AEW: Battle of the Belts VII Date Revealed, Jim Ross Eye Injury & Health Update, More News

Jul 5, 2023

AEW Battle of the Belts VII to Air Next Saturday

AEW’s next Battle of the Belts special, Battle of the Belts VII, is currently scheduled to air on July 15th on TNT.

In a recent update to their programming schedule on their official website, TNT revealed that this upcoming new Battle of the Belts special will air following that night’s AEW Collision show starting at 10PM EST.

That night’s AEW Collision and Battle of the Belts VII shows will be taking place at the Calgary Stampede Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Jim Ross Health Status Update

As noted before, Jim Ross suffered a black eye injury following a fall incident this past June and is currently on a break from AEW due to vocal cord-related issues.

A recent episode of the Grillin JR podcast featured co-host Jim Ross providing an update on his black eye injury.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m getting better every day. I just had a string of bad luck, health wise, which is very unusual for me because, knock on wood, I’ve been very blessed with good health. But when you get to be 71, and you’re trying to live a young man’s life in a young man’s business and going on the road every week, it can get very challenging. So that’s kind of what I found myself in that situation. But what happened was, it’s a hell of a story, at least it was for me. I got up and not unlike a lot of other people, I had to go yo the bathroom in the middle of the night, so I hopped out of bed to go to my bathroom, and apparently I tripped over my CPAP cord. When I did, I fell face-first into the end table next to my bed, and the corner hit over here somewhere. So I had a huge knot immediately, eye swelled shut almost immediately. But I was so sleepy and so out of it that I just got back in bed. I think I actually went to the bathroom. Mother Nature won that match, and then I got back in bed.
The next morning, when I woke up, that was my flight out to Chicago to do that first show, Collision, and that’s all I was thinking about. I woke up and I had a bad-ass headache, but okay, a headache ain’t gonna keep JR out of work. But I had a bad headache, which was a result of the concussion, and my only thought was, ‘I gotta finish packing and get on the road.‘ That’s kind of what I did, but I was very unstable. Everything was very foggy, and I’d have been better off staying at home, but hard-headedness and being stubborn, and I felt like I had a commitment that I’d made that I wanted to fulfill. So I got dressed rather slowly, and my driver, he knows if I’m not standing there ready to go, to come upstairs where I live. But I was downstairs waiting, and on a little unsteady ground, and flew to Chicago. As the day went on in Chicago, my voice kept going in and out, and I don’t know what the hell that was. I thought, ‘Well, I’ll get over it. I’ll drink a lot of hot tea or hot coffee or hot something, and make that work for me.’ But it was just too much to overcome, and I apologize for how I sounded. I didn’t tend to sound that way, I didn’t want to sound that way, and I know I disappointed a lot of people. I disappointed me. I don’t think it made anybody in AEW real happy how I sounded, but I was doing the best that I could. So after that show was over, I went back to the announcers’ locker room, where we all dress, and I sat there for a little bit and I thought, ‘Man, I can’t keep doing this. I don’t feel good. Something’s not right. I got here, I did the best that I could. But boy, I need to get home.’ So good old Rafael Morffi, who’s taken care of me so much on the road over the years, helped me get back to the hotel. I tucked myself in, and I didn’t even get undressed that night. I wanted to make sure I could not waste any time making the flight the next morning. So I flew home, headache and all, and I’ve been here ever since. I’ve been out of the house a few times to go to the grocery store, maybe two or three times in the last few weeks. Other than that, I’ve got people that are helping me get groceries or whatever I need, prescriptions, things like that. But I was too unsteady to drive, and sure as hell too unsteady to walk around a grocery store. So I had my housekeeper buy me a little cane, which I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used a little bit, not outside, but here in the house to help me get around so I don’t have any more falls.”

Ross also gave his thoughts on him not currently having a timetable for his potential return from injury to AEW.

“I was very lucky I woke up. I was very lucky I didn’t bleed out because I had a lot of blood on my pillow cases. I had to fight through it, and I’ve been fighting through it ever since. The concussion was one issue. I’m working on our book. I got a manuscript here that we’ve written, and I’ve been trying to get to it to read it, but I haven’t been able to see good enough out of one eye. So I’m getting back on that track. I’m trying to get caught back up on that deal, but as far as going back on the road, I don’t have a return date. Tony Khan’s been very nice as far as ‘take all the time you need, and if you want to take several weeks off or the summer off, whatever you’d like to do, just get healthy.’ So I appreciate the fact that he’s being patient with me and that he is encouraging my good health because that’s really the main thing, and it gives us all an eye-opener. There’s nothing more important than our health. So many times, we take it for granted, and I have for years. So I’m gonna be a little bit more aware of my health, I’m gonna be a little bit more aware of how I take care of myself, but in the meantime, I’ve been here at home.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

AEW News & Notes

WrestleTix reported that AEW has currently distributed around 74,888 tickets for their upcoming All In event this August at Wembley Stadium in London, England as of Tuesday afternoon. AEW had sold over 66,000 tickets for their upcoming event as of this past Thursday.

In a recent interview with Uproxx, Kenny Omega confirmed recent rumors of a Stadium Stampede mode being added as a future update to AEW: Fight Forever. Omega stated “There is always going to be additions to this game. You haven’t seen anything yet. You’ve seen a little bit, but you haven’t seen a lot of things that I’m very excited for. There’s something in particular coming up that, it’s sort of been leaked a little bit, so the Stadium Stampede mode I’m very excited for and I think people are going to have a lot of fun. It’s something so incredibly unique and I think it’s going to be great. The roster, we’re going to add bodies to the roster as well. Custom parts for create a wrestler, all that stuff. I can’t wait to share more announcements with people and to see more of the roster, more match types and see the videos turn up online for how people are enjoying it.“

In a recent interview with the Cultaholic Wrestling podcast, AEW Fight Forever’s Lead Narrative Designer Justin Leeper gave his thoughts on the game’s development team being pretty happy with the current responses from their recently released video game. Leeper stated “Yeah, I think we’re pretty happy. I think that, I was at least aware, that reviews might not be in the stratosphere, but at the end of the day, I make games for the player. I make games so that the people that are interested in it, will pick it up and find some fun and enjoyment in it. Does that mean I made a perfect mode, no definitely not. Is this a perfect game, no it is not. Especially taking it as a from the ground up, first ever effort for a brand new IP, I think we accomplished what we wanted to do. I think I accomplished what I wanted to do on the mode, I think we made it a kinda easy to play, hard to master kind of game that was intuitive to the controls and fun to play. It’s something to build off of, very much so and I hope there are some updates that come that bring some other people into the fold [who hadn’t bought the game yet]. By in large, the people who I’ve heard from that are playing it, are enjoying what they’re playing.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

In a recent interview with The A2theK Wrestling Show, indies wrestler and former Impact Wrestling talent Caleb Konley, former Kaleb with a K, gave his thoughts about his work in AEW and AEW recently ending their Dark and Dark Elevation series. Konley stated “You know, it was wrestling on YouTube. It was super cool, and I enjoyed my time there and all of the matches I had, I thought, were pretty good. I was happy with all of it. It’s wrestling. They’ve got another show on TV, and then they’ve got Ring Of Honor on Honorclub, so how many wrestling shows can one company have at one time? Not only from a viewer perspective, but from the perspective of the talent that has to fly back and forth… I was at one of the Dark tapings, guys had just left from TV across the country, and they had to fly to Florida, and I think the next day, there was a signing somewhere else and a whole bunch of guys were on the signing in the morning, so they had to leave straight from there and it’s just like, do we really need these other shows? I get it in the beginning. It was probably great for them to have another place to work. Maybe some guys aren’t getting used on TV regularly enough, so this is giving them a spot. But for other people, especially with Collision and the Ring Of Honor shows, there’s only so much traveling you can do. It’s not good for your body.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)