AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts- July 24, 2024
by Doc Allen
Alex Marvez lurks in the parking lot, looking for Will Ospreay. Will discovers that someone has put a lock on his car tire. This seriously spooks them both and they peel out in another vehicle, even though Will has never driven in America. I guess they weren't on site and Will is in jeopardy of not making it to Dynamite.
Live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. WrestleTix estimates attendance at 5,009. Tony Shiavone, Excalibur, and Taz are on commentary.
A cheerleader squad introduces AEW International Champion MJF for his mic time. He tries to brush off his 59 minute win against Will Ospreay as easy for him. MJF makes fun of Will's recently deceased grandmother, which is where I draw the line. Also, no one outside of America matters, so he tosses the International belt into the trash and unveils a new vanity "American Championship." MJF throws himself a patriotic celebration, but gets chased out by Will Ospreay. Will announces he will get his title rematch at ALL IN, just like most of us expected. Not my favorite AEW talking segment, MJF's nastiness didn't seem all that inspired, and Will's rebuttal was pretty standard.
Bryce Remsberg finds The New Elite standing over a fallen (angel) Christopher Daniels. They rig the Blood and Guts coin toss in their own favor.
FTW Championship:
Chris Jericho © vs. Minoru Suzuki
Jericho looks focused tonight, they exchange vicious chops. This goes on for several minutes, and reaches the point where Jericho's hand can't take any more chopping. Jericho roars in defiance while Suzuki chops his chest raw. Jericho resumes chopping, but Suzuki mockingly sticks his tongue out and knocks him down. The chopfest continues through a commercial break. The fans are pretty into this. Suzuki awkwardly blocks a springboard attempt with the hanging armbreaker. Suzuki smashes Jericho's hand between two chairs, perhaps taking away his one and only offensive weapon. Jericho chops with his good hand, but they have no effect. Suzuki contorts the fingers while attacking the bad hand, Jericho desperately rakes the eyes and hits a Codebreaker for only 1! They transition to exchanging forearms, Jericho reverses into the Walls of Jericho! Suzuki escapes, Jericho reverses a piledriver with a low blow. The Judas Effect ends it at 13:57. They were determined to have a great match together. It was bold to spend the first 8 minutes just trading chops, I expect to see a lot of divided opinions. I think it worked, they had the live crowd with them, and Jericho walks away looking like more of an in-ring threat than he has in a while, ***½.Winner and still FTW Champion: Chris Jericho
Jericho reverts to his goofy "HI, GUYS!" wave so Suzuki hits him with the Gotch piledriver. Big Bill and Bryan Keith run in, but Katsuyori Shibata clears them out.
Kris Statlander ambushes Willow Nightingale during an interview and press slams her onto some production boxes. Stokely Hathaway reveals that Kris is due an Eliminator Match for Willow's CMLL title.
Earlier today, Jeff Jarrett interrupts a Bryan Danielson interview. Even though Jeff wanted to win the Owen Hart tournament, he was proud to raise Bryan's hand in victory. He offers sage wisdom for Bryan heading into ALL IN, which strangely doesn't include hitting anyone with a guitar. Danielson has work to do.
Dr. Britt Baker vs. Hikaru Shida
It's time for more 2019 AEW nostalgia! This time Shida is the subtle heel, although the fans give them a dueling chant. Tempers quickly flare, Shida smashes Britt around ringside. Back from commercials, Shida spends too much time showboating and Britt delivers a neckbreaker. Sling Blade by Britt, the glove comes on, Shida blocks Lockjaw. German suplex by Shida, Britt blocks a triangle choke, but Shida reverses with a knee strike to the face. Britt dodges a double stomp and hits a thrust kick. They sell exhaustion and exchange quick nearfalls. Shida considers using her kendo stick, Britt capitalizes with a spinning neckbreaker. Shida blocks Lockjaw again and hits the Falcon Arrow! Britt counters the KO kick with Lockjaw for the win at 10:20! Good match for old time's sake, ***.Winner: Dr. Britt Baker
TBS Champion Mercedes Mone interrupts Britt's celebration and rejects her challenge. Britt gets ambushed by the returning Kamille. Looks like Mone has a new enforcer.
The Patriarchy talk to the camera. Christian Cage has all three Trios Championship belts draped over him. Cage's son, Nick Wayne, has earned the right to speak for himself and gets left alone. Nick is distracted by Kip Sabian lurking nearby. No one cares that Kip's dad is dead, he should be a man and suck it up. This adds some fire to the upcoming Royal Rampage match.
Pac vs. Boulder (with Bronson and Jacked Jameson)
Someone is about to get squashed. Pump kick by Pac, Boulder surprises with a running boot. Boulder misses a moonsault, Pac delivers a shotgun dropkick. Missile dropkick by Pac, then the brainbuster gets the effortless pinfall at 1:46. Efficient squash.Winner: Pac
Team AEW gather together to talk to the camera. AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland declares himself leader, which upsets Darby Allin. Swerve would be happy to get violent with Darby some other time. The Acclaimed have Swerve's back. ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe has to play peacemaker and becomes the functional leader in the process.
Mariah May vs. Kayla Alexis
Whoa, back to back squashes. Mariah immediately hits a shotgun dropkick, followed by a missile dropkick. Mariah hits May Day, chooses not to cover, and hits a hip attack and Storm Zero just to mess with Toni Storm. May gets the easy pinfall at 1:39. There was nothing wrong with this squash in a vacuum, I do question having two straight squash matches in a row, especially since Mariah used the same dropkicks as Pac. There was a bit more purpose to this squash, as Mariah got to send Toni a message.Winner: Mariah May
An irate Toni Storm attacks Mariah and gets restrained by security. Toni screams that she's ready to die, which shouldn't be necessary, professional wrestling is a clean, safe sport.
Blood and Guts:
The New Elite (TNT Champion Jack Perry, AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada, AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks, and Hangman Adam Page) vs. Team AEW (AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, The Acclaimed, and Darby Allin)Jack Perry and Darby Allin start the festivities for their respective teams. Before Darby can enter the cage, Jack smashes him with a chair and powerbombs him into the steel wall. Perry whips Darby over the steps into the front row. It takes a while to get into the cage, Perry lawn darts Darby into a trash can. Just as Darby gets into the fight, Nicholas Jackson enters with a chair and suitcase. Back from the first round of commercials, Mark Briscoe joins the match to save Darby from the 2 on 1 beatdown. He runs wild like he got a hot tag, and makes good use of the two ring setting. Matthew Jackson arrives, also wielding a briefcase. Matthew DDT's Darby onto the case and rubs Mark's bloody face against the wall. The Bucks give Darby a buckle bomb against Mark and go supernova with a rapid sequence of elaborate attacks. Anthony Bowens arrives to even the odds. He rolls through both Bucks and gives Perry a Fame-asser. Matthew throws a case into Bowens' face, but Mark cuts him off. The Bucks try a TK Driver, but Mark breaks it up with a soaring cutter! Darby double stomps a tacked skateboard into Matthew's arm! Bowens fetches some real scissors and goes nuts stabbing Perry and wrapping it around his mouth! The fans LOVE this. Kazuchika Okada storms in to restore order. He runs wild with a Rainmaker street sign. Back from more commercials, Max Caster takes his turn getting the spiritual hot tag. Max finds a wired board, The Acclaimed try to powerbomb Okada, but the Elite breaks it up. Instead, The Bucks slam Bowens onto the wired board, then sandwich him under another for Matthew's 450 senton! Crowd chants "Holy Sh!t!" The Elite feed Caster some thumbtacks and throw a SUPERKICK PARTAY! Hangman Page is the final Elite entrant but is nowhere to be seen as his music plays. Team AEW capitalize and make a desperate comeback. Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana) enters and NOW Hangman shows up for an ambush. Page has no interest in the match and handcuffs Swerve on the outside wall. The Bucks threaten to fire Page if he doesn't get into the cage, Hangman reluctantly obliges. The Elite have a 5 on 4 advantage, that is if Page can get along with the Elite. Back from commercials, Jeff Jarrett smashes a guitar over Brandon Cutler, Billy Gunn helps him rescue Swerve from the handcuffs. Finally free, Swerve is mostly fresh and completely plows through the Elite, then finds Hangman for an epic staredown. Fans chant "Holy sh!t!" for the moment. They brawl, Swerve blocks the Buckshot, Page snaps the arm and shoves the wired board into his face. Darby hits Code Red on Page, Okada slaps Darby. Swerve finds a staple gun, Matthew low blows him before he can use it. Matthew opens his briefcase to reveal a entire arsenal of staple guns! The Elite give Swerve a gang stapling, but he laughs it off and makes a one man comeback. Okada flips him off so he staples his middle finger! House Call on Swerve! This is honestly one of the best babyface comebacks I've ever seen. Sadly, they need another commercial break. They return with Nichlas knocking Bowens from the top of the cage through four tables! Meanwhile, Mark goes on a J-Driller streak. He hits a Froggy elbow through a table. Darby climbs to the center of the roof and Coffin drops Perry through a table! Caster opens the other Bucks case and finds a collection of handcuffs. They cuff Perry to the wall and brutalize him with weapon shots. Darby pours gas over Perry, preparing to light him on fire again like at Anarchy in the Arena. He gives Jack the chance to quit first. Matthew interrupts and quits on Jack's behalf, giving Team AEW the win at 48:31! That was certainly a novel ending. This was probably the best Blood and Guts match so far. It was carried by the Swerve/Page rivalry, The Acclaimed chasing the Young Bucks, Briscoe's endearing climb up the card, and Darby's eager willingness to destroy himself. The violence, stunts, and creativity were off the charts. The ending as a tad anti-climatic, which hurts just a little, but there's some nice wrinkles there. Perry refused to quit even as he was facing getting torched, and Matthew looks like the coward for quitting so quickly and decisively. Really, there's just a ton of storyline threads spread all out all over. AEW's excellent summer continues, ****¾.
Winners: Team AEW
Final Thoughts: Blood and Guts is must-see, making this an easy recommendation. That's about it.
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