Cody Rhodes Unable To Compete At Battle Of The Belts, Replacement Announced
TNT Champion Cody Rhodes will no longer appear at AEW Battle of the Belts as he has not been medically cleared to compete.
On the Christmas Day edition of AEW Rampage, Cody Rhodes defeated Sammy Guevara to capture the TNT Championship for the third time.
With the rivalry between the two far from over, it was announced that they would clash over the title again at Battle of the Belts on January 8th.
However, just 24-hours before the show, the match has been called off. On the January 7th episode of Rampage, the company announces that the ‘American Nightmare’ hadn’t been medically cleared to compete. It was also revealed that Dustin Rhodes will take his brother’s place in the bout, with he and Sammy Guevara battling to become AEW’s first-ever Interim TNT Champion.
Dustin Rhodes has previously challenged for the title, 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
Battle of the Belts will be the first of AEW’s quarterly TNT specials and will take place at Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC. The name is an homage to the show of the same name that used to be held by the NWA and Championship Wrestling from Florida.
The event will also see Britt Baker defend the AEW Women’s World Championship against Riho, and Matt Sydal take on Ricky Starks for the FTW Championship.