10 AEW Disappointments We Really Didn't See Coming

2. Blood & Guts

Chris Jericho MJF AEW Blood & Guts
AEW

This wasn't a f*ck up until it was.

Presented after a year of anticipation following the original pandemic-related cancellation, MJF's formation of The Pinnacle set the stage for a stable war with the babyface-turned Inner Circle in a Dynamite set to be the biggest of the Daily's Place era.

It started magnificently too. With the two rings and double cage serving as spectres for the nervy first hour, almost the entire second half of the show was donated to a wild brawl that managed to capture a sense of organic danger mainstream North American television wrestling had badly missed during WWE's monopoly years.

Just as it looked like the company had completely nailed their maiden effort, everything suddenly went very Sports Entertainment. A five-on-five stand-off was contrived and, in context, extremely silly. It's not as if they had a packed crowd to satiate, resulting in the spot feeling more about the spot than the fight that precluded it.

There was a tragic irony to the finish too - Jericho risked injury taking a fall from a cage, but it couldn't have looked less like he was in trouble than when he crashed through the cardboard. That faces trusted MJF not to push him at all was deflating and stupid too.

Not a complete failure but some way from a success, AEW have a harder sell for round two than they ever should have.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.