All Elite Wrestling fans will lose some of the promotion’s shows in the near future. The professionally wrestling promotion recently signed a massive TV rights renewal deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that ultimately left two AEW programs canceled. While the deal was great news for AEW overall, it did result in the loss of AEW Rampage and AEW Battle of the Belts.
Rampage was the Tony-Khan-backed promotion’s second proper TV show following the flagship program AEW Dynamite. It was initially was the home of big AEW angles, such as the promotion debut of CM Punk and title matches featuring Kenny Omega. However, in the eyes of many fans, it eventually felt like an afterthought, with only smaller story beats and random bouts filling out its one-hour runtime each Friday.
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Battle of the Belts is not a weekly wrestling program, instead airing on various Saturday night blocks throughout the year. Eleven of episodes of the show have aired, with the twelfth, headlined by AEW Women’s Champion Mariah May vs. Anna Jay, set to air on Saturday. The show often features various title bouts or contendership matches. However, much like Rampage, fan perception of the program’s importance has declined since its 2022 premiere.
While there is always the chance the AEW moves the programs to a new network or streamer, no word in such a move has surfaced as of press time. Famed pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer believes that at least Rampage will be sunsetted by the end of 2024.
“As far as will there be Battle of the Belts, will there be Rampage? That is not in this deal,” Meltzer said, as transcribed by Wrestling Attitude. “They are open to shop this stuff around. Rampage may not be going much longer. Not sure, the date could be just a couple more weeks or it could be at the end of the year.”
