Some wrestling matches, and indeed some entire wrestling cards, don’t really need much additional hype because they more or less sell themselves. Such is the case with tonight’s AEW Dynamite from Boston, because it’s centered around one of the company’s signature gimmick matches: Blood and Guts.
(My son would also say Stadium Stampede, but that’s more of an acquired taste.)
With all due respect to the wrestlers who competed in the first two Blood and Guts bouts, the lineup for tonight is the juiciest to date. On one side, The Golden Elite, newly bolstered by the AEW debut of NJPW legend Kota Ibushi.
On the other, the Blackpool Combat Club, who have prove to be a nigh unstoppable force for months. Yes, the group will miss Bryan Danielson while he recuperates from injury, but grabbing Pac as the team’s fifth member (not to mention having Konosuke Takeshita as an adjacent fellow Elite hater) is a pretty good get.
During his conference call earlier this week, AEW head Tony Khan put over how Blood and Guts takes a toll on everyone who participates in it. That’s undoubtedly true, but hot damn is it fun to watch, so thank you for both teams for putting themselves through what’s about to go down. It should be spectacular.
The rest of the show figures to be not too shabby either, what with the final of the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament determining if Adam Cole and MJF can take their reluctant buddy act all the way to a title shot, and Hook battling Jack Perry for the FTW Championship.
Still, in the end, tonight is all about Blood and Guts. We’re locked and loaded for this one, so let’s go.
AEW Dynamite Blood and Guts results from Boston:
Jack Perry def. Hook by pinfall to become the new FTW Champion
Though his familiar music hits first, Perry is shown on the big screen “burying” his old Jungle Boy gimmick. He then enters to classical music, with more facial hair, the sure signs he’s a heel now.
There’s plenty of fighting on the outside, into the crowd, etc., which is kind of ironic considering there are two rings there for Blood and Guts. Hook picks the excitement level up by hitting a t-bone suplex off the apron to the floor, leaving both men down.
Perry nearly wins it by countout after a DDT off the apron, but Hook makes it back in the nick of time. As they continue their battle, the ref takes a bump, and is out cold when Hook has Perry down for at least a five count.
While Hook goes to rouse the official, Perry grabs the FTW belt and smashes Hook in the face, and three counts later, we’ve got a new FTW Champion.
Alex Marvez has a line on a secret meeting between Chris Jericho and Don Callis, but the cameras are rushed out of there.
Adam Cole tries to help MJF over his fear of spicy food at Kowloon, and after some unexpected alcohol, they head to give a poor worker a double clothesline.
Now Marvez is out in the parking lot stalking Callis’ limo, but all Don and Chris do is call him a fat-headed idiot.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. def. Kayla Sparks by submission
As you may expect, Baker wins this quickly. Feels like The Outcasts should come out or something but nah.
Renee Paquette talks to Cole and MJF, who are feeling good. Both men got each other matching gear, but Roderick Strong is feeling left out.
Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara vs. Adam Cole and MJF – Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament final
Even Jericho’s teammates look surprised to see him come out. He doesn’t want his music to keep playing and flips everyone double birds before heading over to join the commentators. Not only are Cole and MJF wearing the matching gear, they have a remixed theme that combines both of their individual music.
To the dismay of Tony Schiavone, there’s a dance-off before the bell, which ends with Cole hip thrusting and blissfully unaware the music has stopped.
The heels attack Cole and MJF and the match finally begins.
Garcia ends up aggressively doing his dance toward the ref at an inopportune moment, which tilts the match toward Cole. He tags in MJF, but Guevara hits them with a standing double Spanish Fly. Damn.
Cole soon finds himself in a Garcia Sharpshooter, but Adam grabs a rope to escape. With both heels out on the floor, everyone encourages MJF to do a tope, and he finally does.
And yes, Cole and MJF win it with a double clothesline, giving them a title shot at FTR on the July 29 episode of Collision.
Jericho goes to console his JAS teammates, but they walk right by him on their way to the back. Meanwhile, Cole is in the ring admiring MJF’s title belt, which turns him jealous even after they hug it out.
FTR then comes to the ring for a brief discussion and mandatory staredown.
Paquette talks to Best Friends, Darby Allin and Nick Wayne. Allin has his sights set on Swerve Strickland, but he also owes AR Fox a favor and gets him a title shot against Orange Cassidy. But Cassidy and Wayne won’t get in the huddle for high fives, so Paquette jumps in.
The Golden Elite def. Blackpool Combat Club by surrender in Blood and Guts
Claudio Castagnoli and Kenny Omega start out for their respective teams, pretty good picks for guys who will have to be in there for the entire match. Pac enters third, just when Omega is picking up momentum, for his first appearance in an AEW match in more than seven months.
Hangman Adam Page enters the fray like a house on fire, which he kind of has to be since Omega took quite a 1-on-2 beating. Page and Omega work well together, bringing back fond memories of when they were tag team champs.
Next in is Jon Moxley, who comes in wielding a screwdriver and biting at Omega’s fingers. He has a fork for Castagnoli as well, and empties out a bucket of broken glass.
Nick Jackson arrives with invitations to the superkick party, and hurricanranas Claudio into the glass before tasting it himself courtesy of Mox. Omega gets slammed into that area as well, and you can see bits of glass sticking to his skin.
Wheeler Yuta (and his chair) and Matt Jackson follow. Another chair is carried in by Konosuke Takeshita, and though he loses it quickly, his presence tilts the momentum back toward BCC. Oh, and Omega gets kicked into a bed of nails in the corner and bodyslammed onto it by Moxley.
Kota Ibushi makes his entrance to a huge pop, knocking down dudes on the way to taking on a super bloody Moxley. Ibushi slams Mox onto the nails and then moonsaults onto him for good measure.
Claudio tosses Matt Jackson into the steel and he slides down in-between the ring and the cage, which looks potentially dangerous. We finally get a breather with some side-by-side action.
Yuta scales the cage and beckons for Matt Jackson to join him on the roof of the cage. Wheeler narrowly avoids being suplexed off the cage and decides he’s done up there. Smart.
Matt drops a bag of tacks down through the roof of the cage, just in time for two BCC members to be suplexed onto them. Even with all this craziness, the fans chant that they want tables.
Tables do, in fact, come into play, and now pretty much all 10 men are down. They rise as one, and now all of them are brawling in the middle of the two rings. Omega ends a chain of signature moves by looking for a One-Winged Angel, but he ends up in a submission hold instead.
All of the Golden Elite looks to be in trouble, but Ibushi gets free and starts rescuing his teammates. But there’s dissent in the BCC side, as Pac and Claudio get into it. Pac flips everyone two birds and goes to get bolt cutters so he can leave the cage.
This seems like The Golden Elite’s match to win now. Page is dishing out Buckshots and Yuta is in a lot of trouble. Moxley gets handcuffed to the cage, and Callis gets Takeshita out of the match too.
Matt Jackson now has a special black shoe on one foot with tacks in it, busting open Yuta, and he gets choked with a chain until Moxley calls for surrender to save Wheeler more damage.
