AEW Blood and Guts

Blood and Guts was a scheduled professional wrestling television special episode to be produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It was previously scheduled to air live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on TNT on March 25, 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was to feature the first-ever Blood and Guts match, which was originally announced to have Matt Hardy (replacing a then-injured Nick Jackson) team with The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega, and Matt Jackson) to face The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz).

Blood and Guts
Original promotional poster featuring The Inner Circle and The Elite
PromotionAll Elite Wrestling
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Production

Background

On July 25, 2019, professional wrestling promotion WWE conducted a conference call as a publicly traded company to announce its second-quarter fiscal year 2019 results. During the call, Eric Katz of Wolfe Research, LLC, asked WWE Chief Executive Officer Vince McMahon questions regarding naming Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman as Executive Directors to WWE and its relationship to the future of WWE content, especially with stricter Broadcast Standards and Practices at the Fox network for SmackDown's upcoming move to broadcast television. McMahon responded to Katz's question:

We're going to be a bit edgier, but still remain in the PG environment. We just haven't come anywhere close actually to going into another level. So that will be something we'll do in terms of direction of content, more controversy, better storylines, et cetera. But at the same time, we're not going to go back to the Attitude Era, and we're not going to do blood and guts and things of that nature such as being done on perhaps a new potential competitor. We're just not going to go back to that gory crap that we graduated from. And again, a more sophisticated product, again, attracting much better writers and attracting better management, and things of that nature. So again, as I said, I feel really good about it.[1][2]

The term "blood and guts" used by McMahon was perceived as a reference to rival wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW).[3] On November 13, 2019, AEW filed a trademark for "Blood and Guts," a play on McMahon's term. During Revolution on February 29, 2020, AEW announced that the March 25 episode of Dynamite would be subtitled Blood and Guts, and feature the promotion's first WarGames match, but called a "Blood and Guts match" since the WarGames trademark is owned by WWE. The WarGames match features two rings enclosed by a steel cage and was developed by wrestler Virgil Runnels, better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, the father of AEW executive vice president and in-ring talent Cody.[4][5]

The event was originally scheduled to take place on March 25, 2020 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but was moved to an undisclosed location due to concerns stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7] On March 20, AEW President and CEO Tony Khan announced that the event had been postponed, stating that Blood and Guts would "happen when the time is right" and that a regular episode of Dynamite would instead air on March 25.[8]

Storylines

Blood and Guts will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[9] Storylines are produced on AEW's weekly shows Dynamite and Dark and The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.

Following the announcement of Blood and Guts and the namesake match, on March 8, AEW announced The Elite, composed of Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) would face The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz) in the match.[10] However, Nick Jackson was attacked backstage by The Inner Circle on the March 11 episode of Dynamite, injuring him indefinitely and taking him out of the match (the character was written out of the storyline, as Nick Jackson legitimately entered paternity leave, as his wife was expecting their third child).[11] On the March 18 episode of Dynamite, The Elite revealed that the debuting Matt Hardy would take Jackson's place in the match.[12] The rules for the Blood and Guts match are based on the classic WarGames format from Jim Crockett Promotions, and not the modern WWE format. The notable format differences between the classic Crockett rules and the modern WWE rules are an enclosed cage with a roof (which was removed in modern versions) and the match can only be won with a submission or surrender. Like the classic Crockett format, a pin situation is not a win condition.[11]

With the postponement of the event, the teams originally announced for the Blood and Guts match (although with a returning Nick Jackson on The Elite's team instead of Cody) instead faced off in a Stadium Stampede match at Double or Nothing on May 23, 2020. Since then, Matt Hardy and the members of The Elite have mostly gone their separate ways; Hardy had a feud with Sammy Guevara before becoming a mentor to Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen), Adam Page was kicked out of The Elite, Cody rarely teams with the others, and Kenny Omega turned heel. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) remain a team, as does The Inner Circle, which gained two new members in MJF and Wardlow.

Matches
No. Matches* Stipulations
1 Matt Hardy and The Elite (Adam Page, Cody, Kenny Omega, and Matt Jackson) vs. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz) Blood and Guts match[10]
  • *Card subject to change

See also

References
  1. "World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Q2 FY19 Earnings Call". Webcasts.com. Webcasts.com. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  2. The Motley Fool (31 July 2019). "World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (WWE) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  3. https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/27427663/what-need-know-nxt-move-usa-network
  4. Casey, Connor (February 29, 2020). "AEW Revives WarGames, Takes a Shot at WWE With AEW: Blood & Guts". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  5. Lambert, Jeremy (February 29, 2020). "AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts Announced For March 25, WarGames Style Match To Be Featured". Fightful. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  6. "AEW DYNAMITE Location Changes". All Elite Wrestling. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  7. Dominguez, Noah (March 12, 2020). "AEW Announces Venue Changes, Including Blood & Guts Show, Due to COVID-19". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  8. AEW Staff (March 20, 2020). "Message From AEW President & CEO Tony Khan". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  9. Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  10. Rose, Bryan (March 8, 2020). "The Elite to face Inner Circle in AEW Blood & Guts match". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  11. Powell, Jason (March 11, 2020). "3/11 AEW Dynamite TV results: Powell's live review of Hangman Page and a mystery partner vs. Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara, Cody vs. Ortiz, MJF, The Butcher, and The Blade vs. Jurassic Express, "Death Triangle" Pac, Pentagon, and Fenix vs. Private Party and Joey Janela". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  12. Powell, Jason (March 18, 2020). "3/18 AEW Dynamite TV results: Barnett's live review of The Exalted One's reveal, The Elite vs. The Inner Circle in a six-man tag match for the man advantage in the Blood & Guts match, Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix vs. Best Friends, The Butcher and The Blade vs. Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
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