Battle of the Belts V: Orange Cassidy, The Acclaimed and Jade Cargill all retain

January 7, 2023 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: AEW

January 6, 2023

Veterans Memorial Coliseum – Portland, OR

By: John Kleinchester

Battle of the Belts V started off with a No Holds Barred match for the AEW Tag Team Championship. Max Caster’s rap included quips like if Jeff Jarrett won “it would be the new January 6th” and “Jeff Jarrett is worse than Vince McMahon”.

Highlights of this match included:

  • a figure four reversal by Anthony Bowens on Jay Lethal that went almost all the way down the entrance ramp
  • Max Caster executing an “Olympia Washington” slam and then pulling his non-existent straps down before applying the Angle – I mean – ankle lock
  • Jay Lethal hitting a flying elbow drop on the ref to prevent Jarrett from tapping out
  • “Daddy Ass” getting involved, grabbing the guitar and hitting Satnam Singh with it 
  • Satnam Singh double-chokeslamming both members of The Acclaimed and then Referee Mike Posey as well
  • Sonjay Dutt putting on the Ref’s shirt but getting pulled out of the ring by Aubrey Edwards and breaking Sonjay’s pencil in half and then pushing him down
  • The Acclaimed winning with The Arrival / Mic Drop combination finisher

Some people will say this was overbooked and it definitely was but it was also a lot of fun and the Portland crowd ate it up.

Powerhouse Hobbs was back – this time with an actual physical Book of Hobbs in his possession. Again, Hobbs said “Everything that has happened to me is going to happen to you.”

Backstage, Ortiz was wondering aloud to Eddie Kingston why House of Black didn’t mention him at all in their video. Kingston responded by saying they would fight them on Rampage next week.

Next, Skye Blue challenged Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship. During the match Red Velvet came out onto the stage and had a stare down with Cargill. Layla Gray tried to confront Velvet at ringside at Velvet slapped her taking her out. Jade was victorious with an awesome finishing sequence where Cargill popped Skye Blue off of her shoulders and caught her in position to hit Jaded for the win.

Backstage, Lexy Nair interviewed Stokely Hathaway with Big Bill and Lee Moriarty. Hathaway said they were going to put Jungle Boy and Hook “in the dirt”. Stokely ended the promo with a “soo woo”.

A promo package aired with Ruby Soho/Willow Nightingale and Tay Melo/Anna Jay going back and forth about the extreme matches that each had been involved in recently. This was building to a Street Fight between the two teams being booked for next week’s Rampage.

The main event featured Orange Cassidy defending his All-Atlantic Championship against Kip Sabian. Cassidy was only accompanied to the ring by Danhausen with the Best Friends nowhere to be found. At one point early in the match, Kip stole Orange’s sunglasses and started singing “in your heaaaaad, in your heaaaad” from Zombie by The Cranberries. This led to The Bunny skipping down to the ring and joining the corner of Sabian. Sabian, The Bunny and Penelope Ford mocked the Best Friends’ “group hug” which then led to Danhausen cursing Sabian, to which Sabian responded by biting Danhausen’s finger. That led to a tope suicida by Cassidy onto Sabian. Whew! Wrestling is fun.

The Bunny was then ejected but referee Paul Turner after attempting to interfere in the match. That led to Butcher and the Blade coming out and taking out Danhausen. They stormed down to the ring only to set up chairs at the bottom of the ramp to apparently take in the match up close. Butcher and Blade were about to attack Orange Cassidy when Best Friends came out to make the save and chase B&B off. 

Kip showed some incredible aggression and certainly seemed poised to swipe the All-Atlantic title from Cassidy. Orange then got extremely fired up and shoved the referee. But he was able to recover and hit a double Orange punch for the victory.

 

Announced for Rampage Next Week in Los Angeles, CA:

  • Eddie Kingston & Ortiz vs. Kings of the Black Throne (Malakai Black & Brody King)
  • Street Fight: Anna Jay A.S. & Tay Melo vs. Ruby Soho & WIllow Nightingale

AEW Battle of the Belts V Results:

  • No Holds Barred Tag Team Championship Match: The Acclaimed over Jeff Jarret & Jay Lethal in 10:57
  • TBS Championship: Jade Cargill over Skye Blue in 9:15
  • All-Atlantic Championship: Orange Cassidy over Kip Sabian in 16:03
About John Kleinchester 204 Articles
New Jersey born and raised. Wrestling fan since Lex slammed Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. Favorite Wrestler of all time is Owen "The Rocket" Hart.
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