SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
There was blood. And all the wrestlers certainly had guts.
HITS
WOMEN’S BLOOD & GUTS MATCH
They all came to fight and they all came to bleed.
This one had it all: Guitars, ukuleles, kendo sticks, light tubes, glass, barbed wire weapons, and Lego (“Toy bricks, Tony, toy bricks. Toy bricks, Taz, toy bricks!”)
I enjoyed the women’s B&G a little bit more than the men’s, though both were enjoyable for what they were. All of the women worked hard and gave it everything they had to entertain the viewers. They wanted to set a standard for what B&G was all about and I think they did a good job making sure their match was going to be just as memorable as the men’s.
Megan Bayne was the standout as far as being the poster child for future highlight packages, taking the title from Skye Blue who played that role a year ago.
The babyfaces winning made sense because this one did not have the storyline ramifications that the men’s match had. The only major narrative was Persephone wanting revenge on Queen Aminata. The upcoming tag match between members of the babyface team wasn’t much of a factor.
MEN’S BLOOD & GUTS MATCH
This match had a lot more storyline moments where nearly all of the participants had a beef with someone on the opposing team. That made for a lot of intensity between all of them. It was a little slower to get going, but once Adam Copeland entered, it seemed to take things up a notch and the crowd got into it more from that point on.
It was very on-brand for Kazuchika Okada to enter the ring with a leaf blower to get rid of all the tacks (well, all of the tacks that were not in the back of Steven Borden). It’s perfect for Okada’s character that he has no interest in much of the hardcore aspects of this battle. That said, he had no problem wrapping a chain around the neck of Copeland at the end.
Most of the match had the typical B&G elements, and the exploding backpack and chair actually worked this time for me. I know Kevin Knight would want that Coast to Coast back, but everything can’t be perfect.
I think for most of the match, much of the viewing audience was just wondering what Darby Allin was going to do at the end and you could see it coming once he climbed to the top with Wardlow.
It was actually refreshing to see the heels win this one pretty decisively and it worked with the stories they are telling. For years, the Callis Family has been a group that you’d think could be dominant but would always come up short. This is the first time they are making them really look strong for a longer period of time. Do I think they’ll win all the titles at Full Gear? No, but I do like this version of the Family where they really seem like a group you don’t want to mess with.
It was also a nice touch to see Ospreay questioning why Copeland would surrender in the final moments of the show. They are building a match between those two for the future and it keeps a bit of contention between them so when they are ready to pull the trigger on that match, there is plenty of history to pull from.
QUICK HITS
– I like the new Nick Wayne vignettes. If they were going to have him knock off Chris Jericho multiple times, you want it to be a big deal and a stepping stone for him and it’s off to a good start. The fans are buying into it as well and Wayne is doing a better job controlling his over-the-top persona and becoming an arrogant young man with a punchable face.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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MISSES
THE ROAD TO TEXAS DEATH
First of all, there is already going to be Anarchy in the Arena at Full Gear so you don’t need another hardcore match.
Most importantly, this story makes no sense. After what we saw a week ago, there is NO logical reason for Bandido to attack Kofi. None. Swerve was the one who attacked him last week. Kofi and Creed were in the ring explaining that they liked all those guys. Bandido should be looking to fight Swerve and Swerve only.
This is something AEW rarely does, which is to insult the viewers’ intelligence. They deserve to be called out when they do this.
I don’t think this feud called for a hardcore match at all, but if they were going to do it, they needed to come up with a better story to get us there.
(Please also check out the weekly free podcast I’m part of, “The All Elite Conversation Club” that drops on Fridays on the PWTorch Dailycast lineup. Joel Dehnel and I have a great time breaking down all things AEW. Search “pwtorch” on your podcast app to subscribe. Send questions and comments to allelitecc@gmail.com.)
