The John Report: AEW Dynamite 06/29/22 Review (Blood & Guts)
This week’s AEW Dynamite featured the big 6-on-6 Blood & Guts match with a cage that covered two rings as two teams look to settle their differences.
It’s also the Dynamite episode that followed the AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door pay-per-view from this past Sunday. The Blood & Guts match name came from Vince McMahon criticizing AEW having bloody matches a few years ago. The more common name for this Blood & Guts style match is WarGames, but WWE owns the rights to that name, so AEW must use something else.
Note: I will be on vacation starting next Monday, July 4th. I know it’s a holiday in the US that day. Here in Canada, it’s July 1 as our birthday. Anyway, I’m going to be off for a week. That means no reviews of Raw, NXT, Smackdown, Dynamite or Rampage next week. I’ll be back ready to write for the July 11th edition of Raw. I will most likely do condensed reviews for the shows I miss because I want to get them all done. I look forward to a wrestling break. I know our news and feature writing team will keep the content coming on TJRWrestling without me, so keep supporting the site and we will continue to cover the wacky world of pro wrestling as best we can.
This was AEW Dynamite episode #143 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
It’s Wednesday night and you know what that means. Excalibur and Tony Schiavone were on commentary with Taz. Excalibur mentioned 13,000+ people in attendance. Excalibur added that Jim Ross would be on commentary for the Blood & Guts match.
Analysis: I assume Taz is there to make him a full-time announcer like he was during the Forbidden Door PPV. I’m fine with that because he’s great at that job. It also seems to mean less of a role for Jim Ross as well.
Orange Cassidy made his entrance with Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor wearing colorful tie-dye outfits. Tony said he thought Orange vs. Will Ospreay was a five-star match. I don’t think so, but I am not being paid by Tony Khan to overrate things the way the announcers do and some wrestling writers do. Good pop for Orange. “All Ego” Ethan Page entered with Dan Lambert doing a promo ripping on Orange for being so skinny. Lambert told Trent and Chuck to go backstage because they don’t have a manager’s license. The referee Bryce Remsburg made Chuck and Trent go backstage.
There are two rings for the Blood & Guts setup with the double cage hanging above the ring. They were wrestling in the first ring closest to the entrance.
Ethan Page (w/Dan Lambert) vs. Orange Cassidy
Orange got an armdrag that sent Page out of the ring followed by a suicide dive. Orange went up top and jumped off the top with a cross body block. Page blocked a DDT attempt followed by a shoulder block that knocked Orange down. Page hit a delayed vertical suplex. Orange tried a rollup, but Page got out of it and kicked Orange out of the ring. Lambert did some comedy kicks on Orange on the floor. They went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
Page was in control during the break, Orange tried to get some offense going and Page hit neckbreaker of sorts for a two count. Page held Orange in the air for a long time, Orange put the hands in the pockets and Orange tried to get the offense going again, but Page hit a press into a powerslam for a two count. Lambert wanted Page to finish this guy because he looks like he’s 12 years old. Page was giving a middle finger to a fan at ringside, so Orange finally got some momentum going with a Stundog Millionaire. Orange came back with the spinning DDT for two. Lambert was on the apron, Orange gently tapped him a few times with the fans shouting loudly. Orange took the orange juice glass that Lambert had and Orange drank some of it. Orange hit Page with the Orange Punch twice and then a body slam for the pinfall win after 11 minutes. The body slam was done because he tried doing it a few times, he failed several times and then he was finally able to do it.
Winner by pinfall: Orange Cassidy
Analysis: **3/4 A decent match with plenty of comedy moments because that’s what we have come to expect from some Orange Cassidy matches. I don’t think that match made Page look good at all because he lost to a body slam. I know it came after taking the Orange Punch (Orange’s finisher) twice, but still. It’s a weak ending to a match. Ethan Page remains one of the most poorly booked guys in the company considering how good he is. Maybe I’m a biased Canadian, but I think Page is so talented and should be doing more.
Post match, Best Friends went out to the ring and did the thumbs up with Orange in the ring.
(Commercial)
Let’s Hear from Christian Cage
Christian Cage was interviewed on the stage by Tony Schiavone, who said he’s not sure what more Christian can say after what he said a week ago. The fans booed Christian before he could speak and they did an “asshole” chant. Christian said he was asked by upper management to apologize for what he said last week when he singled out Jungle Boy’s late father. Christian said that he’s sorry that Jungle Boy’s entire family isn’t dead so that they could avoid witnessing when Christian beat up Jungle Boy two weeks ago. Christian did a shoutout to Jungle Boy’s mom and told her to call him. Christian said that the only thing this scumbag city (Detroit) has going for it is that it’s close to Canada. The truth! Christian said he requested a match, but not for himself. It was Luchasaurus, who was dressed in all black. Poor Serpentico was in the ring for the match.
Analysis: The line about Canada was fantastic. Detroit is right on the border, so the fans reacted to it with boos because it was a shot at Detroit.
Luchasaurus (w/Christian Cage) vs. Serpentico
Luchasaurus knocked down Serpentico easily with a headbutt and suplex. Luchasaurus choked out Serpentico with a nerve hold grabbing the neck. It ended quickly in under one minute.
Winner by pinfall: Luchasaurus
Analysis: 1/4* Dino squash.
Post match, Luchasaurus pulled Serpentico out of the ring and hit a Chokeslam on the floor.
Analysis: A dominant showing by Luchasaurus, who is a heel with Christian Cage now.
Wardlow and TNT Champion Scorpio Sky were interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Sky said that the last time Wardlow came after Sky, he was laid out. Tony said there was some assistance during that. Wardlow told Sky to bring every member from American Top Team because he’ll treat them like security guards. Sky challenged Wardlow to a TNT Title match next Wednesday on Dynamite. It’s on. That could be a title change.
The Acclaimed and Gunn Club made their entrance. Max Caster did a rap ripping on Danhausen wearing face paint and made a joke about the water in Flint, Michigan. Google it if you don’t know.
Danhausen made his entrance saying he heard the Ass Boys made a challenge for a match, so Danhausen found some guys pretty good at wrestling: FTR. The FTR duo of Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler made their entrance as the ROH, IWGP and AAA Tag Team Champions. Anthony Bowens in the wheelchair had a great shocked expression on his face.
Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler & Danhausen vs. Max Caster, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn
Austin with a trip on Wheeler, but then Cash came back with a back body drop and an atomic drop. Harwood tagged in with a body slam followed by a leg drop. Danhausen tagged in with an elbow on Austin’s back after FTR tripped up Austin. Colten worked over Danhausen with kicks, then Danhausen got a kick and a hurricanrana across the ring. Danhausen with multiple hiptosses, but then Colten clotheslined Danhausen down to the mat. They went to a picture in picture break.
(Commercial)
The heels were in control during the break and they remained in control of Danhausen. Caster went for a suplex, but Danhausen managed to hit a Northern Lights Suplex on Caster. Colten tagged in with a dropkick leading to Austin getting the two count. Harwood tagged in with punches, Wheeler into the ring illegally and FTR each hit rolling German Suplexes. Wheeler sent Colten out of the ring and jumped onto him. Harwood hit three more German Suplex on Austin, so that’s six of them. They messed up some spot with Austin going for a hiptoss and there was a neckbreaker attempt, but Harwood hit the mat hard. Danhausen got the hot tag with a pump kick on Austin, then Billy Gunn distracted the referee, so Anthony Bowens tried to hit Danhausen with a crutch, Danhausen ducked and Bowens hit Austin with the crutch by accident. It also meant that Bowens could move fine. Danhausen covered Austin for the pinfall win after nine minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler & Danhausen
Analysis: *** The FTR guys remain absolutely on fire and they aren’t capable of having a bad match. It was another match on this show that had comedy aspects to it since that’s the kind of character that Danhausen is.
After the match, Bowens tried to explain that he made a mistake. Austin shoved Bowens for hitting him. Billy Gunn calmed down Austin and shoved Austin on his ass. Billy stood in the ring with The Acclaimed while the Gunns left.
Analysis: The botched attack by Bowens showed that he didn’t need the wheelchair at all. Hopefully he’s back in the ring soon. Also it shows that Billy might like The Acclaimed more than his own sons, so there could be an issue there.
The trio of Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh did a promo saying Samoa Joe wasn’t at work again. They mentioned the next ROH PPV with Lethal wanting a match against Joe for the ROH TV Title. Singh said that “Jay’s going to kill you.” That was it.
TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (w/Stokely Hathaway and Kiera Hogan) vs. Leila Gray
Jade is undefeated. They say that this was an open challenge rather than have Cargill face somebody that’s a ranked opponent. Cargill slammed Gray off the shoulders. Cargill charged, Gray got a boot up and then Cargill managed to hit a fallaway slam. Gray got a rollup for two. Gray charged with a running knee in the corner, but Cargill blocked a bulldog attempt. Cargill with a pump kick. Cargill hit the Jaded slam for the pinfall after three minutes. Cargill is 34-0 now.
Winner by pinfall: Jade Cargill
Analysis: * Squash city. They continue to book Jade in short matches to make her look dominant. It’s been going on for months.
Post match, Jade Cargill said she wants some real competition. Hathaway said that women like Kris Statlander and Athena aren’t overlooked, they’re just lazy because they didn’t sign up for the open challenge. That led to Athena and Statlander going to the ring. Athena and Statlander were in control, but then Leila Gray, who Jade just defeated, shoved Athena off the top rope. The announcers said that Hathaway convinced Grey to help. Jade didn’t want a handshake from Grey and left.
Analysis: I assume at some point we’ll get Jade against Athena or Kris, but nothing has been announced.
A video aired promoting AEW Dynamite Grand Slam in Queens, New York at Arthur Ashe Stadium this September. Tickets are on sale soon.
(Commercial)
The Young Bucks were shown with the AEW Tag Team Titles saying they were the first team to win the titles twice. The Bucks mentioned that their friends Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish and Adam Cole weren’t cleared to wrestle. They mentioned they are the first ever two-time Tag Team Champions in AEW. Matt said that they got a challenge from Yoshi-Hashi and Goto, so they’ll have a match at Rampage.
They brought out Jim Ross to join Excalibur and Taz on commentary for the main event Blood & Guts match. Big pop for JR!
This Friday on Rampage.
* Young Bucks vs. Goto & Yoshi-Hashi
* Nyla Rose vs. Toni Storm
* Royal Rampage for the first shot at Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley
The double cage was lowered over the two rings. The cage has a roof on it like the traditional WarGames cage did.
A video package aired about the rivalry between the Jericho Appreciation Society and The Blackpool Combat Club team that has Eddie Kingston at the forefront since he’s had a long-time rivalry with Chris Jericho. The AEW talking heads put over the violence in the match.
Here are the rules of the match.
The Jericho Appreciation Society group made their entrance wearing red outfits along with red top hats looking like a boy band or something like that. Tay Conti was with fiancé Sammy Guevara as well.
(Commercial)
The trio of Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz were up next. Claudio Castagnoli was next making his first appearance and first match on Dynamite. Claudio was with Wheeler Yuta while William Regal joined commentary for the match. The Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley was up last as he made his entrance coming in through the crowd as usual. Moxley looked ready for a fight as usual.
Blood & Guts Match: The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, & Angelo Parker) vs. Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz and Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli)
Sammy Guevara and Claudio Castagnoli started the match. Claudio overpowered Sammy with some uppercuts that rocked Sammy. Claudio tossed Sammy over one ring and into another ring. Sammy tried to climb to get away, but Claudio crotched him on the top. Sammy jumped on the ropes to try to get away from Claudio. When Claudio went for the uppercut, Sammy countered it and hit a Cutter. Sammy kissed Tay against the cage, which allowed Claudio to apply the Swing on Sammy.
Daniel Garcia was the second man in the match for Jericho’s team. They went to a picture in picture break.
(Commercial)
The clock counted for the next man on the babyface team: Wheeler Yuta. Yuta was on fire with a springboard forearm and then four German Suplexes. Claudio with an uppercut leading to Yuta hitting a third German Suplex on Sammy as well. Claudio tossed Garcia into the side of the cage.
Jake Hager was the third man for his team as he cleared house in one ring while Claudio cleared house in the other ring. That led to a showdown of Hager and Claudio with the crowd getting into it. Excalibur mentioned their history together (in WWE when they were briefly allies) and the crowd chanted “We The People” for it. Claudio hit a springboard uppercut. Hager with a shoulder tackle on Yuta against the cage while Claudio was fighting against two guys. Yuta hit an impressive dropkick. Hager hit a lifting slam on Claudio.
Jon Moxley, the interim AEW World Champion, brought in a steel chair and threw it at Hager. Moxley with clotheslines followed by a suplex into a slam on Sammy. Moxley with a crossface forearm on Garcia. Claudio gave Hager a bulldog on the chair. Moxley had a fork with him as he grinded it into Garcia’s head while sending Garcia into the cage as well. Claudio was choking Sammy across the middle rope in front of Conti. Garcia was bleeding from the forehead as Yuta ran the ropes with a Hart Attack double team clothesline. Claudio with a press slam on Sammy leading to Moxley with a Cutter. Yuta jumped off the top with a headbutt to the ribs of Sammy. Regal said “Daniel Bryan” at one point and then corrected himself to say Bryan Danielson. The three BCC guys were doing elbows to the head.
Angelo Parker was next from JAS as the BCC guys were all in going after him. After Parker ran away after his entry, Claudio hit him with a gutwrench suplex. Parker was beaten up by Claudio, Moxley and Yuta as they gave him uppercuts. Parker managed to get some offense on Moxley with a shoulder tackle while Hager used a chair to hit Claudio’s right foot. Garcia with a shotgun dropkick on Yuta into the turnbuckle. JR said “Cesaro” instead of Claudio, which was going to happen a lot.
Ortiz was next for the BCC team with Orton hitting a lot of clotheslines. Ortiz with a hard clothesline on Sammy, who did a flip bump. They went to picture in picture break.
(Commercial)
The match returned with the clock counting down again as Matt Menard entered as the fifth guy on Jericho’s team, so they were up 5 on 4 at this point. Menard delivered chair shots to members of the opposite team. During the break, Moxley put broken glass in the ring and piledrove Parker on it, so Parker was busted open. Moxley was busted open just like on Sunday because he had a bandage on it, but the bandage was open and Moxley was busted open again. Parker with the eye gouge on Yuta.
The clock was counting down again as Santana entered with a table along with a barbed wire bat, so it was 5 on 5 now. Santana hit a high angle backdrop driver on Menard. Unfortunately, Santana got hurt as he gave a uranage slam to Garcia and when he hit the move, his left knee buckled. Santana was grabbing his knee as he rolled out of the ring. Santana was taken out of the match after that. Parker sent Yuta into the cage. Claudio with a huge uppercut. Moxley had a fork that he used to Menard’s head along with some sticks or spikes that he drove into Menard’s head, which led to Menard being busted open. Menard hit a low blow on Moxley to knock the champion down. Menard was choking Moxley with the baseball bat and Moxley was talking to him.
Chris Jericho was up next to make it 6 on 5 for his team although Santana was out of the match, so it was really 6 on 4. They didn’t really mention that, though. Jericho walked into the ring with Floyd the bat and Ortiz greeted him with a DDT. Sammy jumped off the top with a flying Cutter on Ortiz. Yuta with a German Suplex on Yuta. Santana was still on the apron in the ring. There were a bunch of slams in succession and then Claudio lifted up Garcia with a huge uppercut. Jericho hit a Codebreaker on Claudio. Everybody was down in the ring except Jericho.
Here comes Eddie Kingston as the final member of his team to enter the cage. The bell rang because it was time for submission or surrender as the only way to win. Kingston used a kendo stick to beat up a few guys and then Kingston hit Jericho a few times. Kingston had some rubbing alcohol, but Hager knocked him into the cage. The fans chanted “this is awesome” as Ortiz was hitting a bunch of guys with chair shots. Conti tried giving Jericho the rubbing alcohol through the cage. Kingston threw a chair at Hager’s head. Yuta hit a LOD-like Doomsday Device with Moxley. Kingston and Ortiz did an assisted Powerbomb on Hager through a table that was in between the two rings. Kingston was ramming Garcia’s face against the cage. Moxley and Yuta poured thumbtacks into the ring. Moxley suplexed Menard onto the thumbtacks. In the other ring, Claudio and Ortiz pulled up some of the mat and exposed the wood in the ring. Meanwhile, Parker was hanging upside down on one of the steel apparatus that was holding up the ring. Parker’s whole face was a bloody mess, so there he was hanging upside down. I don’t even know how he got into that position. They did a closeup of Parker’s face, the fans let out a big “ooohhh” when they saw that blood and they went to a picture-in-picture break.
(Commercial)
The match returned with Jericho dragging Moxley around the thumbtacks in the ring and Jericho applied a Walls of Jericho submission on Moxley. Kingston made the save by punching Jericho with some thumbtacks that Kingston had in his hand. Kingston and Jericho got into a slugfest in the ring that had some of the mat pulled off to expose the wood. Jericho sprayed a fire extinguisher in Eddie’s eyes. Tay Conti threw referee Aubrey Edwards into the cage and stole the key. Conti opened the cage door. Ruby Soho ran down to the ring (Taz said “Ruby Riott” oops) and then Ruby fought with Conti. Tay was wearing a very short dress, so kudos to the camera shot for that visual as the ladies fought on the floor. That gave me some ECW “catfight” flashbacks. Tay was trying to pull the dress down as Ruby and Tay fought to the back.
Chris Jericho climbed to the top of the cage with Eddie Kingston following him up there. At this point, they stopped showing the action in the ring and only showed the guys on the cage. I have more thoughts on that in the analysis. Kingston bit Jericho’s face and hit a spinning back fist. Sammy Guevara climbed up the cage to take a big bump off the cage. Sammy punched Eddie from behind as Jericho, Sammy and Kingston were all laid out on the cage. As I said, they stopped showing the action in the ring. Sammy was pushing Eddie’s head down against the cage. Eddie stood up, hit Sammy with a low blow and Sammy was by the edge of the cage. Kingston tossed Sammy off the top onto the crash pad “timekeepers table” below. There wasn’t even a noise when Sammy hit the crash pad. It looked fun like when you’re a kid going down a slide and landing on a crash pad, but the announcers had to try to put it over like it was some violent bump. They went to a picture-in-picture break. It does take guts to do a bump like that. I just think it’s a bit anticlimactic when you’re landing on a cushion.
(Commercial)
I watched some of the picture-in-picture action with Kingston and Jericho moving slowly while throwing some punches. They also exchanged some chops. The full-screen action returned with about six minutes left. Jericho tripped up Kingston and gave him the Walls of Jericho submission. They actually showed Menard sending Ortiz into the cage. Claudio climbed up the cage and kicked Jericho in the face. Claudio gave Jericho the giant swing on top of the cage. Does it hurt more doing up there? I don’t think so, but it looks cool visually. Menard went up top to save Jericho by attacking Claudio (while I’m sure everyone watching knew Menard was also there to lose the match). Kingston got a hold of Jericho in the Stretch Plumb submission while Claudio turned Menard into the Sharpshooter. Menard was tapping out on the top of the cage. Kingston thought it was Jericho tapping, but it was Menard. The match went 47 minutes.
Winners by submission: Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz and Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli)
Analysis: ****1/4 It was a wild and crazy violent match. Lots of blood, weapons and unique moves throughout the match. The fact that they went 47 minutes with a hot crowd the whole way is pretty cool to see. You don’t see many matches in pro wrestling where you can do that, but these guys did it and I was very entertained by it. I think the right team won because Jericho’s team won at Double or Nothing, so obviously they wanted to go with the babyface ending to this match. I figured it would be Menard or Parker losing for the heel side since they are by far the weakest guys on the team, so Claudio beating Menard is fine with me. There’s also the story of Eddie being mad that he didn’t win and Claudio won, but that was furthered after the match as well. Here’s my problem with the booking of this match. When the guys are on the cage for several minutes at a time and there’s nothing going on in the ring, it makes the action in the ring look meaningless. What about the guys in the ring? Are they just sitting there doing nothing while Jericho was fighting Kingston on the cage? There was no answer to that, so we are to assume that nothing was happening in the ring. I checked the time and it was nearly ten minutes of action on top of the cage while they didn’t show anything in the ring. For ten minutes they are doing NOTHING in the ring? It’s strange. They did it last year when it was Jericho/MJF on the cage too. I don’t like that way of booking because everything that happened in the ring becomes meaningless. Book a finish in the cage. You don’t need to finish the match on the roof just because you want to do some big bump.
Claudio celebrated the win on the cage while Kingston wondered what happened. Claudio was telling him what happened while Kingston was on the cage shaking his head. Excalibur told the story that Kingston and Claudio hate eachother because Eddie thinks Claudio is so condescending, but they were on the same team in this match. They replayed some of the key spots in the match. Kingston told Claudio that he can’t get up due to his back injury. Ortiz, Yuta and Moxley went on the stage to join Claudio and Kingston in celebrating. Regal signed off on commentary. Kingston was finally able to get up to his feet as the five men on the winning team stood together. Santana was not up there. JR said “Cesaro” at one point talking about Claudio. Referee Bryce Remsburg even climbed the cage to raise the hands of the winners (minus Santana). The babyface team got to celebrate some more. Kingston continued to look frustrated that he didn’t make Jericho tap out. Claudio and Mox celebrated some more. That was it.
Analysis: I think they will clearly go with the story of Kingston being mad that he didn’t make Jericho tap out. That should lead to Kingston having a big singles match with Jericho again and maybe even have Kingston confront Claudio about it. Kingston definitely looked like he had a sore back towards the end of the match.
Three Stars of the Show
1. Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz and Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli)
2. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, & Angelo Parker)
3. Danhausen and FTR
The Scoreboard
This Week: 8 out of 10
Last Week: 7.25
Final Thoughts
I thought the second hour was terrific with the Blood & Guts match. I have my issues with the booking of the last ten minute where they completely ignore what’s going on in the ring to only focus on the roof of the cage, but I explained that in the analysis. It was still an excellent match with the right team going over as the faces beat the heels and that’s what you want to see in a match like that. Great showing by Claudio, Moxley, Kingston and others. The big story is that Kingston is mad that Claudio got the win instead of him, so maybe Eddie will be mad at Claudio (who he apparently doesn’t like as a storyline) moving forward. I still think we’ll get a big Eddie/Jericho grudge match in the future.
The first hour was really just average stuff. The Cassidy/Ethan Page match was just average and then the six-man tag had more comedy with Danhausen, but he was with FTR at least, so that made it fun. The women’s match was a squash win for Jade Cargill.
I did enjoy Christian Cage’s heel promo again and having Luchasaurus as his heel monster is fine with me because it freshens up the big dinosaur guy as well. Plus, it will make Jungle Boy into a singles babyface and I think he can thrive in that role long term.
A very good show overall. I’m not going to call it the best episode of the year or anything like that due to the lack of interesting things in hour one. I still enjoyed it. Seeing a Blood & Guts match live was probably a lot of fun for the fans in Detroit as well because it’s 47 minutes of in-ring action. That’s cool to see.
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Thanks for reading. Go Toronto Blue Jays. You can contact me using any of the methods below.
John Canton
Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnreport