TNT Champion Cody Rhodes will miss AEW Battle of the Belts as he is not medically cleared to compete.
On a special Christmas Day edition of AEW Rampage, Cody Rhodes defeated Sammy Guevara to become TNT Champion for a record third time. Rhodes had of course been the inaugural champion back in May 2020.
With the issues between the two men far from over and it was announced that the pair would meet once more at AEW Battle of the Belts on January 8th.
However, just 24-hours away from the opening bell, the match has been called off. On the January 7th episode of Rampage it was announced that Cody Rhodes hadn’t been medically cleared to compete. Instead, the show will see former champion Sammy Guevara square off against Dustin Rhodes in AEW’s first-ever Interim TNT Championship match.
Dustin Rhodes has challenged for the title before, coming up short against the late Brodie Lee back in 2020.
#CodyRhodes isn’t medically cleared for #AEWBOTB. Tomorrow we’ll have our 1st ever Interim TNT Title match: former champ @sammyguevara vs @dustinrhodes (15-3 overall, 7-2 singles since his only TNT Title shot vs. Mr. Brodie Lee in 2020) at Battle of the Belts on TNT 8pm ET/7pm CT pic.twitter.com/VzGMRbEtYd
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) January 8, 2022
AEW Battle of the Belts will be the first-ever AEW quarterly TNT special and will take place at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. The name is a throwback to a show of the same name hosted by the NWA and the CWF (Championship Wrestling from Florida).
AEW made their debut on TBS on January 5th, with Dynamite moving from its traditional slot on TNT. As part of the deal, it was also announced that AEW would be running four ‘super-card specials’ each year.
At the time of writing, only two other matches have been announced for the show. The first bout will see Britt Baker defend her AEW Women’s World Championship against Riho, while Ricky Starks will meet Matt Sydal, with the FTW Title on the line.