5 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts 2023 (Review)

2. The Good Of Blood & Guts

PAC Blood & Guts
AEW

Various moments within the Blood & Guts main event were so tremendous that it was easy to howl at the ingenuity of it all.

Nick Jackson's introduction was outstanding; the way in which he tweaked and laid out his signature hot tag spot to organically arrive at driving both Claudio and Moxley onto the glass was nothing short of expert plunder assembly. So often, these big set pieces are telegraphed. At no point did anything involving the weaponry feel imminent, obvious or contrived; every last big spot was linked together with the brilliance expected of this world-class fleet of talent.

The level of athleticism was unreal even by their standards; the body control of PAC to land that insane double foot stomp through the table from the cage ceiling was outrageous. While this review is critical of the match in places, it must be stressed that, when it was incredible, it was incredible.

In a very clever spot, after blasting Wheeler YUTA with a terrifying series of northern lights suplexes on the cage roof, Matt Jackson stuck around when YUTA, cowardly heel, ran down the structure. Matt had a bag of tacks with him and rained them down on the canvas. His Elite stablemates countered a dual powerbomb attempt by PAC and Claudio with a pair of back body drops onto the spikes. This tore the roof off the building, and trust the Young Bucks to intelligently craft a roof sequence without relying on the dismal, fake crash pad spot.

How was the match on the whole...?

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!