The first AEW Battle of the Belts III special match has been announced.
ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli will defend the title against Konosuke Takeshita at Battle of the Belts III, it was revealed during Friday’s Fight for The Fallen episode of AEW Rampage.
Since defeating Jonathan Gresham in the opening match at the ROH Death Before Dishonor XIX pay-per-view on Sunday, July 23, Castagnoli will be defending the title for the first time. Takeshita will be competing in his debut ROH match. The DDT Pro Wrestling star returned in April of this year after making his AEW debut and wrestling three matches in April of 2021. Since then, he has defeated JD Drake, Brandon Cutler, Rhett Titus, Ryan Nemeth, Nick Comoroto, and Anthony Henry on Elevation and Dark episodes. Takeshita lost to Jay Lethal on the the May 6 Rampage, then to Adam Page on the May 18 Wild Card Wednesday Dynamite show, he was defeated by Eddie Kingston on the July 8 Rampage show, and lost to interim AEW world champion Jon Moxley in a World Title Eliminator match on the July 13 Fyter Fest Night 1 edition of Dynamite. His most recent bout was the win over Drake at the July 20 Elevation taping, which aired last week.
Next Friday night at the Van Del Arena, AEW will also broadcast a live Rampage episode. There are still tickets available for AEW’s Grand Rapids debut.
There should only be one more Battle of the Belts special left after next week’s episode because AEW and TNT are airing four of them annually. Sammy Guevara won the interim AEW TNT Title by defeating Dustin Rhodes on January 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ricky Starks retained the FTW Title by defeating Matt Sydal, and Britt Baker held onto the AEW Women’s World Title by defeating Riho. On April 16, Battle of The Belts II from Garland, Texas, was broadcast and Guevara defeated Scorpio Sky to win the AEW TNT Title; Jonathan Gresham defeated Dalton Castle to retain the ROH World Title; and Thunder Rosa defeated Nyla Rose to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship.
The remaining the Battle of The Belts III card will be announced on Wednesday’s Dynamite. Click here for the current line-up for Wednesday’s show from Columbus, Ohio.
