AEW’S TOP MATCHES OF THE WEEK: Hangman vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, Men’s Blood & Guts, Women’s Blood & Guts

I thought this week that the best matches of the week were on Dynamite. I knew this was going to happen this week and I was hoping a match on Collision could step up and compete with one of three matches on Dynamite this week, but they didn’t. Dynamite was really a wild night, and the “Hangman” Adam Page vs. “Powerhouse” Hobbs match was a real surprise that I really thought delivered, and made both guys look really good.

I’ll be going to Dynamite this week in Boston. I’ll be calling into the Wade Keller Pro Wrestlign Postshow that Wade hosts live on YouTube after every Dynamite as the on-site correspondent. You should be doing this already, but if you are a fan of this weekly article or a fan of PWTorch at all, I’d really love for you to watch or listen to the show on the free podcast feed this week and every week. It’s a great listen for any AEW fan.

Men’s Blood and Guts Match – Dynamite

Going into this Blood and Guts match, I was nervous about how it would turn out because of the participants that were in it this year. With some of the top male stars out with injury, it was an opportunity for a few of the men’s wrestlers to step up and see if they could perform under the brightest lights. Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Daniel Garcia aren’t exactly the most exciting names, but I thought they all really stepped up in this match and had a great showing.

I thought the match started pretty slow and that’s obviously a planned thing because of how nuts the last 20 minutes of these things usually get. Once the top stars hit the ring – Jon Moxley, Pac, and Darby – the match really picked up and the brutality picked up as well.

I liked the first 10 minutes or so of Yuta Wheeler just getting his ass kicked, and I loved the spot where Orange Cassidy just stabbed Yuta in the head with his sunglasses and then put the sunglasses back on. Also, it’s time to lose the Paragon name. Every time Kyle O’Reilly or Roderick Strong walk out with one of those shirts on, I just think “but, why?”

Moxley’s favorite weapon of choice, always being a fork, always cracks me up. I just picture him in catering before the match going through the forks trying to pick the perfect one to go assault someone with. I also thought the look that Daniel Garcia had on his face when Mox gave him the fork during the match was probably the most personality he’s ever shown in his career in AEW. Go back and watch his reaction; it’s great.

I’m going to call this section of my article “and now Darby Allin has entered the ring….” Darby Allin is an absolute lunatic. I know this isn’t breaking news or anything, but he really is a crazy person. Sometimes I find myself feeling guilty for enjoying the crazy spots he does because I know when he’s 40, he’s going to be crippled.

Darby going through that flaming table was just absolutely bonkers. I loved Bryan Danielson saying “I can only assume that’s lighter fluid” when Gabe Kidd was spraying the tables. Ya’ think, Bryan? AEW had a still shot photo on TwitterX of Darby once he crashed through the table surrounded by the flames and it’s really a great shot. There was also a woman screaming in the background that the microphones picked up which really made it seem like a horror movie when Darby went into the flames. It was perfect timing

I loved the spot where Mox stapled Orange Cassidy’s hands to his pockets, and I also loved when Moxley went and got the pile of leftover weapons from the women’s Blood & Guts match and used the picture frame that Toni Storm had smashed in her face as a weapon. Also, was it just me or did they not show how Wheeler Yuta got the key from the referee? All of a sudden, he just had the key to the cage door, but I don’t think they ever showed him taking it.

My one real big complaint in both the Blood & Guts matches was that I feel like some things were missed. It drives me crazy when all of a sudden someone is bleeding, but they don’t show the move that caused them to bleed.

I really thought the last ten minutes of this match was really well done. I liked the chairs being pulled up to Mark Briscoe to the top of the cage. I thought that was a cool spot and I really thought Briscoe was going to jump off the top of that cage. I was shocked when it didn’t happen. The ending of this Blood & Guts was probably my favorite ending of any Blood & Guts match AEW has ever had. The ankle lock transitions by Kyle O’Reilly on Moxley were awesome. I thought Mox did an incredible job selling them and selling the tease of him tapping. He was in a torture chamber with that ankle lock and his facial expressions sold everything.

“Hangman” Adam Page (AEW World Heavyweight Champion) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs (AEW Trios Champion) – Dynamite

Putting a “no holds barred” match in between two Blood & Guts matches could have really put these guys in a tight spot where their match looked lessor or it could have given the crowd a little fatigue with the big, bold dangerous spots. This might have been my favorite match of the night though. Both guys looked awesome. Hangman continues to show he can have a match with any wrestler no matter what that wrestler’s style is.

I really appreciated Hangman and Hobbs utilizing both rings. I went to Blood & Guts in Boston two years ago and I was lucky enough to sit about 10 rows up in the loge section of the Boston Garden, so I had a great view of both rings. However, the people sitting on the floor on the far side of the arena away from the stage could not see any of the non-Blood & Guts matches because the wrestlers were only fighting in one ring. They actually started a chant of “We can’t see you!” This match obviously picked up once they left the ring, but I appreciated them using both rings for the short time they were in the ring.

The slam to the stairs by Hobbs to Hangman was brutal. I loved Hobbs telling Tony Schiavone that it was “his fault” for what Hobbs was doing to Hangman. I liked that call back to Hangman disguising himself as Schiavone to trick Samoa Joe. I think my tailbone felt that back body drop off the table that Hobbs took. He hit that floor so hard and bounced so hard off that floor. I know it’s a padded floor, but good god that had to have hurt his lower back.

Hangman taking the beer from the fan in the stands reminded me of the old Hangman taking beers from the crowd. Hangman also fired a garbage can off of Hobbs head and it shot right off Hobbs’s forehead so hard, it was like a cartoon or something the way it hit him. When they got into the stands and the fans started fleeing, it was like someone had pulled the fire alarm or something.

The ending of this match was awesome with Hangman smashing Hobbs in the face with his boot and Hobbs falling into the electrical table. I also really liked the lights flickering in the building once he hit the table. The post-match angle I thought was well done too. I like Hangman telling Samoa Joe that if he wanted a cage match “all you had to do was ask, dumbass” and Joe’s reaction to that, realizing the mistake he had made. Eddie Kingston hitting himself in the head with the chair in the ring was also very funny. Never change, Eddie, never change.

ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…

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Women’s Blood and Guts Match – Dynamite

Well, the women in this Blood & Guts match certainly got the memo to wear white to the ring, huh? You knew the blood was going to come fast and furious once they all hit the ring in white. Speaking of blood, Skye Blue was absolutely leaking five minutes into this match and it was really a sight to behold.

I am not squeamish when it comes to blood, but the way she was bleeding really made me cringe. I’m not sure if it was just a lack of experience or her just hitting the wrong spot on her head by mistake, but there was a point where I was like “this seems like a problem.” So, kudos to her for being in the match for that long the way she was bleeding. The 5-minute intervals in this match seemed like they turned into 2-minute intervals very quickly as the match went on also.

When Kris Statlander hit the ring and she got a very subdued reaction from the crowd for her entrance, I thought to myself “yikes, not good.” She got reactions once she was in the ring, but it came when she was using weapons and everyone was getting those reactions. I think AEW World Champion Mercedes Mone is on the horizon.

When Marina Shafir took her shoes off to go in to a ring covered in glass and thumbtacks (not that many thumbtacks though, because Jamie Hayter threw them all out of the ring by mistake), I thought it was maybe the dumbest thing I’ve seen in a wrestling ring in a long time. Then, later on in the match, that lunatic had my favorite spot in the match when she used the tape on her feet to have glass stick to them and used it to stomp on people. I thought that was such a unique spot; I really loved it.

Toni Storm came out looking maybe as insane as she’s ever looked and was clutching her pearls which I thought was just so perfect for her. I loved when she used her tape fists and covered them in glass as a throwback to her match with Mariah May. Storm also took a mirror to the face in this one that was a brutal spot. It made me say out loud “DAMN!”

I thought Harley Cameron had a great showing in this match, too. She was getting some of the biggest reactions from the crowd. Her hiding the brass knuckles under the Mercedes Mone puppet was such a great spot. Speaking of Mercedes, I respect her being like “sure I’ll do Blood and Guts, but I’m not bleeding, and I’ll go through a table, but that’ll be the end of my night.” I also liked the spot of using all her title belts as weapons. At least those belts had a purpose for once.

Julia Hart and Thekla crawling through the trusses of the cage was really cool and unique. I love seeing stuff I’ve never seen before in these types of matches. I know Jaime Hayter got a little banged up in this match and chipped some of her teeth. I thought for sure it happened when Mercedes Mone threw her out of the cage and down the stairs. She went flying down those stairs and really smashed the guardrail. It was a brutal looking spot.

One of my biggest complaints about the match was that AEW did the thing they do in these types of matches where people will be bleeding out of nowhere, but they don’t show how it happened. I want to see what caused the blood.

I liked the ending of this match, but I feel like the babyface quitting to save their friend is becoming overdone. I’m looking forward to Toni Storm getting her revenge, though. Overall, I applaud the women for going for it in this match.

RANDOM NOTES

– Pac’s new look is slowly growing on me. Slowly being the key word.

– I miss Christian.

– Daniel Garcia and Matt Menard were throwing hands to start off Collision this week. That is how you do a ringside brawl.