AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts- July 19, 2023
by Doc Allen
Live from TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. WrestleTix estimates attendance at 8,919. Our hosts are Tony Shiavone, Taz, and Excalibur.
"Tarzan Boy" plays in the arena, but no sign of Jungle Boy. It's interrupted by footage of Jack Perry burying a body dressed in Jungle Boy's boots. He puts on some shades and drives away. Cue his new Beethoven theme song, and he arrives with a grouchy look on his face. Glad to see they're moving on to the next phase of Perry's heel turn.
FTW Championship:
Hook © vs. Jack Perry
Hook lures Perry into a foolish trap and scores the first blows. Perry returns fire, but Hook whips him into the barricade. Hook hits a Superman Punch from the guard rail. Perry rakes the eyes and hits a missile dropkick, and dominates through a commercial break. They return with Hook hitting an exploder suplex from the apron, sending Perry crashing onto the ramp. Perry recovers and hits a draping DDT onto the floor. Hook then no-sells a suplex in defiant fashion and nails a German suplex for 2. Hook hits a second high elevation German, but Perry grabs the referee and hits a blind low blow. Perry hits a sliding lariat to the back of Hook's skull for only 2! Perry tries to use the FTW as a weapon, and Hook inadvertently shoves him into the referee. One more suplex by Hook, but there's no referee to count. Perry finally manages a belt shot to the face and makes a smug grin while getting the pinfall at 11:43. Perry had to win this to cement his new character, and his personality shined through despite using every basic heel trick in the book, **½.Winner and new FTW Champion: Jack Perry
Alex Marvez spies on Don Callis and Chris Jericho sharing a friendly meal. Don's security guy cuts the footage.
Adam Cole and MJF continue their bro-mance. Cole wants MJF to face his fear of eating spicy food, but MJF is more scared of poor people. They enter a chinese restaurant and order hot chicken while MJF embellishes a story about slamming a 675 pound Big Bill in the Silverdome. The food is too hot and they guzzle water, which turns out to be 100% vodka. Fastforward, they're both drunk, and think the waiter resembles Sammy Guevara AND Daniel Garcia, so they give the poor guy a double clothesline. Not as brilliant as last week's adventures, but still very amusing.
Alex Marvez tries to force an interview with Don Callis and Chris Jericho as they arrive together in a limo. They call Alex a fat-headed idiot and blow past him.
Dr. Britt Baker vs. Kayla Sparks
Kayla is bursting with confidence but quickly eats a Sling Blade. Britt's glove comes on and she hits a butterfly suplex and twisting neckbreaker. Lockjaw ends it at 1:05. Suitable squash to kickstart Britt's rebuild.Winner: Dr. Britt Baker
Renee Paquette interviews Adam Cole and MJF ahead of the Blind Eliminator finals. Cole feels they've caught lightning in a bottle. They each surprise one another with matching gear and take off. Roderick Strong arrives too late to complain to their faces.
Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament Finals:
The JAS (Daniel Garcia and Sammy Guevara) vs. Better Than Boom! (Adam Cole and AEW World Champion MJF)
Chris Jericho joins commentary. Cole surprises MJF with new entrance music mashing up their themes, taking their bro-mance to the next level. The ref can't call for the bell because Garcia and MJF insist on having a dance-off. MJF even breaks into the production area to pull up some dance music and disco lights. Sammy and Daniel go first and just so happen to have an elaborate routine planned. MJF goes second while Cole looks on in confusion. Cole only knows how to pelvic thrust, so the record scratches, and the JAS sneak attack to finally get things started. MJF and Cole gain control with coordinated eye pokes to Garcia. Guevara saves Garcia from the dreaded DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE LINE, so MJF teases a dive that never happens. This time MJF's showboating costs them, and the JAS take control heading into commercials. They return with MJF selling exhaustion and collapsing into a headbutt on Sammy's groin, totally by accident lol. Cole runs wild on a hot tag. Cole superkicks Sammy in mid-air, and tags in MJF, Sammy ducks the DOUBLE CLOTHES LINE and counters with a nifty double Spanish Fly. MJF blocks a flying cutter, and Cole superkicks Sammy over his knees. Garcia makes a blind tag and chopblocks Cole and MJF's knees, preventing another DOUBLE CLOTHES LINE, and locks on the Dragonslayer. Cole gets a rope break and back drops Garcia outside onto Sammy. MJF considers diving but is too scared. Cole offers more encouragement, the fans give an ovation, and MJF finally connects with a tope suicida! MJF is shocked by his own bravery and almost seems to be honestly discovering what it's like to be a babyface. MJF and Cole finally hit the DOUBLE CLOTHES LINE OF DOOM and win at 10:44. This was wacky and amazing, ****¾. Winners: MJF and Adam Cole
Jericho offers his guys some polite applause, but they don't want to hear it. Meanwhile, MJF catches Cole holding the AEW title and gets really angry really fast. Cole talks him down and they hug it out. They start the celebration, but are interrupted by AEW Tag Team Champions FTR. They have a standard faceoff while their match is announced for an upcoming Collision.
Renee Paquette is backstage with Orange Cassidy and his many friends. Darby Allin is in the upcoming Royal Rampage and has his sights set on eliminating Swerve Strickland. Darby politely asks Cassidy to defend the International title against AR Fox, since he was recently homeless. Cassidy is half asleep but accepts.
Chompy the Shark joins commentary to promote Shark Week! Taz doesn't want to be touched.
Blood and Guts:
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Hangman Adam Page, Nick Jackson, Matt Jackson, and Kota Ibushi) vs. The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Konosuke Takeshita, and Pac)In case you forgot, this match is basically War Games, complete with the double rings. Omega and Claudio start for their respective teams. Claudio scores the first real blow with a vicious backbreaker. Omega answers with a flying forearm. Scoop slam by Claudio and some well aimed uppercuts. Leaping rana by Omega, but he exerts too much energy with a lariat. Pac joins the match and greets Omega with a missile dropkick. Kenny suffers a 2 on 1 beatdown through some commercials. They return with Hangman Page entering the match to even the odds. Page uses the cage to set up a springboard moonsault onto Claudio. Kenny beats up Claudio in one cage while Page beats up Pac in the other. Claudio dropkicks Omega into the cage just as Jon Moxley enters to give the BCC a 3 on 2 advantage. Moxley brings in a screwdriver and lunges at Hangman. Moxley has a fork for Claudio. Mox grabs a hidden bucket and dumps broken glass all over the place. Nick Jackson joins the match and dropkicks Moxley onto the glass. Nick superkicks Claudio and stuns Pac on the ropes. Facebuster by Nick, followed by a rolling cutter. Nick uses a flying rana to send Claudio onto the glass. Mox is upset and powerbombs Nick onto the glass, then stomps the shards onto his chest. Omega takes a double suplex onto the glass. Despite all the plunder, no one is bleeding yet. Wheeler Yuta is out next and comes armed with a chair. Back from commercials, Matt Jackson is out to even the odds once again. He ducks Yuta's chair shot and gives him a DDT. Moxley is bleeding (of course) and Matt bounces off his chest to give Claudio an inverted DDT. The Bucks give Moxley stereo presses. Moxley dismantles the Bucks all by himself. Meanwhile, Omega gives Yuta a bulldog onto the glass. Konosuke Takeshita enters with a chair in hand. He cracks Hangman between the eyes and suplexes both Bucks at once. I think Takeshita is badly miscast as a heel. He decapitates Omega with a lariat. Moxley brings in a bed of nails, he must be tired of being the only bleeder, and shotgun dropkicks Omega into the nails! Moxley body slams Kenny onto the bed! Kota Ibushi joins the match, ready to save the day. He easily gets past Yuta and isn't happy to see Moxley abusing his friend, Omega. Ibushi lights Mox up with kicks and targets his bloody face. Ibushi hits Moxley with a standing moonsault onto the nails! Omega and Ibushi reunite as The Golden Lovers to pick apart Takeshita, but Claudio ruins the moment. Back from more commercials, Yuta and Matt are duking it out on the roof. Matt hits rolling Northern Lights! Matt considers murdering Yuta by suplexing him to the floor, but Yuta saves his own life with a reverse DDT. Yuta leaves Matt for dead and climbs down to give the BCC a 5 on 4 advantage. Matt pours thumbtacks down from the roof, just as his friends hit reverse backdrops! Nick throws a one man SUPERKICK PARTAY. Fans want tables, so Nick brings in a table. Ibushi powerbombs Pac into the Bucks' enziguris and Omega hits the Finlay Roll and moonsault. Bucks hit Pac with a flying elbow and 450 splash, and that probably should have ended it, but The Elite pose instead. Back from even more commercials, there's a sequence of superplexes before Pac scales the cage to double stomp Matt through the table. Fans chant "AEW" and "Fight Forever!" Both sides regroup and draw battle lines for a gang brawl. The fight breaks down until Omega hits Pac with a vicious snap Dragon suplex! Pac blocks One Winged Angel and applies the Brutalizer. Everyone gathers around them for a circle of submission holds, and Claudio gives Matt the giant swing. The fans chant for Ibushi while he cleans house. Moxley plants a bloody kiss on the camera and helps the BCC swarm Omega. Claudio misses an uppercut and hits Pac, leading to some dissension. Pac gives the BCC the double bird and grabs a bolt cutter to escape the cage. Omega capitalizes with a series of V-Triggers and snap Dragons! Page hits a pair of Buckshot Lariats, and Kenny helps with a V-Trigger combo on Yuta. Hangman handcuffs Moxley to the ropes and forces him to watch The Elite's destruction of Yuta. They choke Yuta with a chain until he passes out at 50:50! Well, this was the violent mayhem that was advertised, and was pretty well executed and intense throughout. They kind of lost me near the end when The Elite had Pac beaten but didn't even try to pin him. Still, good win for the Elite and a nice reset for Pac, ***¾.
Winners: The Elite
Final Thoughts: A grand episode of Dynamite, even if no one else probably liked the Blind Eliminator Finals just as much as I did. Four years in, AEW still finds ways to surprise me.
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