AEW Battle of the Belts VIII Review - October 21, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy def. John Silver

I had totally forgotten that Cassidy and Silver had a match back at Full Gear 2020. I honestly have very little recollection of that. At any rate, Silver was hardly a threat to the title here since Cassidy just regained the gold last week, but it was a well-wrestled affair for what it was worth. Cassidy announced later on backstage that it will be him and Kazuchika Okada vs. Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli in tag team action on Wednesday's Dynamite, which is quite the attraction.

ROH World Television Champion Samoa Joe def. Tony Nese

I don't believe this match as advertised in advance (it wasn't included in the above graphic), but the ROH world Television Championship was put up for grabs because it's a Battle of the Belts special despite Nese doing nothing to earn the opportunity (though maybe beating Ethan Page on Thursday's edition of ROH TV was enough?). It was a fairly straightforward squash win for Joe as it should have been. Joe established in his post-match promo that he still has his sights set on MJF and I am all for that.

AEW TBS Champion Kris Statlander def. Willow Nightingale

I've been looking forward to these two colliding for the championship since they formed their alliance over the summer, and it was the great match I expected from them. I hate that Nightingale continues to lose title opportunities, but I appreciate that she was made to look credible in defeat. I'm also intrigued where this angle with her, Statlander and Skye Blue is going. A heel turn for Blue wouldn't be bad, but Nightingale is a natural babyface and should stay in that role.

AEW World Trios Champions The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn def. Daniel Garcia, "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker

I would have rather seen the TBS title match go on last over this because this was a fairly basic six-man tag team match. The Acclaimed and Gunn are over as an act and they've had a ton of title defenses so far, but their matches largely follow a formula and aren't very interesting. The biggest story here was that Garcia lost yet again, and with his teammates teasing tension with him lately, this should be enough to break him off on his own because sticking with the remnants of Jericho Appreciation Society is doing him no favors.

Overall Show

Stop me if you've heard this before, but these Battle of the Belts specials remain completely pointless. They have been since the get-go and I have to imagine they're only around because it's a contractual thing at this point. The matches are solid, but AEW programming delivers enough excellent wrestling week to week that these shows aren't necessary. This was another average albeit forgettable installment of Battle of the Belts.

SEE MORE: Battle of the Belts Reviews