The John Report: AEW Dynamite 07/24/24 Review (Blood & Guts)

This week’s AEW Dynamite featured the massive Blood & Guts 5-on-5 cage match along with Britt Baker’s return to the ring against Hikaru Shida while Chris Jericho faced off against Minoru Suzuki.

This was AEW Dynamite episode #251 from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport. Let’s get to it.

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means. It’s Excalibur on commentary with Tony Schiavone and Taz.

The show started with Alex Marvez trying to interview Will Ospreay at the hotel. Will realized there was a knife on the front tire of his car, so he couldn’t use it. Will got Marvez to give him his car keys, so Ospreay and Marvez drove off.

There were some highlights shown of last week’s AEW Dynamite when MJF beat Will Ospreay to become the new AEW International Champion. It was an amazing match that went 59:58 and ended controversially thanks to MJF using the Dynamite Diamond Ring to pick up the win.

Let’s Hear from MJF

There were cheerleaders on the ramp who announced MJF as the new AEW International Champion. MJF went into the ring in dress clothes. MJF trashed Ospreay for not using the Tiger Driver to put him away. MJF also warned AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland that he was going to come after the World Title that MJF used to have.

MJF went on to brag about how he beat Will without breaking a sweat. MJF mentioned that Will’s grandma died recently while saying that Will could dig a grave next to her. MJF called Will’s dead grandma a “fat skank” because she was so big she needed a lot of room. MJF called for Will to face him like a man.

MJF spoke about the International Title being held by champions who were held by guys who worked hard. MJF didn’t like that because it was held by poors like the fans. MJF blasted the fans for being unpatriotic and treasonous. MJF said that he deserved a title for his superior intellect, bank account and superior upbringing. MJF said that this title, like Daniel Garcia, Will Ospreay and the fans, this title is garbage. That led to MJF throwing the title into the garbage. MJF said that this title needs to represent the greatest country in the world. MJF pulled the cover that was on a table and said that this is the new AEW American Championship. It’s a new title. That means this title’s name has changed for a second time.

MJF went on to talk about how this championship doesn’t represent places like Nashville, but it represents Plainview, Long Island, New York. MJF called himself an American Hero and told us to thank him later. There was a giant American flag above the ring except it was MJF’s face on the flag replacing the stars. That’s when Will Ospreay showed up while MJF ran away.

Will Ospreay said that MJF knew that he couldn’t beat Will. That led to MJF reaching into his trunks, past his tiny, little (mute)…MJF pulled the diamond ring and punched Will in the head. Will said that he is here with the best news for him. Will said that he had a meeting with Tony Khan and Christopher Daniels. Will told Max he got his rematch. Will told MJF he got his rematch at home soil at All In taking place at Wembley Stadium. The fans cheered.

After Will Ospreay left the ring, he picked up the AEW International Championship from the garbage and he carried the belt to the back.

Analysis: That’s a huge match for the AEW US (or International) Title at All In because MJF and Ospreay had a classic on Dynamite last week, so seeing it again at All In is a nice treat for the fans. MJF’s promo was fun as usual because I enjoy him a lot as a heel. Regarding the title name change, I think it’s ridiculous to change this title’s name for the second time. I understand that it’s a heel MJF doing it and we are supposed to be mad about it, but do we as fans care what the “prestigious” International TItle is called? I certainly don’t care.

They showed referee Bryce Remsburg backstage saying he was going to do a coin toss to determine who has the man advantage in the Blood & Guts Match. Bryce walked into a room where The Elite was and Christopher Daniels was down on the ground selling like he was beaten up. Matthew Jackson said he had his own coin, flipped it and shockingly The Elite got the advantage. After Bryce left, Matthew revealed it was a double-sided coin. Of course.

FTW Championship: Chris Jericho vs. Minoru Suzuki

They are both in their 50s with nearly 70 years combined experience in pro wrestling and still wrestling regularly. They were wrestling in the far ring. FTW Title matches have no rules. Anything goes in those kinds of matches.

Suzuki and Jericho exchanged chops to start the match. Suzuki looked like he was doing more damage. The chops kept on going for several minutes. Suzuki worked over Jericho with several lefty chops in a row. Jericho’s chest was bleeding due to all of the chops. After Jericho did a bunch of chops, he sold like it was hurting his hand. After about four or five minutes of nothing but chopping, Jericho did a faceplant bump in the ring. That led to a picture-in-picture break.

(Commercial)

The match continued with both men chopping after for about seven or eight minutes straight. Jericho was bleeding from the chest. Jericho kicked Suzuki and clotheslined him. Suzuki applied an armbar on Jericho against the ropes. Suzuki sent Jericho face first into the hood of the commentary table. Suzuki hit Jericho in the back with a steel chair. Suzuki used a steel chair to hit another chair that was against Jericho’s hand and Suzuki hit the chair. Suzuki was snapping Jericho’s fingers as well. When Jericho did a chop with the right hand, Suzuki laughed and no sold it. Back in the ring, Suzuki applied an armbar on the right arm while pulling on the fingers. Jericho did an eye rake to break free followed by a Codebreaker for just a one count because Suzuki kicked out easily. That used to be a finisher for Jericho. Suzuki nailed Jericho with a forearm. Suzuki did a drop step into a sleeper attempt, but Jericho countered that leading to the Walls of Jericho submission. Suzuki kicked Jericho away. Jericho fought out of a piledriver attempt and Jericho hit a low blow uppercut. Jericho hit a Judas Effect elbow to the head for the pinfall win after 13 minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Chris Jericho

Analysis: **3/4 It was a pretty good match by the end, but I didn’t like how they spent more than half of the match doing the same move. Jericho won cheaply thanks to the low blow right before the Judas Effect for the win. They didn’t use a lot of weapons other than Suzuki using the chair a bit. These guys can still go although they have both slowed down a lot. All of the chopping that they did wasn’t that interesting to me. If I was watching this show without reviewing it, I would have changed the channel because it looks ridiculous. I don’t think it’s that entertaining to watch guys chopping eachother for several minutes at a time without attempting to do anything else.

After the match, Suzuki got back up, choked out Jericho and hit a Gotsch-style Piledriver. Big Bill and Bryan Keith went into the ring to attack Suzuki. That led to Katsuyori Shibata making the save from behind Bill and Keith. Shibata sent Bill out of the ring. Shibata hit Keith with a knee to the ribs to clear the ring.

Analysis: Welcome back Shibata as a rival of Jericho’s group. Suzuki didn’t sell Jericho’s finisher for long, but at least the fans liked seeing him give Jericho a piledriver.

Willow Nightingale, the new CMLL Women’s World Champion, was about to be interviewed by Renee Paquette. Before Willow could say anything, Stokely Hathaway showed up and Kris Statlander attacked Willow. Statlander slammed Willow onto equipment cases that were backstage. Stokely said next week, Kris wants an eliminator match against Willow. They left while Willow sold the attack.

(Commercial)

Bryan Danielson was interviewed by Renee Paquette backstage. Bryan said that his neck is fixable and he has to make sure it stays fixable. Bryan said he’s going to try to do his best. Jeff Jarrett walked up to Bryan saying that Jeff was crushed that he didn’t win the Owen. Jeff said that as it turned out, Bryan is the perfect guy and Jeff couldn’t be more proud than to raise Bryan’s hand. Jeff said that the AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland knows what he needs to do. Jeff said that Bryan has to heal up physically, but he has to heal up mentally too. Jeff said it sounded like Bryan had a foot out of the door. Jeff said that he wants Bryan to go all in while saying that a lot of people believe in Bryan and he’s at the top of that list. Jarrett left. Bryan said that a lot of that was true and Bryan admitted that he has work to do. Bryan thanked Renee and left.

Analysis: That was a good idea to have Bryan Danielson interact with Jeff Jarrett like that. Jarrett has become a babyface thanks to the recent Owen Hart Foundation tournament. I like the idea of Jarrett working with Bryan to get him ready for All In if that’s the plan. It will be interesting to see how things go for Bryan as he challenges Swerve at All In.

Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. vs. Hikaru Shida

Welcome back Britt Baker to in-ring action. It’s her first match in ten months. They are both former AEW Women’s Champions as clips were shown of their history as champions.

There were multiple pin attempts by both women in the first couple of minutes. Shida set up Baker on the ring apron and hit a running knee lift.

(Commercial)

The match continued with Baker hitting a neckbreaker followed by the Slingblade. Baker pulled out the glove to tease the Lockjaw submission move, but she was taunting too long and Shida was back up. Shida hit Baker with a knee in the ribs followed by a German Suplex. Shida applied an armbar on the right arm. Shida applied a front guillotine. Shida jumped off the top with nothing because Britt avoided it and Shida blocked a forearm leading to Shida’s own forearm. Britt hit a superkick. Baker and Shida exchanged pin attempts for two counts. Baker went for an armbar and Shida got to the ropes to break it. Shida thought about using the kendo stick, then she didn’t and Baker hit a snapping neckbreaker. Shida kicked Baker in the head followed by the Falcon Arrow slam that Shida loves to do. Baker blocked a kick, rolled through and Baker applied the Lockjaw submission capturing the arms along with the hand in the mouth. Shida tapped out to give Baker the win. It went about 11 minutes.

Winner by submission: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.

Analysis: **1/2 An easy win for Baker beating to give Britt some positive momentum. It’s not like Britt is going to sit out nearly a year and then lose her return match. Shida is a credible opponent, but she had no shot here.

Mercedes Mone walked out with the TBS Title and NJPW Strong Women’s Title. Mone told Britt Baker that her answer for a match is no. Kamille made her official AEW debut by attacking Baker from behind and hitting Baker with a pump kick. Kamille did a Torture Rack on Baker and hit a Rack Bomb. Kamille looked really tall due to wearing boots with big heels in them. Mone told Kamille to raise her hand, so Kamille did it. Nobody tried to help Baker as Kamille posed with Mone.

Analysis: There is the debut of Kamille, who was signed to an AEW deal several months ago and they waited to debut her. Kamille is talented with a bright future. I think putting Kamille with Mone as Mone’s bodyguard of sorts is a good idea because it will get heat on Mone, who is in full heel mode. I like the pairing although it’s similar to Christian with Killswitch, Jericho with Big Bill, and so on.

(Commercial)

The Patriarchy group was shown backstage as the AEW Trios Tag Team Champions. Christian Cage talked about how Nick Wayne is going to be in the Royal Rampage on Rampage where he’ll earn the right to be the top contender for the World Title. Christian said that Nick has earned a right to talk for himself. Nick talked about the match on Rampage and then he saw Kip Sabian there. Nick told Sabian he was going to win the Royal Rampage match. Nick told Sabian that nobody cared that his dad was dead.

Pac vs. Boulder

Excalibur reminded us that Pac is the number one contender for the AEW American Championship, but Will Ospreay is getting the next AEW International Championship at All In. We don’t know when Pac might get his title shot.

Boulder ran over Pac with a shoulder tackle. Boulder went for a moonsault, Pac avoided it and Pac followed up with a running dropkick. Pac hit a missile dropkick off the top. Pac hit a brainbuster on Boulder for the pinfall win. It was more like a vertical suplex. It was under two minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Pac

Analysis: *1/4 An easy win for Pac to give him some momentum. I don’t remember the last time Boulder was on Dynamite. At least it was quick.

Team AEW was backstage for a promo with AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland talking about how they were ready to get violent. Darby Allin told Swerve this isn’t about Swerve as a leader. Allin said that this is about getting even with The Elite. Swerve said that if Allin wants to get violent with him, he’s happy to do that. Max Caster said he didn’t like Swerve or Darby. Anthony Bowens said this was about The Acclaimed getting the AEW Tag Team Titles back. Mark Briscoe said that tonight, they can put all that aside. Briscoe said that tonight they will stand united. Briscoe shouted about how it’s on tonight and the fans were cheering.

Analysis: It showed that Team AEW isn’t necessarily on the same page just because they are all babyfaces right now. There are

“The Glamour” Mariah May vs. Kaitland Alexis

May had the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Title with her along with one of Storm’s white high-heeled shoes that had red on them because it was blood. May hit a running dropkick. May went up top and hit a missile dropkick. May hit a running knee smash. May put Alexis on her shoulders and hit a slam off the shoulders. May hit a running hip attack against the turnbuckle and her version of Storm Zero for the pinfall win after two minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Mariah May

Analysis: * A squash match just like the match before it. May dominated the whole match.

May was in the ring celebrating the win and Toni Storm’s music played. May laughed because she knew it wasn’t Storm. A moment later, Storm ran into the ring with a wig on and Storm took the wig off. The fans were chanting “Toni” for Storm. May and Storm got into a fight as they exchanged punches. Referees and security broke it up quickly. Storm asked May if she was prepared to die and Storm said that she was. The fans cheered.

Analysis: The referees and security broke this up quickly, but nobody gave a shit when Britt Baker was attacked by Kamille. That’s AEW booking. Anyway, I think May beating Storm at AEW All In is a lock. That should be a great match.

A video package aired about the Blood & Guts Match. It was narrated by AEW’s Dean Malenko talking about the match. There really isn’t that much of a story, but they tried to tell us there was.

Analysis: In past years, AEW built up the Blood & Guts Match very well. This year, the creative direction going into it hasn’t been great.

The TNT Champion Jack Perry entered as the first man from The Elite to enter the Blood & Guts Match.

(Commercial)

Blood & Guts Match: The Elite – Jack Perry, Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson, Nicholas Jackson & “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Team AEW – Darby Allin, Mark Briscoe, Swerve Strickland, Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Blood & Guts is AEW’s way of having a WarGames match. There are two rings with a double cage surrounding it and a roof is on top of it. Two guys start the match and every five minutes, somebody else joins the match. The Elite guys won the coin toss, so they’ll have the advantage. You can’t win the match until all ten guys are in the match. They built the cage so guys can look under the ring for weapons too.

Darby Allin was the first man to enter for Team AEW against Jack Perry of The Elite. Perry attacked him right away with a chair that knocked him down. Perry gave Allin a Powerbomb into the cage. Perry sent Allin into the steel steps and over the barricade. They went fight into the crowd a bit and then quickly back into the ring. Perry set up a trash can against the turnbuckle and then he slammed Allin’s head into the trash can. Allin tried to fight back, but the clock ticked down for the next entrant.

It was Nicholas Jackson of The Elite as the third man in the match. Nick had an AEW briefcase with him along with a steel chair. Allin tried to attack Nick, but Nick sent Allin into the steel cage and Nick superkicked Allin. Nick hit a running kick on Allin, who was caught between the ring and cage. They went to a picture-in-picture break.

(Commercial)

When the full screen returned, the clock counted down from ten seconds and it was Mark Briscoe from Team AEW. Briscoe was on fire against Nick and Perry with kicks and punches. Mark jumped off a chair leading to a clothesline on Perry. Mark hit an overhead suplex on Nick. Mark and Allin combined to whip Nick into a ladder that was against the turnbuckle. Mark jumped off the top with a Swanton Bomb onto a Nick, who had a ladder on him. Mark hit a running back splash onto the ladder that was on Nick against the turnbuckle. Mark beat up Nick with a trash can. Allin wasn’t doing much with Perry in the other ring other than resting.

The fifth man to enter was Matthew Jackson for The Elite. Matt had a briefcase with him just like Nick did. Matt got help from his teammates and then gave Allin a DDT into the case. Matt rammed Mark’s head against the steel cage so that Mark’s head was bleeding. Allin was suplexed into Mark against the turnbuckle. Matt hit Allin with multiple suplexes, Allin hit him with a case and Nick hit a double foot stomp on Allin. Nick rolled right into Mark and gave him a German Suplex.

The third man for Team AEW was Anthony Bowens, who was on fire with punches and kicks and a Fameasser on Perry. Matt threw a case at Bowens to knock him down. Mark bodyslammed Matt and went up top, but Matt knocked him down on the top rope. Matt clotheslined Allin to knock him down. Mark hit a too rope Cutter on Nick, who was trying a move. Allin hit a Scorpion Death Drop on Matt. Allin did a double foot stomp with the skateboard on Matt’s upper body and there were thumbtacks on the skateboard. Bowens used scissors to hit Perry in the head with them and even put them in Perry’s mouth as well. The fans were going wild for that.

It was time for Kazuchika Okada as the fourth man for The Elite. Okada brought a “Rainmaker Drive” sign into the ring and hit the three babyfaces with it. Okada dropkicked a steel chair into Mark’s face. Nick Jackson was busted open from one of the bumps he took. They went to another picture-in-picture break.

(Commercial)

The clock ticked down for the fourth man for Team AEW and it’s Max Caster of The Acclaimed. Max brought a microphone in his hand along with a chain. Max used his weapons to beat up The Elite guys. Max hit Perry with a chair to the back. Max hit a steel chair to Okada’s head, but Okada did block it a bit with his hands. Max had a barbed wire board, but The Elite saved Okada from being slammed into it. The Young Bucks gave Bowens a hip toss onto the barbed wire and Matt suplexed Bowens onto the barbed wire. Matt and Perry put another piece of barbed wire board on Bowens, so Nick jumped off the top with a Swanton Bomb through the barbed wire board onto Bowens. Okada put thumbtacks into Max’s mouth. The Bucks hit a double superkick on Max, who had the tacks in his mouth.

The fifth and final man for The Elite was supposed to be “Hangman” Adam Page, but there was no sign of him when his music played. Team AEW got back into it with Allin hitting running body attacks on both Bucks and Mark suplexed Nick into the turnbuckle. Bowens wrapped barbed wire around his left leg and jumped off the turnbuckle with a leg drop to Nick’s leg/lower body. It seemed like it wasn’t a full five minutes as the clock ran down for the final entrant.

The AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland was joined by Prince Nana. That’s when Page showed up with a steel chair to the back of Swerve’s head. Page beat up Swerve with punches. Page handcuffed Swerve’s right hand to the outside of the steel cage. Page handcuffed Swerve’s left hand against the steel cage as well.

Page worked over Swerve with punches. Page hit Swerve with the AEW World Title and said that he didn’t deserve this. Mark was slammed into the barbed wire board twice. Matt Jackson got on the microphone saying that they had a deal with him. Matt told Page that if he didn’t get his ass in the ring then he’s fired. That led to Page going into the ring. Matt told the referees to lock the cage. Matt said that they can ring the bell as Justin Roberts announced that the match has officially begun.

The match can end at any point from now on since all ten men are int the match. You can only win by submission or surrender.

There are five guys for The Elite in the ring and four guys for Team AEW in the ring while Swerve Strickland was handcuffed to the cage. They went to a picture-in-picture break again.

(Commercial)

When the full screen returned, Jeff Jarrett walked out with the guitar and the fans cheered for him. Brandon Cutler the stooge was there with a stupid looking beard. Billy Gunn went down to the ring and punched Cutler. Jarrett hit Cutler with a guitar to the head. Jarrett somehow had a key that he used to unlock Swerve’s handcuffs. Prince Nana had pliers as well. I don’t know if it was a key, but Swerve broke free. Swerve cut open the cage and entered the match. Swerve was on fire as he attacked both Young Bucks, Darby and Okada. Swerve gave Nick a Powerbomb onto Matt. Swerve hit a brainbuster on Perry.

Swerve had a long staredown with Page. They were in opposite rings and then they met in the middle of the two rings. Good job by AEW having a cage roof cam showing the punches that were being exchanged. Page hit Swerve with a barbed wire board to the head. Allin hit Code Red on Page. Okada gave Allin a flatliner. There were several guys hitting big moves back to back to have guys knocked down. Swerve got a staple gun and went after Page, who blocked it, so Nick hit a low blow on Swerve. Matt opened up the briefcase to reveal multiple staple guns. The Elite had four staple guns that they used to put staples into Swerve’s body. Swerve was laughing about it because he’s a sadistic dude. Swerve put Nick on the apron and a staple for him. Swerve gave Perry a backbreaker followed by a staple usage. Swerve avoided a Rainmaker and did a staple gun shot to Okada. Swerve did a staple gun to Page’s jaw. Swerve hit a House Call kick on Page. They went to picture-in-picture again with a few minutes left until the top of the hour.

(Commercial – Swerve and Page left the cage and took a bump off the stage through a table. The Young Bucks also set up four tables on the floor by the cage so they were stacked tables.)

The match returned with The Young Bucks placing Bowens between the stacked tables. Nick climbed the outside of the cage, but Max was back up and he threw Matt into the barricade at ringside. Nick and Bowens were fighting on the side of the cage while the double stacked table was below them. Nick rammed Bowens face first into the steel cage a few times, so Bowens bumped through the four tables to the floor. Ouch. Bowens went through about three of the tables.

Mark Briscoe was on fire in the ring with the Jay Driller on Okada, Matt, Perry and Nick in succession. That was a nice tribute to his late brother Jay. Allin set up Jack on a table and hit him with a kendo stick. Mark hit a Froggy Bow on Matt through a table. Allin climbed to the top of the cage, then climbed across the top of the cage and Allin fell back-first onto Perry through the table. That was a great move. Wow. That was wild. Team AEW found some handcuffs in one of the briefcases. Mark handcuffed both of Perry’s arms to the steel cage. Mark nailed Perry with multiple kendo stick shots to the ribs, but Perry didn’t quit. Perry spit in Mark’s face. Allin did a promo saying he was going to get the party started. Allin went under the ring to find some more weapons. Mark nailed Perry with a hard steel chair shot to the head. I think it’s dumb to do steel chair shots to the head knowing what we know about concussions. I don’t know if it was a gimmicked chair, but it looked legit. Mark had the Scapegoat chair. Allin brought in some gasoline along with a lighter. Allin poured the gasoline on Perry. I should point out that Matt Jackson was handcuffed to the ropes and I think the others on the team were too. Allin did a promo saying that he’ll light Perry on fire if he doesn’t quit. Allin wanted Perry to give him a TNT Title match at All In. Darby told Perry to agree to it or he’ll light him on fire. Matt told Allin he’s got his match with Perry for the TNT Title at All In. Allin kept on talking, so Matt said that Allin was going too far and Matt said “We Quit.” End match. It went about 49 minutes.

Winners by surrender: Team AEW – Darby Allin, Mark Briscoe, Swerve Strickland, Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Analysis: **** I liked the match, but I don’t know if I’d call it some epic Wargames/Blood & Guts match. It was what they promote it as by having a double cage match with weapons and some blood as well. I think some of the past Blood & Guts matches were better than this. This one just felt so gimmicky with everything going on with the handcuffs, the cage breaking, the guys going through the table by the stage during a spot that happened during the commercial and then the finish wasn’t that interesting. I’d rather see a match end by having somebody submit to a move. Instead, it was the babyface team using the handcuffs to prevent their opponents from saving Perry. They should have done more to beat down the likes of Okada and The Young Bucks. Doing a Blood & Guts match without people going for submissions is just weird to me. You need to have the wrestlers looking like they are trying to win the match. Instead, the last few minutes were just done to set up the final spot with Allin and Perry setting up their TNT Title match at All In. I will credit Allin for having a great showing in the match and I loved that Coffin Drop from the top of the cage. That was really creative him and obviously a tough move to pull off, but he was able to do it well. I enjoyed Blood & Guts. I just don’t think it was some epic, all time great match. I just think they should have had more moments where it looked like guys were trying to win because, to me, there wasn’t enough of that.

They played Darby Allin’s music since his team won. He pointed at the All In sign to tell Perry that’s where they’ll have their match. Excalibur plugged the Royal Rampage match on Rampage. Team AEW had a brief celebration and that was the end of the show at 10:05 p.m. ET so it had a five-minute overrun.

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Three Stars of the Show

1. Team AEW – Darby Allin, Mark Briscoe, Swerve Strickland, Max Caster & Anthony Bowens
2. The Elite – Jack Perry, Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson, Nicholas Jackson & “Hangman” Adam Page
3. MJF

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The Scoreboard

This Week: 7.5 out of 10

Last Week: 8.5

2024 Average: 7.51

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Final Thoughts on AEW Dynamite

It was a pretty good episode of Dynamite headlined by the Blood & Guts Match dominating the last hour. Going into it, they really didn’t build up that match very well and then watching it unfold, it just came across as a good brawl with weapons being used. They used a lot of weapons. There was blood. It was fine, I guess, but I think there have been better Blood & Guts matches in AEW’s past. By the end, the whole point of it was to have Darby Allin get his TNT Title match against Jack Perry at All In, which is now official because Matt Jackson agreed to it and then Matt quit for the team to prevent Perry from being lit on fire. The action most of the way was very good and then the finish was flat. You book a 45-minute match only to end it that way felt anticlimactic.

The rest of the show was okay. Nothing special. Britt Baker won her match, but then got her ass kicked by Kamille. It is nice to see Kamille finally make her debut and they put her with Mercedes Mone so that’s a new heel pairing. The Chris Jericho-Minoru Suzuki match had a ridiculous amount of chops for nearly ten minutes. It looked silly and lacks logic. If some guys threw worked punches for ten minutes it would be just as lame. It was a cheap win by Jericho, but Suzuki no sold it right after. I was bored by it.

I liked MJF’s promo to start the show. I can’t say I’m thrilled about him changing the International Title’s name to the American Title. That’s the second time that title’s name has changed. Will Ospreay didn’t get revenge on MJF, who ran away, but Will did let us know the American Title rematch is at All In, so that’s a great spot to do the next MJF-Ospreay match. That should be an amazing match again.

The next AEW pay-per-view is All In taking place at Wembley Stadium in London, England on August 25th. Here’s the lineup so far.

* AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson

* AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Mariah May

* AEW American Championship: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. Will Ospreay

* TNT Championship: Jack Perry (c) vs. Darby Allin

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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/X: @johnreport