The bloodiest, gutsiest show of the calendar year has come and gone. The Blood & Guts edition of "AEW Dynamite" took place in the historic Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC, home of Starrcade and other famous WCW and NWA moments. It was a simple show, with just two Blood & Guts matches and a Falls Count Anywhere Match between Powerhouse Hobbs and AEW World Champion Hangman Page. Despite the light card, there was still plenty to love and plenty to hate.
This will not get heavy into the comings-and-goings of the event, as that has been handily taken care of over on the results page. Instead, we're going to get deep in our feelings and talk about the good, the bad, and the downright nasty of the 2025 edition of Blood & Guts. From the actual Blood & Guts matches themselves, there was plenty to love, but the booking, the placement, and the lack of trust in a Women's Blood & Guts Match left a bad taste in some writers' mouths, and for that matter, the sandwiching of the AEW World Champion in the middle of the marathon affair.
Enough bloviating, let's get into everything the Wrestling Inc. Staff loved and hated from this year's installment of Blood & Guts.
From top to bottom, I thought that this was one of the best episodes of "Dynamite" that AEW has put out in quite a long time (something that I don't say lightly). One thing still managed to stand out above everything else for me, though, and that was the Women's Blood & Guts Match.
While I did think that the Men's Blood & Guts Match was also quite enjoyable to watch, the Women's Blood & Guts was still the better of the two in my opinion. From the beginning to the end, everyone who took part in their match did their part to make sure that the action was fast paced and non-stop throughout the entire contest to make for a very interesting and exciting watch. There was a plethora of incredibly innovative and creative spots from Julia Hart and Thekla sliding out from the scaffolding of the cage to the use of more uncommon weapons, such as a high heel and a mirror, to Kris Statlander sending herself and Mercedes Mone crashing through a table full of belts off the scaffolding.
There also could not have been a more perfect ending to this match with Toni Storm trapped by Triangle Of Madness, being forced to verbally surrender in order to save Mina Shirakawa from being hit with the TBS Championship belt at the hands of Megan Bayne. It was historic and memorable for all the right reasons, whilst acting as a prime example of why the women in AEW deserve to have more air time across the board to show off what they can truly do.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I understand that the women's Blood & Guts match was plagued by injuries, with Queen Aminata and Penelope Ford unable to compete in the match, and the teams weren't even set for the longest time after Jamie Hayter initially made the challenge to the Triangle of Madness on an episode of "AEW Collision" the entire way back at the end of September. However, this match was historic and a huge win in the annals of AEW, and I thought it outshined the men's Blood & Guts match by a mile.
I didn't think there was much to hate at all on this special edition of "Dynamite," which really felt more like a short pay-per-view rather than an extended weekly show, but I really thought that AEW could have just let the women have this. And, by "this," I mean letting them have the main event spot, or truthfully, not booking a men's Blood & Guts match at all and letting them shine for once. I'll admit, I ended up enjoying the men's match more than I thought I would by the end of it, but it started so much slower than the women's match.
The women's match was balls-to-the-wall almost immediately, and the spots and big moments just kept coming, whereas in the men's match, things didn't feel like they kicked off until Jon Moxley entered the fray. Sure, the women's bout was a bit sloppy at the beginning, and I kind of blame the camera work a bit, and noticed it during some of Harley Cameron's strikes, but when all the competitors were in the ring, it was the best kind of chaos that should have been highlighted in the main event. Sure, the women didn't have a flaming table spot, but there was Muppet Mone hiding some brass knuckles!
In all seriousness, I just thought the women's match was a lot better and had some more star power behind it. You had TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, AEW Women's World Champion Kris Statlander, and "Timeless" Toni Storm, who is a major draw whether she's holding a title or not. I don't think fans would have been upset at all if they got the main event spot. There was also a lot of storytelling throughout the match when it comes to the AEW Women's Tag Team Championship tournament, as well, so there were more stakes and implications for this Blood & Guts match than there were for the men's, in my humble opinion, at least.
While I really enjoyed both matches, the only thing I can complain about was the fact the women didn't get the top spot for such a historic match when they more than delivered.
Written by Daisy Ruth
On paper, a Falls Count Anywhere match between Hangman Page and Powerhouse Hobbs sounds good enough to steal any AEW show, and potentially even main event a couple of them. However, they were actually given the gargantuan task of following the women's Blood and Guts match, which went at such a frantic pace that this could have ended up being the spot where fans took a breather. That isn't what happened, and on a night where the two main attractions saw the stars of AEW confined inside a gigantic steel cage, Hangman and Hobbs brought the action to the feet of those in attendance.
Did you honestly think that Hangman Page, the AEW Men's World Champion who won the title in a bloody Texas Death Match was going to just coast through a match like this? Of course he wasn't. He knew the task at hand and how much of a threat Hobbs is and wasn't going to let up for a second. Speaking of Hobbs, ever since he's transitioned back into a heel role, he has quickly become someone who, once his time in The Opps is over, will likely shoot up the card if he keeps up this sort of form because that man is a beast.
The key to making this match such a success was the point I mentioned before. The vast majority of the action tonight took place inside Blood and Guts and the two rings, so having a Falls Count Anywhere match in between them was, in my view at least, a brilliant piece of planning. The rings are going to get used to death all night, so why bother using them when you can pin someone in the crowd? That is what made this match work.
As for the match itself, it didn't need to be a bloodbath as we already had one of those and were getting another one later, it just needed to be exciting. God bless Powerhouse Hobbs for taking a back body drop off of the announce table, I sincerely hope you tailbone is in one piece because mine wouldn't be. The finishing spot caught me completely off guard because they really didn't need to blow Hobbs up like that, but it was cartoonish enough to be enjoyable and dangerous enough to make you think "man, Hobbs has taken some BUMPS this evening."
Overall, you can technically say that this is the worst match on the show, but that doesn't make it bad by any stretch. It's an easy watch filled with exciting moments that was exactly the right change of pace the crowd needed after the first Blood and Guts match.
Written by Sam Palmer
Powerhouse Hobbs got the chance to go toe-to-toe with AEW World Champion Hangman Page, and the two men nearly killed each other for what was, in essence, a bathroom break between Blood & Guts matches. Hobbs took a vicious bump off the announce table and was then knocked off a balcony and through pyro-laden electronics, all while fans took one last shot at buying merch and stocking up on beer before the main event. It was a woefully ignoble place for the world champion, especially one that seemed to take such a physical toll on Hobbs.
It's not like wrestlers will magically brush off the horrendous bumps like the ones Hobbs took during the glorified p***-break match, and while it will make me sound like an old fuddy-duddy, they should be saved for moments that matter a hell of a lot more than Hangman Page getting momentum ahead of a PPV match. Hell, if anything, Hobbs should probably be in the PPV match by now, but that's an entirely different conversation.
Blood & Guts probably could've gotten away with being a two-match show, or at the very least, the third match could've been something a bit less weighty. The entire middle section of the show felt like killing time, and "killing time" is the last thing that should ever be said about a Powerhouse Hobbs/Hangman Page Falls Count Anywhere Match.
Written by Ross Berman
The main event had the unenviable task of trying to set itself apart from the Women's Blood & Guts match that opened the show, but when all was said and done, the Men's Blood & Guts match accomplished what it set out to do and then some to close what could really be described as the perfect weekly episode.
Where the Women's match was gripping from the get-go, fast-paced with seemingly never-ending action and something to draw your eyes to, the Men's match told a slow and gradual build into its finale. Mark Briscoe was attacked by the Don Callis Family backstage, tying into his upcoming TNT Championship match with Kyle Fletcher, and appeared to be out of the match entirely as each and every one made their entrances after him, and the bell rang. And much of the bout in the early stages saw the Death Riders asserting dominance and literally throwing their opponents around the rings with Roderick Strong and Orange Cassidy being sent clattering down between the ring and the cage.
Jon Moxley was not the last man to enter for his team, as one would have expected, instead making a beeline for Darby Allin and then doing a lot of posing while his group dismantled him. Briscoe eventually ran down the ramp and forced his way back into the match before taking the fight to Wheeler Yuta on top of the cage. Allin was taken out of the equation with the interfering Gabe Kidd, Death Riders' NJPW mercenary, armed with a taser; Kidd would then light a table on fire as PAC and Allin fought atop a stage set-up, with PAC sending Allin through the burning table. A little bit of catharsis came as Briscoe then put PAC through a table.
Cassidy had his hands stapled within his pockets, paid off as he finally broke back into the fold and tore his hands from said pockets. He and Strong then led the ultimate fight back against the Riders still in the ring, putting them through some very unforgiving tables as Moxley was cinched into a submission by Kyle O'Reilly, the man who arguably would have made Moxley tap when they met in singles action weeks ago, his skin stained with his blood to the extent he could pass as a Tiefling. And despite Moxley's best attempts, there would be no escape and no reinforcements, so he tapped out. Moxley quit yet again. It paid off that vein that had been running since WrestleDream, it paid off O'Reilly's claim that he could submit the "Purveyor of Violence," and it paid off an otherwise really, really fun match and show.
Written by Max Everett
On a night that was all killer and no filler from a match standpoint, there did need to be some down time and that came in the form of the segment featuring the legendary Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. It was announced on the November 8 episode of "AEW Collision" that Steamboat and Ric Flair would both be in attendance for the Blood and Guts edition of "AEW Dynamite." No one knew whether they would be doing a promo, sitting at ringside, or going rogue and trying to defeat the Death Riders, but they were going to be there...well, one of them was.
At the time of writing, no one really knows why Ric Flair never made an appearance tonight. He was namedropped by Dax Harwood, but outside of that everyone kind of went "oh, well, I guess we can move on to the main event, but wasn't Ric meant to be here?"
If anything, Flair actually dodged a bullet by not appearing tonight because this segment was borderline mute-worthy. Obviously, Steamboat coming out to a hero's welcome was lovely, even if he pointed out a sign in the crowd that was definitely made with AI but he didn't have his glasses on so I'll give him a pass. With that said, this segment didn't really accomplish anything. FTR came out to get some heat, which is their jobs after all, but it's becoming a recurring theme in FTR segments where they come out, insult whoever the babyface is in the ring (sometimes it's just them insulting the crowd), and ending up in a pull apart brawl or a little skirmish with whoever they'll be facing on the upcoming pay-per-view.
That was basically what this was; it was paint-by-numbers. Cash Wheeler mentions that Steamboat chose FTR to be his tag team partners for his retirement match in 2022, while Dax mentions that Steamboat helped train him and give him advice at a young age, but it just devolves into calling Steamboat stupid, trying to lay him out for good, and Brodido end up making the save to stand tall to the delight of the Greensboro fans. That delight was probably a mixture of them seeing the very over AEW Tag Team Champions, and the fact that the segment had finally ended.
To put it simply, this segment really didn't need to be on tonight's show. Hate is a strong word, so I can't really say I hated it; I just felt nothing from it, which is arguably worse. FTR said some things, Steamboat got a nice pop, and Brodido got to make an appearance. Not poor, just a bit bland compared to the rest of the show.
Written by Sam Palmer
