The regular trademark opening intro video package and theme song plays and then we shoot live inside Daily’s Place amphitheater in Jacksonville, FL., where more fireworks and pyro than usual begins exploding as Jim Ross says his usual “It’s Wednesday night, and you know what that means …” catchphrase.
From there, J.R.’s commentary partners, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur, join him on the broadcast to quickly run down the advertised matches and segments for tonight’s show as the official promotional graphics flash across the screen.
Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
After that, we head down to the ring for our first match of the evening, which is scheduled to be the featured tag-team contest, as the theme song for the AEW World Champion hits.
Don Callis and Michael Nakazawa, in his behind-the-scenes work clothes, complete with the headset, make their way down to the ring. Callis cuts “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts off as he was doing the prolonged Kenny Omega ring introduction.
Callis informs us that Kenny Omega is unable to make this event tonight, which the commentators quickly point out is untrue, noting that they have already seen him backstage this evening. Regardless, Callis tells us that Nakazawa will be handling this match by himself.
On that note, the familiar sounds of Jon Moxley’s theme plays as he and Eddie Kingston begin making their way through the special part of the amphitheater that Mox always enters from. As they get close to the ringside area, they are attacked from behind as Kenny Omega is in the building, and finally appears with a blindsided sneak-attack.
This helps the heel duo jump off to an early offensive lead in this one, as they take out Mox and then take Kingston in the ring and go to work on him in two-on-one fashion. Finally, Mox recovers and re-enters the ring, and now the babyface duo of Moxley and Kingston are finally gaining the upper-hand in this brawl. They take Omega and Nakazawa out to the floor and beat them from pillar to post.
We see Kingston and Nakazawa end up as the legal two men in the ring as Omega and Moxley take their respective spots on the ring apron on opposite sides of the ring. Kingston works over Nakazawa until a sneak low-blow with authority turns the tide and shifts the momentum back into the favor of the heel duo. Nakazawa tags in Omega and the world champ starts to go to work on Kingston, with Nakazawa getting in cheap shots from behind any time he showed signs of life or began putting up any kind of fight.
Finally, Kingston manages to make the tag to Moxley. Omega also makes the tag to Nakazawa. The commentators joke that they like Mox’s chances in this battle of fresh guys. It doesn’t take long before Mox is beating Nakazawa all over the ring. He holds him hostage as Kingston sits on the middle rope, daring Omega to come in and save his partner and supposed friend. Instead, Omega throws his hands up in the air and walks off. Mox finishes off Nakazawa and the team of Moxley and Kingston pick up the victory in tonight’s opening bout.
Winners: Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
After The Match: The Elite Beats Down Moxley & Kingston
Once the match wraps up, we see the AEW Tag-Team Champions, The Young Bucks, walking out of the entrance tunnel. As Moxley and Kingston turn their attention to them, they are attacked by unexpected cheap shots from The Good Brothers, who snuck into the ring from behind.
As Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson beat down Mox and Kingston, Nick and Matt Jackson join them in the ring to help gang up on the babyface duo. Finally, the AEW Champion himself, Kenny Omega, makes his way back out and he enters the mix as well.
The Elite beat down Mox and Kingston, wrapping things up when Omega hit his One-Winged Angel on Mox and they did a fake follow-up pin. After the opening contest, we head to a commercial break.
QT Marshall vs. Cody Rhodes
We return from the break to the theme song of QT Marshall playing. The former friend of Cody Rhodes makes his way out accompanied by three members of The Factory. They pound fists and Marshall heads to the ring as they hang back.
As Marshall settles inside the squared circle, the familiar sounds of the entrance theme of “The American Nightmare” himself plays and out emerges Cody Rhodes from the entrance tunnel accompanied by “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson as “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts does his trademark ring introduction for him.
Rhodes gets a serious look on his face and starts running towards the ring. He enters and quickly charges over to Marshall, beating him down to kick this match off with a bang. Cody goes to work on Marshall, beating him all over the ring until he goes to take his weight belt off. When he went to whip Marshall with it, the referee stopped him and took it. While that was happening, Marshall took his belt off and once Cody had his taken from him, QT began blasting Cody with his.
This shifts the momentum in the match into the favor of The Factory leader, as Marshall takes it to “The American Nightmare” with a vicious streak of offense. After a few minutes of one-sided action, we finally see Cody fight his way back into competitive form. He goes on a small offensive run, which included a dreaded back-scratch, until Marshall turned the tide, leaping to the top-rope like Kurt Angle in his prime and launching Cody after “The American Nightmare” went to the top with thoughts of a high spot of his own initially on his mind.
Marshall continues to go to work on Cody as the action spills out to the floor. Marshall slams Cody into the steel ring barricade. As he walks past Arn Anderson, he throws Cody in the ring and slaps Double A in the face. This pisses off “The Enforcer” and a brawl between he and Marshall breaks out. Arn drags QT’s face into the steel ring post until separated by multiple officials. On that note, we head to a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action finally resumes back inside the ring.
When we return from the break, we see the action still in progress in the ring, with Cody finally starting to show signs of life. He slowly begins shifting the offense into his favor. He goes to the top-rope and connects on a big moonsault but it’s not enough to put away Marshall. Cody tries following up with the Disaster Kick, however QT avoided it. Cody tries for it again, and again QT avoids it, this time countering and catching him on the way down with his own Cross Rhodes finisher. He tries for the cover off of that, but Cody kicks out before the count of three.
We see QT calling for the Diamond Cutter, but Cody avoids it. Marshall goes to pick Cody up in the power bomb position and nearly drops him. He ends up muscling him up and launching him, connecting with a big Buckle Bomb. Marshall and Cody go back-and-forth with crazy reversals, all relying on muscling their opponent up and over in pure signs of strength, culminating with Cody hitting a big Tombstone Piledriver. Seconds later he hits a Cross Rhodes on him. He ends up showing pity on Marshall and he helps him up. Marshall flips him off so Cody takes him down and does what he said he wouldn’t, which is try and break his leg with his Figure Four Leg Lock. That does it. Cody wins.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
After The Match: Anthony Ogogo Knocks Out Cody Rhodes
Somewhere in there Cody got a bad cut near his eye and he is bleeding like a stuck pig. He’s also limping and favoring one leg when he gets up to celebrate the victory.
As he continues to soak in the love from the AEW fans as his theme plays after the match, out of nowhere, former Olympic medalist in boxing, Anthony Ogogo of The Factory, hits the ring and blasts Cody with a knockout punch to the body. He floors Cody and then covers his lifeless body up with the Union Jack flag.
Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky Viciously Attack Darby Allin
We are shown some highlights of the post-match attack to Sting and Darby Allin from Scorpio Sky and Sting on last week’s Dynamite and then we shoot to the rafters, where a member of the Dynamite broadcast team is standing by with the new tag-team duo.
The former SoCal Uncensored (SCU) member, Scorpio Sky, starts off by addressing Sting. He closes out his rant by calling him Showtime Steve and a b*tch.
“All Ego” Ethan Page then gets his turn to talk and he addresses TNT Champion Darby Allin, referencing their storied past. He says he won’t bother wasting time talking about things that happened in a bunch of matches nobody saw. Instead, he talks about how Darby wears face-paint not because it’s war paint but to cover up a dent in his head caused by “All Ego” himself.
As Page continues to talk, out of nowhere, Darby Allin attacks the two from behind. It isn’t long, however, before the numbers game lean in the favor of Page and Sky, as they viciously attack “The New Face Of TNT.” Page throws him down a ton of steps from the top of the rafters. The commentators get their serious voices on and tons of AEW officials and medical staff rush to the scene as Page and Sky are shown laughing and gloating as we head to another commercial break.
Dr. Britt Baker vs. Julia Hart
As we return from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of Dr. Britt Baker’s theme song as she makes her way out accompanied by Rebel to a ring introduction by “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts.
She makes her way down to the ring, where Roberts introduces her opponent, who is already inside the squared circle waiting on her — Julia Hart. J.R. jokes on commentary that Julia is not from Calgary like many other Hart’s in the pro wrestling business.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running. Baker immediately jumps off to an early offensive lead. She dominates Hart from one end of the ring to the other as the commentators talk about her being good and knowing it, and how she is the number one contender and will be next in line to challenge Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship at the upcoming AEW Double Or Nothing pay-per-view.
Baker continues to easily control what has been a completely one-sided, squash match display of dominance. She hits her crazy semi-finisher and then instead of pinning her, decides against it in favor of finishing her off with her Lock Jaw submission hold. Hart taps out and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: Dr. Britt Baker
Taz Breaks Down Christian Cage’s In-Ring Work
We shoot to the latest installment of the segment hosted by Taz where he breaks down techniques and in-ring action. We hear “The Human Suplex’ break down and narrate some action that involves pro wrestling legend Christian Cage in AEW, as he has defeated members of Team Taz after turning down the Brooklyn-native’s offer to join his stable.
4-Way Tag-Team Eliminator Match
Jurassic Express vs. SCU vs. The Acclaimed vs. Varsity Blonds
As we head back down to the ringside area, we hear the familiar sounds of Jurassic Express’ theme music as the fans sing along with the tune and the duo of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus head down to the squared circle.
With the two settled in the ring, their music dies down and out comes SoCal Uncensored — Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. The commentators talk about how their future as a team depends on this match and their ability to win the tag-team titles again.
Now out comes The Acclaimed — Anthony Bowens and Max Caster. The two rap down to the ring, dissing everyone involved in the buot and claiming they’re about to run SCU out of the business. Finally all teams are in the ring now, as the Varsity Blonds — Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison are also in the mix.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our next match of the evening here on this jam-packed edition of AEW Dynamite Blood & Guts. This is a 4-way tag-team eliminator match, with the winning team earning a shot at the current AEW World Tag-Team Champions — The Young Bucks — Nick and Matt Jackson.
We hear the commentators talk about how rare it is to see a match like this to determine a title contender, as literally this match contains the number one, number two, number three and number four ranked teams in the current official rankings for the AEW Tag-Team division. After some early opening action, we head to a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break.
We’re back from the break and we see the match still in progress. After a blind tag, we see Luchasaurus in the mix and he’s fresh. He fires up and starts taking out any-and-everything that moves, launching bodies all over the place in the process. Bodies keep hitting the ring as he is continuing to be fed like a hungry Ryback in his prime after winning a match. Ya know, cause he’s still hungry and wants to be fed more. No? We continue!
Pillman Jr. is now the legal man and he heads upstairs. He comes off the top-rope with a flying clothesline that connects on Jungle Boy, who is now the other legal man in this match. As the action continues, Jungle Boy makes his comeback and heads to the top-rope. Frankie Kazarian tags himself in while Jungle Boy was on the top-rope, by slapping his foot, and he tries quickly rolling up Pillman Jr. and stealing the win, but it doesn’t work.
Now with Pillman Jr. and Kaz as the legal men in this match, we see Pillman Jr. finally start to show signs of life. Kaz cuts it short, however, an hoists him up. He holds him as Daniels comes off the ropes with a BME. They go for the follow-up pin attempt and that’s all she wrote. SCU wins. It will be Frankie Kazarian & Christopher Daniels challenging The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag-Team Titles on next Wednesday night’s edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT.
Winners and NEW No. 1 Contenders to the AEW World Tag-Team Titles: SCU
Go-Home Package For Next Week’s IWGP U.S. Title Match
We hear the commentators bring up that in addition to the AEW Tag-Team Championship showdown between The Young Bucks and the new number one contenders in the division, SCU, next week’s edition of AEW Dynamite will also feature the defense of the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) belt known as the IWGP United States Championship.
After that, we are treated to an in-depth video package to promote the bout. We hear from NJPW legend Yuji Nagata as highlights are shown and then we cut to a new message from the reigning and defending champion heading into next week’s special bout, Jon Moxley.
Mox talks about coming at Nagata with respect and how he invited him to Dynamite just because he wanted to face the great Yuji Nagata. He says he heard what Nagata said and that was that he called him a little punk. He says the great thing about this business is that no matter how long you’ve been in it, you can always learn something.
He vows that Nagata will learn next week that your mouth can get you into a lot of trouble — especially when you’re gonna step into the ring with the baddest sum-bitch in the game — Jon Moxley.
Double Or Nothing Main Event & Kenny Omega Punks Out Orange Cassidy
We return live and we cut to Tony Schiavone, who is standing at the top of the entrance area. He brings out the AEW World Champion Kenny Omega.
Omega asks who is excited to see Blood & Guts. He says he doesn’t even want to be here tonight. He tells Schiavone to hurry up and get this over with. He demands he make his announcement.
Schiavone says here on AEW Dynamite next Wednesday night, “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy will go one-on-one against “The Bastard” PAC with the winner advancing to challenge Omega for the AEW Championship at the upcoming AEW Double Or Nothing pay-per-view.
Kenny Omega acts like he didn’t even hear that Cassidy was involved. He gives props to PAC, pointing out that he’s been tapped out by him before. He tells Schiavone to go ahead and make it official and announce PAC as the challenger for Double Or Nothing. Schiavone says it’s PAC … or Orange Cassidy.
The champion breaks out into laughter as the “Freshly Squeezed” one himself makes his way out without any music. The fans react as you would expect. Omega goes on to mock Cassidy. He tells him someone like him will never be championship material.
He asks if Cassidy minds and then takes his sunglasses off. He says he’s a shades guy himself, claiming he’s the one who made them popular in the first place. Omega says Cassidy will never take his title but he has taken something just as valuable — his precious time. For that, he’s taking something of Cassidy’s. He takes Cassidy’s sunglasses and puts them on Michael Nakazawa.
Omega tells Cassidy to look at him when he’s talking to him. He tells Cassidy that his sunglasses look better on Nak anyways. Omega tells Cassidy he doesn’t expect to see him again for another ten years when he’s a full grown adult. He says he’ll see him again ..whenever, and then does the whatever line of Cassidy’s as well. He and Nak walk off as Cassidy just stands there. We head to another commercial break.
Miro Has A Title Shot With Special Stipulation Next Week
We return from the break to see Tony Schiavone standing at the top of the entrance area. He introduces Miro.
Miro makes his way out and heads over to Schiavone. He takes the mic out of Schiavone’s hand and shows a piece of paper he is holding in his hands.
“The Best Man” talks about how he has promised that he is coming after a champion in AEW, noting it was just a matter of which one. He says the decision is now made.
He shows the paper in his hand and says it’s a contract for him to face the TNT Champion Darby Allin on next week’s Dynamite. He says if Allin cannot compete due to the attack from Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky earlier tonight, he will be forced to relinquish the title to him.
From there, the commentators run down the advertised lineup for next week’s show, which might even be a more jam-packed show on paper than tonight’s incredibly loaded show. Check out the full match listing for next week’s show in our news section here on the website.
BLOOD & GUTS
The Pinnacle vs. Inner Circle
Now we shoot to “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts, who is standing down at the ringside area. We see the double ring setup has been enclosed by the giant steel cage. Roberts runs down the official rules for this first-ever match here in AEW, as the official graphics flash across the screen displaying them.
Finally, the first of the two teams scheduled to compete in what will be tonight’s main event of the evening here on this special Blood & Guts edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT are introduced. Tully Blanchard leads The Pinnacle of MJF, Wardlow, FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) and Shawn Spears down to the ringside area as we head to another pre-match commercial break.
We return from the break and we immediately hear the familiar sounds of “Judas in My Mind,” the official theme song of “Le Champion” Chris Jericho and his Inner Circle of Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz. The group makes their way out full of energy wearing jump-suits, with the Proud ‘N’ Powerful duo having their faces painted like the big robbery-gone-wrong scene from the film, “Dead Presidents.”
The fans sing along with the lyrics of the catchy tune as all of the members of Inner Circle continue to feed off their energy. The commentators bring up how the members of the Inner Circle have various weaponary with them, as some are carrying barbed wire and other violence-producing objects. It will be Dax Harwood and Sammy Guevara who start off the match.
For those unaware, the rules are such that the aforementioned two members start off the bout while the other members of each group remain locked outside the cage. Every few minutes one member will enter from one team, giving them a two-on-one advantage until the next time expiration, when it will be 2-and-2 again, then 3-on-2, 3-on-3, etc. and so on until each member of both teams are in the two rings enclosed by the giant steel cage. From there it’s an all out war until one member of a team submits or surrenders, giving his team the victory.
We see Guevara and Harwood duke it out straight out of the gate, with “The Spanish God” ultimately getting the better of the exchange. We see the brawl continue with Dax now shifting the momentum in his favor. We see Guevara and Harwood each climb up the same cage wall. Guevara ends up knocking him off. The commentators talk like Harwood twisted his ankle or leg on the landing. He is shown grabbing his leg as he sits on the mat in pain. After a few moments, Guevara finally goes back to work on him and now we see Harwood is busted open as the blood begins to flow.
The fans begin counting down as the final seconds tick off the clock. It’s time for the next member of The Pinnacle to enter the mix. In comes Shawn Spears and “The Chairman of AEW” brings in his namesake, as he carries a steel cage into the rings with him. The commentators point out that anything goes in a Blood & Guts match. We see Guevara blasted by an enormous steel chair shot from Spears that nearly be-heads the Inner Circle member. The fans begin the count down again and when it concludes, we see it will be none other than Ortiz from the Proud ‘N’ Powerful tag-team of the Inner Circle that will be joining the mix.
Ortiz hits the ring(s) like a bat out of hell, going straight after the two members of The Pinnacle and taking them out. He focuses his attack on Dax now, as Spears and Guevara stand on the top rope in the middle of the ropes of both rings, but with each standing on the other rings’ ropes. Guevara hits his top-rope turning spot. That looked incredibly dangerous, but equally awesome. More so, in fact. That was really, really cool. The Inner Circle duo are dominating the action now but unfortunately it’s also time for the countdown to begin again. Once it expires, we see that Cash Wheeler, the other member of The Pinnacle tag-team of FTR, is the one who will enter the mix.
Immediately he is the key factor in swinging the momentum back into the favor of The Pinnacle. We see an assisted pile driver spot from FTR. Now Spears taunts the Inner Circle while beating down Ortiz. Meanwhile, both members of FTR launch Guevara over the ropes, where he blasts into the cage wall — hard. Now they change foes and Spears locks Guevara in a Boston Crab, while FTR launches Ortiz over the ropes and into the cage wall. Finally, the fans begin counting down from ten again and when they finish up, we see that it is Santana of the Inner Circle duo of Proud ‘N’ Powerful that will be entering the ring on behalf of his team. He helps the babyface faction take back over control of the offense as Excalibur leads us into a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues.
When we return from the break, Excalibur informs us that Wardlow entered the match on behalf of The Pinnacle during the break. Schiavone follows up by pointing out that he has beaten down each member of the Inner Circle that is currently in the match. The fans count down from ten and now it will be Jake Hager coming in on behalf of the Inner Circle. Hager immediately makes a difference and helps shift the offense into the favor of the Inner Circle. Spears is put in an ankle lock by Hager and starts tapping out, but no pin falls or submissions count or end the match until all members of both teams have entered the contest. Finally, the count begins from the fans again and when it concludes, the final member for The Pinnacle — MJF — enters the mix.
MJF loses his cool and starts yelling and screaming as he inflicts his first share of punishment in this bout. The Pinnacle start to manhandle the Inner Circle now as they enjoy their final few moments of a numbers game advantage in this brutal Blood & Guts battle.
Finally, the ten count from the fans breaks out again and now the final member for the Inner Circle — “Le Champion” himself, the leader of the Inner Circle — Chris Jericho — enters the ring. The fans erupt as he looks to even up the odds of justice. One of the rings is starting to be taken apart now, the ropes and the padding and mat, etc. They expose the wood and rough surface under the mat as we head to another mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues.
We’re back from the break and we see the ring is a complete mess now, totally torn apart. We see a spiked piledriver on the exposed part of the ring result in MJF becoming a complete and total crimson mask of blood. The Inner Circle are now in utter control with ease at this point, as Jericho uses Floyd the baseball bat to beat down various members of The Pinnacle, delivering on his promise to deliver with a different level of violence in the Blood & Guts match, while the fans shower the Inner Circle with “This Is Awesome! This Is Awesome!” chants.
As the Inner Circle continues to be in control with complete and total ease, finally, Wardlow tries to start firing up for a comeback on his own. He starts duking it out with a member or two of the Inner Circle but ultimately, he is by himself and caught fight off the entire group by his lonesome. They beat him down again and now are walking around looking down at the carnage that they have created. They still have to make a member of the opposition submit or surrender. Excalibur talks us into what will be our final mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break of the evening.
We return from the commercials to Excalibur informing us that MJF has escaped out and to the top of the giant steel cage structure. MJF thinks he has escaped the insanity, but as we watch on, we see “Le Champion” Chris Jericho climbing up the cage wall. Once he gets to the top he looks down at a bloodied MJF begging for mercy. Jericho gives him none, however, instead locking him in the Walls of Jericho. The commentators point out that if MJF submits this match is over. MJF screams in pain but he does not tap out, instead he blasts Jericho with a vicious low blow.
Friedman recovers and now he applies his Salt of the Earth Fujiwara Armbar submission to Jericho. Jericho screams in pain but refuses to tap out as well. MJF finally lets go of the hold, stands up and stomps on the arm he was working over with his submission finishing hold. He bites the arm of Jericho and then re-applies his Salt of the Earth submission hold. Jericho still won’t give up. The camera shows a close-up of a very bloody MJF, who begins displaying a sadistic smirk as he pulls out his Dynamite Diamond Ring. He puts it on and lets out a sick laugh.
He blasts Jericho with a knockout shot with the ring, busting open “The Demo God” in the process. Afterwards he lets out another war scream and then walks over and looks over the side of the top of the cage. He grabs Jericho by the hair and brings him over to the side. He yells down to the Inner Circle in the ring that if they don’t surrender, he’s going to throw him off. Sammy Guevara asks if he surrenders will he let Jericho go and not go through with it. MJF says he will. Guevara surrenders on behalf of the Inner Circle, giving the win to The Pinnacle. The Pinnacle’s theme plays as MJF smiles and holds his hand high in victory on the top of the Blood & Guts cage.
Winners: The Pinnacle
After The Match: MJF Does It Anyway …
We see MJF pacing around with his hands held high in victory on top of the cage as The Pinnacle music fades back down. MJF nods his head like he’s not going to do it, no one has to worry, etc., and then he does it anyways. He shoves Jericho off backwards and like Rikishi being pushed off the top of the Hell In A Cell structure in the WWE during the early 2000s, Jericho falls backwards and crashes way down below, only there was no big pickup truck filled with straw, instead it was like the Shane McMahon spot from Hell In A Cell with Undertaker with a gimmicked section for him to fall on.
It still looked gnarly as all hell too, particularly on all of the various camera angles shown on the instant replays. MJF now delivers on his promise of letting Jericho finally hear the words “Thank you!” as he shouts them down at “Le Champion” while he is being tended to by a ton of ringside medics and doctors.
Credit: Matt Boone
