The battle of attrition between The Elite and the Blackpool Combat Club wrote its latest chapter Wednesday night on TBS in Blood & Guts, All Elite Wrestling's answer to the historic War Games.
The match, pitting the top stars in the promotion and featuring the debut of former New Japan Pro-Wrestling mega-star Kota Ibushi, was the marquee of a bout that also featured the conclusion of the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament and a rare FTW Championship defense by Hook.
Who emerged victoriously from the dangerous, violent steel cage spectacular?
Find out now with the July 19 show.
Match Card
Announced in advance for Wednesday's blockbuster edition of Dynamite were:
- Blood & Guts: The Golden Elite (Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, "Hangman" Adam Page and The Young Bucks) vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Pac and Konosuke Takeshita)
- Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament Final: MJF and Adam Cole vs. Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia
- FTW Championship Match: Hook (c) vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
FTW Championship Match: Hook vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry
Jungle Boy is no more. Long live Jack Perry, the new FTW champion following his controversial victory over Hook in the opening of Wednesday's show.
The heat for Perry was off the charts and the reaction to his championship victory was even more so. The crowd is ready to accept him in the role of a heel, even as he continues to find himself in that role.
The match was laid out nicely as Perry gave Hook what was, arguably, his toughest test to date. Then, to really hammer home his new persona, Perry benefited from the bumped referee and cheated his way to singles gold.
His celebratory "I told you so," after the win in reference to his vows to be champion by the end of 2023, was great. Hook sold the finish well and really embraced the babyface role, fighting from underneath and thriving on the crowd's reaction.
The chemistry was there in spades and AEW should most definitely explore a rematch or two. Let the young stars develop a rivalry that fans can revisit over the years. This was certainly a good start.
Result
Perry defeated Hook
Grade
B+
Top Moments and Takeaways
- A video package cut off "Tarzan Boy" and featured Perry apparently burying his Jungle Boy persona. While some will be disappointed to see the end of a character that was such an integral part of AEW for so long, it needed to happen to cement the heel turn and signify the dawn of a new era for the pillar.
- Taz throwing out impartiality and wishing for Perry to catch a beatdown was great stuff from a guy established to be a proud dad.
- It is going to take Perry a bit to find himself as a heel worker but he already has the body language down. The heat for him was plentiful.
- The T-bone suplex from the ring apron to the floor was wicked. It is difficult to imagine how Perry did not break everything. Ouch!
- Perry delivering a low blow, then rocking Hook with a running elbow made for a great, dramatic near-fall.
- We got the latest in the Adam Cole-MJF wacky teammates hijinx, including a bit too much to drink and the latter mocking Hulk Hogan's skewing of numbers anytime he tells his WrestleMania III story.
Dr. Britt Baker vs. Kayla Sparks
If you suspected that the women's division would get shorted by the jam-packed card for Wednesday's show, you were right.
Dr. Britt Baker DMD hit the ring for a match with the "Spice Ranger" Kayla Sparks, an independent standout with appearances in every major promotion in North America.
It was hardly a competitive match as Baker squashed Sparks, ultimately tapping her out with the Lockjaw.
And that was that.
No storyline development or meaning behind the segment, it existed solely to exist and everyone involved has earned better than that.
Result
Baker defeated Sparks
Grade
D
Top Moments and Takeaways
- Taz corrected Excalibur and Tony Schiavone on an underhook call and, intentionally or not, sold his frustration over Hook's loss effectively.
Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament Final
AEW World champion MJF and Adam Cole will challenge FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championship on Saturday, July 29 at Collision following their victory over Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara in the finals of the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament.
What started silly developed into a strong match that highlighted the growing friendship between Cole and MJF, and their reciprocal influence on each other.
The self-proclaimed "Devil" was fantastic here, the over-the-top babyface that thrived on the cheers of fans that have never really loved him like they do now. He fed on it and only after Cole teased a desire to be AEW champion did he momentarily revert to his old ways.
The tension is still there, and Cole still longs to be the top dog in AEW. It will ultimately cost fans one of the most unexpectedly great mismatched tag teams but should help elevate that rivalry more than a more straightforward one-on-one storyline would have.
The post-match staredown with FTR felt like a big deal and that match should be a banger of a match that, ultimately, tells the next chapter of the Cole-MJF saga.
Result
MJF and Cole defeated Guevara and Garcia
Grade
A
Top Moments
- Before the match, Cole and MJF presented each other with matching tights and jackets to put over their growing friendship. Meanwhile, Roderick Strong appeared and called out to friend Cole, to no avail.
- MJF's boyish exuberance when Cole entered to a theme song mash-up was so fun.
- A mid-match dance-off was undoubtedly a interesting choice but it played to MJF's sudden babyface-ness and played up the sports-entertainment shtick that Garcia has been trying to get over for the last year, so it at least made sense. Tony Schiavone openly saying, "This sucks," was not inaccurate.
- The hot tag to MJF, the crowd's reaction to it, and the teased double clothesline were spectacular and proof positive that the booking of this storyline has worked tremendously.
- MJF delivered a tope to a thunderous ovation to an incredible reaction after a moment of hesitation. This crowd was red-hot for everything the AEW World champion did and desperately wants to cheer the guy. And then, the double clothesline put an exclamation point on a hellishly fun match.
- Cole stared longingly at the AEW world title, drawing the ire of MJF. A tense moment ensued before the former reassured his partner that all is well. MJF still flashed a look of distrust, a powerful reminder of the power of facial expressions in pro wrestling.
Blood & Guts: The Golden Elite vs. Blackpool Combat Club
The Golden Elite's Kenny Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page, The Young Bucks and the debuting Kota Ibushi sought to settle their differences with The Blackpool Combat Club's Jon Moxley, Ring of Honor World champion Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita and "The Bastard" Pac in Blood & Guts.
There are going to be plenty of opinions about the match that unfolded inside the two-ring, two-cage setting.
Fans of The Golden Elite and all of the history within that particular faction will likely love it because it highlighted that group. It was yet another chapter in their story and nothing that can be said or argued is going to change their opinion of the "epic" that unfolded in Boston.
Other fans who appreciate the gritty, violent deathmatch style of wrestling will appreciate the blood, nails, glass, thumbtacks, tables, and chain that helped define this match.
In between the violence-fueled spots, there was not much to sink one's teeth into. The Omega-Castagnoli stuff early was a nice tease for a match that would be far better than what this was after it descended into chaos. From there, it was a collection of can-you-top-this violence that escalated to the point that a competitor being choked out by a steel chain seemed like a downright mild finish in comparison.
Yes, the match was called Blood & Guts and complaining about the violent content would seem silly. When it proceeds an uber-violent Anarchy in the Arena match from Double or Nothing, it is excessive.
Too much of something fails to leave the impression that one hopes for. After all, we had an exploding sneaker in their previous pay-per-view encounter, a spot that is more creative and memorable than anything we got here.
There will be an overabundance of stars assigned to this match and dialogue about its greatness, and that is fine. Every fan is entitled to their opinion and preferences. Hopefully, though, this is the conclusion of the program because there is nowhere else to go with these two teams.
With that said, Pac walking out on the heels and Callis and Takeshita abandoning ship made for interesting developments. While the latter two are unlikely to suffer any recourse, The Bastard vs. Moxley and/or Castagnoli should be a ton of fun.
Order of Entry
- Castagnoli
- Omega
- Pac
- Page
- Moxley
- Nick Jackson
- Yuta
- Matt Jackson
- Takeshita
- Ibushi
Result
The Golden Elite defeated Blackpool Combat Club
Grade
B, mostly because it lived up to the name of the match, if nothing else
Top Moments and Takeaways
- Before the main event, Renee Paquette caught up with Darby Allin, Nick Wayne, Orange Cassidy, Kris Statlander and Best Friends. The takeaways included the announcement of Royal Rampage this Friday and Allin asking Cassidy to defend the International Championship against his friend, AR Fox. Freshly Squeezed agreed.
- Omega and Castagnoli, arguably the two greatest workhorses in the match, kicked things off for their respective teams; a great choice to set the tone for the contest.
- Moxley introduced a fork, an ode to fellow pro wrestling sadist Abdullah the Butcher. Moments later, there was glass. And a bed of nails. "What the hell are we doing?!" Schiavone exclaimed on commentary.
- Ibushi avenged Omega, driving Moxley into the aforementioned bed of nails to really drive home the violence of it all and, probably, to justify putting the thing together in the first place.
- Excalibur did a read for Discovery and the Red Cross' Shark Week blood donation promotion. During Blood & Guts. It popped Schiavone, Taz and even drew the approval of Don Callis. Arguably the best part of the ordeal to that point.
- Hanging from the ceiling of the cage, Pac dropped down and delivered a double stomp to Matt Jackson, driving him through a table.
- "Fight forever!" the fans in Boston chanted.
- Dissension reigned within the BCC as Pac flipped off his partners and walked out on the match. From there, Callis pulled Takeshita out of the match to avoid him enduring any further punishment.
- The Golden Elite choked out Wheeler with a steel chain while a handcuffed Moxley had no choice but to watch.
Overall Grade
Differing opinions on the main event aside, this was a second, consecutive very good episode of Dynamite.
Hook and Perry had a better-than-expected match for the FTW title at the start of the show that should serve as the foundation for a feud between two young stars of AEW's future while the MJF-Cole story is the promotion's best.
Blood & Guts was as-advertised and the debut of Ibushi felt like a big deal.
The question will be how quickly the company can come out of this show and turn its attention to All In and All Out. Those two events have the potential to be monumentally significant to the short- and long-term futures of the company and delivering a focused creative effort will be key.
Thus far, it appears as though Tony Khan knows where he wants to go with top stories.
Hopefully, that focus remains intact because the month of July has featured one of the best strings of Dynamite broadcasts in company history.
Overall Grade: B+
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