New AEW International Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman AEW Blood & Guts 2024 with a very skewed view of last week’s championship match. If you believe his revisionist history, MJF defeated Ospreay in minutes without breaking a sweat. He then trashes the concept of an International Championship by taking a page out of Alundra Blaze’s playbook, dropping the championship in a trash can. He then continues to disparage the live crowd while unveiling the AEW American Championship, with streamers and fanfare, including an American flag with his face replacing the stars.
However, the gloating and disparaging remarks towards Ospreay, including comments towards his recently deceased grandmother are interrupted by a charging Ospreay. He informs everyone he’s got his rematch signed for All In. He retrieves the AEW International Championship from the trash can.
Well, that took a wild turn. MJF is vicious on the mic and it is a work of art. He remarks about Ospreay flaking out from the Tiger Driver is going to be a focal point in the next month. I imagine this could be a stipulation if MJF wins the “American Championship” sticks around.
Backstage: Referee Bryce Remsberg walks into the locker room of The Young Bucks who apparently beat up Christopher Daniels? Welp, they do the coin toss over the lifeless corpse and Bucks gain the advantage. Oh wait, it was a double-sided coin.
Meh. That wasn’t necessary..
Chris Jericho retains the FTW Championship against Minoru Suzuki
“Chop Forever”
This was a very long chop-fest, and I am convinced Suzuki is insane and Jericho is legit hurt. Suzuki never budged, while Jericho winds up busted open bloody chested, and badly. It took a series of cheap shots, consisting of an eye rake, low blow, and then the Judas Effect.
It wasn’t pretty and wasn’t meant to be. Once again, Jericho is beaten to a pulp but yet somehow survives as champion with underhanded tactics.
Post match, the rest of Jericho’s stable ambushed Suzuki, but were run off by Katsuyori Shibata.
Backstage, Bryan Danielson has a personal interview with Renee Paquette, discussing how he is approaching the chance to become AEW World Champion. This is politely interrupted by Jeff Jarrett who seems to be taking a mentor, coach-type role of questioning Danielson’s resolve and motivate him for the biggest and probably last chance.
The camerawork was phenomenal. Also, Jarrett comes off as a father-like figure for Danielson, his tone of voice, facial expressions, and cautiousness spoke volumes. You know something, I like this version of Double J.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. defeated Hikaru Shida
This took me back a few years. Very good match, both continue to work very well together. This was the traditional wrestling match, no gimmicks here. Solid match, if Dr. Baker had not just returned, this could have gone either way, but booking a win was the most clear direction. After the match, Mercedes Mone taunted her, telling us there will be no TBS Championship on the line, and just then, Kamille makes her AEW debut by ambushing Baker, aligning with Mone.
Backstage: The Patriarchy gloat about their Trios Championship win on Collision. Nick Wayne has entry into the Royal Rampage, but confronts a lingering Kip Sabian (yay!) who is also in the match. Nick Wayne takes an extra shot saying no one cares about Kip’s dead father.
Ouch.
If this gets Kip Sabian back on TV, then I’ll take it. The guy is uber-talented and for the life of me I can’t fathom why he hasn’t been used when available.
PAC defeated Boulder of the Iron Savages
Boulder played up the role of big beefy giant, and PAC mauled him.
Mariah May defeated Local Enhancement Talent
Squash. A vicious one too. Toni Storm surprises us all with a ring crew disguise and attacks Mariah! The referees keep them apart as Storm tells May she is ready to die, and questions whether Mariah is too.
Holy crap their match at All In might steal the show. There is no denying the build for each match at Wembley Stadium has been building for months and the best ongoing stories yet. This is what happens when you space out pay-per-views and do not, I repeat, do NOT have monthly events.
Team AEW defeated The Elite
Why do you have picture-in-picture at 9:56?! WHY!? I will never understand the placements of the commercials. That’s why I won’t quit my day job.
A bloody mess indeed. Mark Briscoe is the MVP in my opinion. A well-paced carnage-fest. Some ridiculous spots featuring Bowens getting sandwiched in barbed-wire, then plowed through double-stacked tables. Later on, everyone on The Elite had staple guns, taking turns attacking Swerve, who wound up laughing it off and nailed each one. The best of those, Okada flipping off Swerve, who then used the staple gun on his finger! Darby Allin hits a coffin drop off by hanging from the ceiling of the cage. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t meant to be a technical masterpiece, it’s meant to just throw it all out the window and put on a fun show. They succeeded. It’s interesting how two weeks in a row, we get only a few matches and segments, yet again, the quality over quantity prevails again.
Solid B+ show from AEW. I’m getting hyped for All In. Which means they are succeeding.
