First Contest For AEW Battle Of The Belts Confirmed

With AEW Battle Of The Belts just around the corner, the first title match has now been signed for the event.

Battle Of The Belts has been a quarterly tradition in AEW since the start of 2022, and the fifth instalment of the showpiece event is confirmed to take place on Friday, 6th January directly after a special live edition of AEW Rampage goes off the air.

After his successful All-Atlantic Championship defense against fellow Best Friend Trent Barretta on the 30th December 2022 edition of Rampage, it was confirmed that Orange Cassidy would be putting the title on the line once again the following week, this time against ‘Superbad’ Kip Sabian.

Kip Sabian has been chasing a shot at the All-Atlantic Championship for months, back to when he appeared at a Revolution Pro Wrestling show in the United Kingdom to sit in the crowd as PAC defended the title against Connor Mills. Although the gold has now moved on to Cassidy, the now unboxed Sabian has continued to chase and will now get his opportunity.

The last edition of Battle Of The Belts took place in October, with all three matches seeing the respective title holders retain. FTR kept the ROH Tag Team Championships against The Gates Of Agony, Jade Cargill stayed undefeated when facing Willow Nightingale, and PAC successfully defended the All-Atlantic Championship against Trent Beretta.

Battle Of The Belts V will emanate from the Veterans Memorial Colosseum in Portland, Oregon, and will be a live event rather than pre-taped. It’s also the first time AEW have visited the state.