Claudio with the press into a rib breaker, then a Sharpshooter! Yuta distracts the referee so Pac can double-stomp Reynolds in the back of the head. This leads to a submission.

Winners: BCC (5:06 via submission)
Match Rating: **1/4
Nice to see the Dark Order back on TV again. I know opinions on this current run BCC are on vary. I’m somewhat intrigued by it, everybody seems to be buying into their roles pretty well and they’re getting put over pretty strong. We’ll see how it goes, I suppose.

Yuta locks in the Cattle Mutilation to further emphasize his status as a dick. Mox beats Uno down on the outside. Marina Shafir blasts Silver’s arm with a briefcase. Private Party & Daniel Garcia come down & make the save finally. Orange Cassidy stands in the aisle and then walks off.

AEW Continental Championship Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly: Kyle earned his title shot by calling Okada a bitch. Tie-up, some arm wringers exchanged, O’Reilly takes Okada down and locks in a go-behind. Okada reverses into a headlock. KOR with a wristlock, Okada takes him to the ropes for the break, teases a cheap shot, and doesn’t do it. O’Reilly responds with some palm strikes. KOR with the ankle lock, Okada gets to the ropes pretty quickly. O’Reilly stomps away and keeps the offense as we go picture in picture.

O’Reilly with some kicks in the corner, Okada responds with a faceplant in the middle of the ring. Okada works Kyle over in the corner, then whips him into the opposite corner rather harshly. Neckbreaker by Okada gets a near-fall, then he applies a chinlock. Okada knees Kyle in the spine. We go back full screen and Kyle hits some strikes. Okada uppercuts Kyle down. Kyle sent head-first into the turnbuckle. Front slam by Okada. Okada misses a hilo, Kyle hits a kitchen sink knee. Kyle with some knee lifts, a big forearm in the corner to Okada. Hammerlock DDT by Kyle, Okada rolls to the apron. Kyle with a dragonscrew across the rope, then a knee strike off the middle turnbuckle. Kyle climbs back up, hits a knee off the top then locks in a kneebar. Okada keeps trying to fight out, which leads to Kyle adding to the hold. An eye gouge finally breaks the hold. Okada goes for a Tombstone but can’t get Kyle up due to his leg. Kyle with some more shots to Okada’s leg. Okada misses in the corner but ends up catching Kyle with a neckbreaker. We’re going back to picture in picture.

They end up on the outside, and Okada rams Kyle’s back into the barricade a couple of times. Back in the ring, Okada hits a running forearm in the corner, then lazily kicks Kyle. Okada with a modified Cobra Clutch as we go full commercial. Okada with a front dropkick when we return. Kyle with a guillotine choke briefly before kicking Okada. Okada goes for a Tombstone, but Kyle works into an ankle lock. Okada makes the ropes. Okada wastes some time outside to work the 20-minute time limit. Kyle follows him out, but this leads into a DDT on the floor by Okada. Back in the ring, Okada slams Kyle and goes up top to hit an elbow drop. Kyle blocks the Rainmaker the first time, but not the second time. Dropkick by Okada, but Kyle blocks the lariat again. Series of reversals leads to another guillotine choke by Kyle. Okada gets out and hits a Falcon Arrow. RAINMAKAAAAAAAA ends the match.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada (17:29 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2
I thought this was really good and could have gotten into 4-star territory on a different night in a different setting, but it just lacked a certain gear that didn’t put it over that hump. Still pretty cool to watch though, check it out if you missed tonight’s show and these guys are your kind of guys.

We see a video recapping the recent turns of events between Mariah May & Anna Jay. Anna thinks Mariah is a shady-ass person.

Rush tells us not to mess with LFI. They’re going to destroy every single wrestler & faction in this company. Beast Mortos attacks Hologram while Rush tells us if you mess with the bull, you get the horns.

Brian Cage & Lance Archer vs. Jon Cruz & Jack Cartwheel: Don Callis joins Tony & Nigel. Cartwheel gets decked by Cage. Cage with a big superkick, and some posing! Cartwheel tossed into the corner. Cruz doesn’t want to tag in, but Cage makes him. Cruz with some chops with no effect. Cruz is placed up top, Archer tags in so he can knock Cruz off. Suplex by Archer. Cartwheel gets pushed off the apron to the floor, he cartwheels back in but gets clotheslined. Combo powerbomb/chokeslam to Cartwheel, then an assisted Blackout to Cruz. That didn’t take long.

Winners: Brian Cage & Lance Archer (2:37 via pinfall)
Match Rating: SQUASH
No, I don’t know why this was on a show called “Battle of the Belts”. (Then again, have you seen some of those Clash of the Champions cards?) We got to see Cage & Archer murder some people. I’m guessing people got mad about Cartwheel getting squashed because he does some crazy flips & things, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

Lexy Nair is backstage with Undisputed Kingdom & Beast Mortos. Roddy, Matt & Michael aren’t happy with Mortos’ recent actions. They wish they were included! They’re not mad, just disappointed. Mortos chows down on some food.

AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Match: Mariah May (c) vs. Anna Jay: Tieup to start. Arm wringers exchanged by both. Go-behinds exchanged, headlock into a headscissors. Jay gets out and works a hammerlock. May takes control for a second, it’s Jay on top for a second. May with a jawbreaker, then a dropkick gets two. Jay with a kick in the corner, but May cuts her off and hits some punches on the mat. We started off clean but now Mariah is angry. Hair beals by May. Big slap in the corner by May. Spinning side slam we call the Mariah-Go-Round gets two. We go picture in picture!

Mariah with a kneeling armbar, Jay tries to rise out but May throws her down. Anna gets stretched out in the ropes and kicked down by Mariah. Mariah locks in a cross armbreaker, Anna gets out by turning it into a pin attempt. Mariah targets Anna’s arm some more with arm breakers and knees to the arm. Flatliner gets two for Mariah. Did Mariah bite Anna’s face while applying another armbar? Probably. Mariah with a forearm to the corner, hits another in the opposite corner, but Anna blocks the third. Anna with some forearms, a hair beal. Anna with a running forearm, then she sets Mariah up top. Iconoclasm & a front dropkick gets two. Mariah fights back before getting back suplexed for two. Jay goes for the Queenslayer, but May bites her way out of it. Saito & German suplexes by Mariah get two. Draping DDT by Mariah gets two. Anna is placed up top, Mariah hits the Trishcanrana! Anna fights back, tries to hit the Gorybomb but Mariah fights out. Mariah tries to set Anna up, but Anna cradles Mariah for the three count!

Winner: Anna Jay (12:08 via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/4
The announcers made sure to tell the story that Anna Jay has been to Japan and has never been better, so it made the match work really well since that’s the story. Anna kept up move for move with the veteran Mariah and has earned a title shot. Will she win? Maybe not, but I don’t mind watching the Anna Jay Story and seeing how far it goes.

We end with Anna all happy and Mariah all angry. They’ll face each other in a title match on Collision two weeks from tonight!

7.3

The final score: review Good

The 411

Let's be real: the concept of Battle of the Belts was always a bit confusing. They were supposed to be this generation's Clash of the Champions, but the same reason that WCW stopped doing them is one of the reasons this show didn't really work: With so many PPVs and weekly shows, there's no real need. For AEW, it's even more glaring that an extra hour on TNT once every few months isn't of much use. If this is the last one...well, let's hope the next attempt goes better. As for this particular show, I thought it was a perfectly fine hour of wrestling. The Continental & Women's title matches were the highlights, but the squashes tonight weren't all that offensive.