Three matches have been announced for Saturday’s one-hour AEW Battle of The Belts VII special.
AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm will defend against Taya Valkyrie.
Valkyrie defeated Izzy McQueen on tonight’s AEW Rampage, but was then confronted by Storm and Saraya. This led to Valkyrie challenging Storm to the title match at Battle of The Belts, and Storm accepted, promising to embarrass Valkyrie in front of her family and countrymen.
Battle of The Belts will mark the first-ever singles match between Storm and Valkyrie. This will be Storm’s third TV title defense since capturing the strap from Jamie Hayter at Double Or Nothing on May 28. She retained over Skye Blue on the June 14 Dynamite, then retained over Willow Nightingale at Forbidden Door II.
Lance Archer will challenge AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy at Battle of The Belts.
Archer defeated Trent Beretta on tonight’s Rampage, then laid out Chuck Taylor. He threatened the Best Friends and that brought Cassidy out. They briefly got into it, then Archer and Jake Roberts ran off with Cassidy’s bag that contains his title belt.
This will also be the first-ever singles bout between Cassidy and Archer. Rampage marked Archer’s first AEW match since defeating Bryce Cannon at the March 24 Elevation tapings, and his first match on one of the main AEW TV shows since defeating Bryce Saturn on the February 24 Rampage episode, which was his first AEW match of 2023, and his return to AEW action following the loss to Ricky Starks on the November 18, 2022 Rampage. This will be Cassidy’s 26th title defense since winning the title from PAC on the October 12, 2022 Dynamite. He last retained over Daniel Garcia, NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr., and ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata at Forbidden Door.
AEW previously announced Shawn Spears vs. AEW TNT Champion Luchasaurus for Battle of The Belts.
This will be the first title defense for Luchasaurus since he won the title from Wardlow on the June 17 Collision premiere. Spears has only worked three AEW TV matches in 2023 so far – he was defeated by Jungle Boy on the April 14 Rampage; he teamed with Ricky Starks for a loss to Jay White and Juice Robinson on the April 28 Rampage; he defeated The Blade on the June 30 Rampage.
AEW Battle of The Belts VII will air live this Saturday from the Calgary Stampede Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The show will air at 10pm ET, right after the live AEW Collision episode goes off the air. Below is the announced card:
* AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Lance Archer
* AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm defends against Taya Valkyrie
* AEW TNT Champion Luchasaurus defends against Shawn Spears
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more.
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