TNT Championship Belt “Retired” For Brodie Lee, New Belt Being Made
This week’s incredibly emotional AEW Dynamite saw many tears being shed in honour of Brodie Lee. However, a championship belt has also been “retired” in tribute to a former champion. While the name of the TNT Championship will remain the same, Brodie Lee Jr was crowned champion “for life” and given the current belt, a new belt is currently being created for Darby Allin.
In the closing segment of the show, Brodie Lee Jr would lay down his late father’s wrestling boots in the middle of the ring, before Cody Rhodes covered them with the trademark bandana. As Lee’s wife Amanda Huber and Preston Vance, AKA 10, watched on, Brodie Lee’s son would be presented with the TNT Championship.
Making his first on-screen appearance, Tony Khan would say that, with all due respect to Cody, Brodie Lee was the greatest TNT Champion, and that Brodie Lee Jr would become the champion forever in tribute to his father. Darby Allin had previously appeared on the show without the belt.
On the AEW Dynamite post-show, Tony Schiavone clarified the status of the title, stating that it was indeed the real title given to Brodie Lee Jr, not a replica. Schiavone revealed that the original design has been retired, and that a new one is being worked on for champion Darby Allin.
“Little Brodie, -1 if you will, is always going to have that TNT belt. We’ll come up with a new belt. That’ll be his.”
The status of the title was clarified, that the actual title will remain, but the championship belt has been retired.
“The particular belt that was given to little Brodie tonight has been retired, not the TNT Championship itself. That is not the case. The belt was, and rightfully so. Again, the TNT Championship will go on. The belt has been retired. A new belt is being made, it will be given to Darby, of course, who is still our TNT Champion.”
Schiavone recently confirmed that Brodie Lee Jr had actually signed an official AEW contract. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see a title unification match in a decade or so…
You can re-live all of the happenings from this week’s AEW Dynamite here.