8 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts (29 Jun)
Blood & Guts II outdoes the first, Sammy Guevara plummets, Jade Cargill has had enough.
A second red-hot show in a row for All Elite Wrestling last night, with a fantastic, 11,000-strong Detroit crowd buoying the first Blood & Guts match to take place before a full audience 13 months after the original unravelled inside a half-empty Daily's Place.
Forbidden Door was the electric, buzz-generating pay-per-view it needed to be following a middling build ravaged not only by injuries, but rushed booking (under difficult circumstances, admittedly). Following it was an enormous stipulation-driven event that needed to at least outdo some of the original's wrongs while not coming off like a disappointing Anarchy in the Arena sequel. No small task, despite the obvious talent spread across the Jericho Appreciation Society, Blackpool Combat Club, and their Eddie Kingston-led associates.
In the end, this was a very, very good professional wrestling show. Everything that aired at least pushed its featured storyline forward in a meaningful and engaging way. Blood & Guts II occupied the entire second hour, but there was no shortage of material for fans to sink their teeth into elsewhere.
On a night where Sammy Guevara took an almighty dive, several wrestlers bled like pigs, Scorpio Sky's next TNT Title challenger was made official, and Jade Cargill went 34-0, AEW a second successive course-correcting card.
Let's light the fuse...