AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts Review - July 24, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Will Ospreay Crashed MJF's AEW American Championship Celebration and Announced Their Rematch for All In

It's only been a few weeks but it's already been a lot better having MJF back in the heel role compared to whatever the hell he was doing when he first returned. This was the usual great promo from him. Debuting yet  another new belt obviously isn't necessary, but it does make sense for MJF's character to only want to represent America as AEW International Champion. By the way, will he officially be recognized as International Champion or American Champion during his reign? I'm glad Ospreay made it official that their rematch will happen on his home turf at All In.

FTW Champion Chris Jericho def. Minoru Suzuki in an FTW Rules Match

Suzuki has had so many big matches on AEW TV that have resulted in losses that it's almost impossible to take him seriously as a threat to anyone at this point, but at least the FTW Rules worked to his advantage. They had a solid brawl that the crowd was into. Suzuki attacked Jericho afterward and Katsuyori Shibata came to Suzuki's aid when Bryan Keith attempted to attack him. It seems like Jericho is feuding with the same handful of people and I really couldn't care less about any of it.

Britt Baker def. Hikaru Shida

Have these two actually not had a rematch since their last encounter at Double or Nothing three years ago? That's crazy if true. I wonder why Shida never got a rematch for the AEW Women's World Championship during Baker's reign. Nonetheless, it was nice to see them run it back and they had a quality contest. Post-match, Kamille finally debuted (she reportedly signed with AEW many months ago) as Mone's bodyguard. That's the perfect role for her and gets her in a prominent position from the get-go.

Pac def. Boulder

Pac earned a future opportunity at the AEW International (American?) title by winning that four-way a few weeks ago, but with MJF vs. Ospreay officially set for All In, I guess that confirms he won't be getting it in his home country. It'd be a real bummer if he wasn't on the card in some capacity considering he had to miss last year's installment due to injury. Maybe he can face a debuting Ricochet instead? Oh, and this was a straightforward squash for Pac as it should have been.

Mariah May def. Kaitland Alexis

This was a quick showcase that was designed to be the debut of the true Mariah May, not the Toni Storm cosplay character he's been portraying pretty much since she debuted in AEW. Despite that, she still tried to send a message to Storm by beating Alexis with Storm's signature moves. Storm and May brawled afterward before being broken up by security. I hope Storm can stay serious in their buildup to their bout seeing as how she should be hellbent on getting revenge.

Team AEW (Darby Allin, AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe and The Acclaimed) def. "Hangman" Adam Page and The Elite (AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks, AEW TNT Champion Jack Perry and AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada) in a Blood and Guts Match

Honestly, all of the Blood and Guts matches blend together for me (I was there for last year's in Boston and don't remember a majority of it), but I will say this delivered as it normally does as a violent spectacle. They pulled off some insane spots that weren't my cup of tea, but it's the sort of stuff you need to do in a match called Blood and Guts if you want the stipulation to feel worthwhile. The crowd loved all of it, that's for sure. The storytelling was well done with Page and Strickland rekindling their rivalry and The Elite taking the cowardly way out by simply quitting and awarding Allin an AEW TNT Championship shot at All In in the process.

Overall Show

I understand why the Pac squash happened, but it didn't need to happen. The same can be said about Jericho vs. Suzuki, but I've seen worse with the Learning Tree nonsense. All in all, it was a strong edition of Dynamite. You can argue that it was a one-match show with Blood and Guts in the main event, but the first hour was enjoyable, too. Even the short backstage convo with Bryan Danielson and Renee Paquette was good. Plus, we're getting a better idea each week of what the All In card will consist of, an improvement over last year's rushed build.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews