It’s Saturday night, and you know what that means …
All Elite Wrestling returns from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. tonight at 10/9c on TNT. with their latest Battle of the Belts special event.
On tap for tonight’s show is Samoa Joe vs. Tony Nese for the ROH TV title, The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker & Daniel Garcia for the Trios titles, Kris Statlander vs. Willow Nightingale for the TBS Women’s title, as well as Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver for the AEW International title.
Featured below are complete AEW Battle of the Belts VIII results from Saturday, October 21, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 10-11pm EST. on TNT.
AEW BATTLE OF THE BELTS VIII RESULTS (10/21/2023)
The show goes on the air with the conclusion of Collision still wrapping up.
AEW International Championship
Orange Cassidy (C) vs. John Silver
As Claudio Castagnoli continues his giant swing on Ricky Starks with the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club behind him, we hear Orange Cassidy’s theme. Out comes the “Freshly Squeezed” one for the opener of the latest Battle of the Belts special event on TNT.
As Jon Moxley walks past Orange Cassidy, the two end up in a scuffle, with Mox knocking Cassidy down and continuing on his way backstage. Cassidy gets back up and finishes his walk to the ring. He settles inside and The Dark Order theme hits to bring out John Silver.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Cassidy starts off strong and then heads to the floor to get back his shades, which Alex Reynolds was wearing. Back in the ring, Silver takes over. He gets on the middle rope with Cassidy and hits a wild super-plex for a close near fall.
We head to a mid-match commercial break with Silver in the offensive lead. When we return, Cassidy takes over again. He hits a Slumdog Millionaire and a Beach Break for a close near fall. Alex Reynolds is shown with Cassidy’s title at ringside.
Cassidy goes to Orange Punch Reynolds from the apron but he moves and then decks Cassidy with his own title. Silver rolls him up but Cassidy somehow kicks out. Silver hits an airplane spin slam for another close near fall. Out of nowhere, Cassidy connects with his Orange Punch to retain.
Winner and STILL AEW International Champion: Orange Cassidy
CJ Perry Is Interested In Andrade El Idolo
Now we shoot backstage where Lexy Nair is standing by with Andrade El Idolo, who is icing his elbow. He is asked about how he is feeling coming out of his match with Bryan Danielson.
In comes CJ Perry who tells El Idolo with a little guidance he might become the biggest, best and most handsome wrestler in the world. She walks off. El Idolo asks Nair what that was about. He seems interested and walks off.
ROH TV Championship
Samoa Joe (C) vs. Tony Nese
Back inside the arena, “Smart” Mark Sterling is doing his best Andy Kaufman rip-off as he trashes Memphis, Tennessee for being a hick town to build up Tony Nese ahead of his title opportunity against ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe.
Sterling tells everyone in the crowd to stand up for some group training, but he is cut off by Samoa Joe’s theme. Out comes “The King of TV” for his latest defense of the ROH TV title as fans in Memphis chant “Joe! Joe! Joe!”
Both guys are in the ring and now the bell sounds to get the second title bout of the Battle of the Belts VIII special event officially off-and-running. Tony Schiavone mentions Joe is 12 days away from breaking the record for longest ROH TV title reign.
Joe begins pummeling Nese straight out of the gate. Joe gets annoyed by Sterling and goes out after him. This allows Nese to get in some offense for a few seconds but then Joe turns Nese inside-out. He sits him on the top-rope and connects with his Muscle Buster for the quick victory.
After the match, Joe gets on the mic and calls out MJF. He says tonight he brings him a gift, the gift of foresight. He tells MJF that he’s coming for the AEW World Championship. He tells MJF he can give him what he wants or he can make him give him what he wants.
Winner and STILL ROH TV Champion: Samoa Joe
TBS Women’s Championship
Kris Statlander (C) vs. Willow Nightingale
We head to a commercial break after Samoa Joe’s message to MJF. When we return, we see Dasha Gonzalez in the ring. She introduces the challenger for our third match of a scheduled four for tonight. Willow Nightingale makes her way out to a big pop.
The fun-spirited women’s contender makes her way down to the ring. She settles inside and her music fades out. Now the theme for the reigning and defending TBS Women’s Champion hits and out comes Kris Statlander. Tony Schiavone mentions she is over 100 days into her title reign.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Statlander starts off strong as the commentators talk about Skye Blue refusing her help last night on Rampage. Willow takes over control of the offense as we head into a mid-match commercial break.
When we return, we see Willow still in control of the action until Kris hits a counter-DDT out of nowhere to slow Willow’s momentum down. The champ starts to take back over on offense from there. Statlander heads to the top but Willow stops her, climbs up after her and connects with an avalanche death valley driver for a close near fall.
Willow heads to the top-rope but Statlander stops her and connects with a power bomb off the ropes. She heads to the top-rope and connects with a follow-up 450 splash for the pin fall victory. With the win, she retains the TBS Women’s Championship. After the match, Skye Blue tries to stop Willow from shaking Kris’ hand. Willow shakes it anyways. Riveting.
Winner and STILL TBS Women’s Champion: Kris Statlander
AEW Trios Championships
The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn (C) vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker & Daniel Garcia
It’s main event time!
After the TBS Women’s title bout post-match scene wraps up, we head to another commercial break with Tony Schiavone and the rest of the gang on commentary hyping our AEW Trios Championship match coming up next in our main event of the evening.
When we return, we see Angelo Parker, Matt Menard and Daniel Garcia make their way to the ring with Anna Jay. They settle inside and the commentators point out Garcia is doing the dance that has been much of the problem between Garcia and Menard.
The Acclaimed’s theme hits and out comes Max Caster doing his freestyle rap gimmick as Anthony Bowens and Billy Gunn, as well as the NBA’s Memphis Grizzles mascot comes out with them. Caster acknowledges the many “Whoop that Trick” chants that have taken place throughout the show tonight in his rap.
In the ring, Billy Gunn gets on the mic and they set up a big scissor-handshake deal with the Grizzles mascot. The fans chant “Whoop that Trick!” as the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. We see The Acclaimed trio start off well.
As Garcia starts to cause issues with his little dance, Anna Jay runs into the ring to try and keep the peace. The ref ends up ejecting her for getting involved. She heads to the back as Bowens goes to work on Menard and then Parker. Gunn tags in and picks up where Bowens left off.
On that note, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break as Parker starts to take over control of the offense on Caster. When we return from our final commercial break of the evening, we see Menard working over Bowens in the heel corner of the ring. He tags in Garcia, who picks up where he left off.
“Daddy Ass” Billy Gunn finally gets the hot tag and he starts taking out Menard, Parker and Garcia by himself. Bowens hits a scissor-me leg drop as Gunn and Caster hold Menard’s legs open. The Acclaimed do their scissor-me handshake but then Garcia, Parker and Menard attack.
Garcia has Caster down and goes to do his little dance, but Caster rolls him up. Garcia kicks out. Garcia hits a big back suplex and then a clothesline. The fans chant “Do the dance!” He does and they explode. He picks Caster up and dances some more before going for a pile driver. Caster avoids it and Gunn hits a Fame-Asser.
Caster and Bowens hit a double-team spot and then Bowens gets the three-count for the win to retain. Menard looks annoyed with Garcia at ringside as The Acclaimed celebrate their win in the ring. The commentators hype action scheduled for Wednesday’s Dynamite. That’s how the Battle of the Belts VIII show goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winners and STILL AEW Trios Champions: The Acclaimed
