This week’s AEW Battle of The Belts 2022 special will crown an interim AEW TNT Champion as a result of an injury. The current AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes has been pulled from the event due to a medical issue. It was announced during last night’s AEW Rampage that Rhodes is not medically cleared to compete in the scheduled match against former champion Sammy Guevara in a rematch.
Instead, Guevara will now face Dustin Rhodes (Cody’s brother who is also known as Goldust) in a match to crown the Interim AEW TNT Champion at AEW Battle of the Belts 2022.
AEW noted in an announcement that Cody is 15-3 in overall stats from his AEW career, but he stands 7-2 in singles action since his first and only TNT Title shot, which happened against Brodie Lee on the September 8, 2020, episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT. Nothing was confirmed on when Cody will be cleared to return to action, or whether he will face the Interim TNT Champion following AEW Battle of the Belts 2022.
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The FTW Title will also be defended during tonight’s AEW Battle of The Belts 2022 special event where the Champion Ricky Starks will defend against Matt Sydal. Ricky interrupted the announcers on Rampage and said he originally thought it was a shame that the FTW Title was not on the line at the upcoming AEW Special. So he went to AEW President Tony Khan, and secured what he wanted.
Starks then revealed that he will be defending the FTW Title against Matt Sydal in a singles contest. Starks mentioned that he picked Sydal as his opponent so that he can prove to Dante Martin that he can defeat Sydal in one shot while it took Martin three matches to do so. Starks’ Team Taz mate Powerhouse Hobbs is scheduled to face Martin on next week’s AEW Dynamite.
AEW Battle of the Belts 2022 marks the third FTW Title defense for Starks after he won the title from Brian Cage at Fyter Fest Night 1 on July 14, then retained it over Cage on the October 8 edition of Rampage.
AEW Battle of The Belts 2022 match card
AEW Battle of The Belts 2022 special airs, tonight from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The one-hour event has the current card,
AEW Women’s World Title Match
Riho vs. Britt Baker (c)
Interim AEW TNT Title Match
Sammy Guevara vs. Dustin Rhodes
FTW Title Match
Matt Sydal vs. Ricky Starks (c)