New Edition and New Kids on the Block stage a Battle of Boston at the 2021 American Music Awards

While the 2021 American Music Awards aired live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, one of its most memorable performances was a Battle of Boston.

Similar to a Verzuz, the show had New Edition and New Kids on the Block, two iconic, pioneering boy bands that both happen to be from Beantown, go back and forth performing their biggest hits.

New Kids on the Block took the stage first, clad all in black and serving up their familiar side-kick choreography to "You Got It (The Right Stuff)."

Then New Edition, decked out in colorful hats and trench coats, launched into "Candy Girl" before ceding the stage to NKOTB, who ran through their signature solos on "Step by Step."

New Edition took the stage back for "Mr. Telephone Man," then invited their Dorchester compatriots to perform with them on "Is This the End," which found all the boy-banders crushing the unison dance moves.

The groups continued to trade-off, with New Edition launching into "Can You Stand The Rain" and NKOTB taking over for "Hanging Tough." The Boston battle ended with the bands combining for "If It Isn't Love," which even had members of BTS grooving from the audience.

While New Kids on the Block have performed on the AMAs as recently as 2010, Sunday's event marked the first time New Edition performed on the show since 1997.

In a recorded segment prior to the performance, Donald Wahlberg credited New Edition for paving the way not just New Kids on the Block, but for Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, One Direction, and LFO.

Although the two groups, both two-time AMA winners, were not nominated for any awards this year, they still walked away victorious having gotten the acknowledgment that their shoulders are the ones that groups like BTS stand upon.

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