10 Wrestling Photos Taken Moments Before Disaster

3. Chris Jericho, Meet Cardboard

"Me and Mick Foley were kinda the last two guys to take such a deadly fall..."

Well, not quite. 

The first AEW Blood & Guts match was trending in the right direction. The plunder wasn't too excessive. Sammy Guevara made exquisite use of the unique double ring set-up with his thrilling springboards. Santana going apesh*t with a fork was a very cool nod to Homicide's legendary appearance in the 2006 Cage of Death match, but he didn't just borrow the spot; before the awful finish, he imported the gruesome tone of what remains the best modern WarGames adaptation. 

And then the finish happened. 

The first Blood & Guts match was one of the most anticipated in modern wrestling history; it felt like the symbolic return of the real thing, after the first match was scrapped as a result of the pandemic. MJF escaped to the roof. Instantly, that feeling changed. Jericho followed. It took him what felt like 20 minutes. The in-ring action was immaterial, barely filmed. 

The Inner Circle surrendered; MJF didn't care, and carried out the threat of launching Jericho to the floor. In a dismal, insulting production gaffe - Jericho can't be blamed for landing on a crash pad - the cushioned fall was filmed in extreme close-up. It looked pathetic. They printed a metal effect on cardboard to make it seem like he'd fallen on the shoot stage!

Jericho's recent fall from grace must've been infinitely more painful.