AEW Dynamite airs tonight (Nov. 4) with a live show emanating from VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. This is the third episode of Dynamite during the four week build to Full Gear, which takes place on November 14.
Tony Khan made the big mistake fans always complain about with Blood & Guts
Tonight’s episode of Dynamite features two Blood & Guts matches. This is AEW’s version of War Games, with two rings covered by a giant steel cage. The only way victory can be achieved is by submission or surrender. Part of the fun with this kind of gimmick is to see
what order the wrestlers for each team enter the cage before the match beyond gets going.
The men’s match features AEW World Champion Will Ospreay, Adam Copeland, TNT Champion Darby Allin, AEW World Tag Team Champions Young Bucks, and Steven Borden against Wardlow, Jake Doyle, Kevin Knight, AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada, Mark Davis, and Kyle Fletcher.
The women’s match features AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions Jamie Hayter & Alex Windsor, Willow Nightingale, Harley Cameron, TBS Champion Queen Aminata, and Kris Statlander against Julia Hart, Megan Bayne, Persephone, Thekla, Lena Kross, and Skye Blue.
One thing a lot of wrestling fans agree on is that brutal gimmick matches like War Games / Blood & Guts and Hell in a Cell shouldn’t happen just because the calendar says it’s that time of the year for one of these matches. The feud itself should be built up well enough where it makes sense in the story for the next major battle to happen inside a very dangerous cage with no way out.
With that in mind, tonight’s men’s Blood & Guts match was entirely put together on the October 21 episode of Dynamite. The Young Bucks got squashed out of nowhere by Don Callis Family members Davis and Doyle to kick off the show. Right after that, Fletcher and Knight defeated Ospreay and Copeland in a tag team match, with help from fellow Callis Family member Okada. Wardlow, Davis, and Doyle joined the ring for a group beatdown on the babyfaces until the Bucks, Darby, and Sting’s green son ran in for the save. Tonight’s Blood & Guts match featuring all 12 of these men (Team Ospreay vs. Team Callis) became official later in the show.
Overall, it was an entertaining angle, and a good attempt to put over Don’s stable as a major threat to create a star-driven Blood & Guts match out of thin air. But make no mistake about it, the only reason these 12 guys are doing a Blood & Guts match because AEW is running out of time to fit the gimmick onto the 2026 calendar, and not because there is a feud here that has reached a boiling point where some major issue must be settled inside the most dangerous match possible. I see fans complain about this all the time when it happens with War Games and Hell in a Cell, and rightfully so. I guess the pressing question is, how much does that criticism matter, if at all?
The build for tonight’s women’s Blood & Guts match is even shoddier. One week Divine Dominion and Triangle of Madness are fighting each other on Dynamite and the WrestleDream pre-show, the next week they are joining forces in a haphazard backstage brawl with Wrathlander and Brawling Birds. Willow joined the babyface side a few days later and voila, Blood & Guts became official. Persephone then lost the TBS title to Aminata and they were both added to Blood & Guts to give each team a sixth member, because why not?
Like usual with AEW, even when the build to a major match is rushed or non-existent, once the bell rings the action in the ring typically helps fans forget about it. But AEW does have stiff competition tonight in the form of WWE loading up NXT with John Cena, CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes, among others. A more compelling story behind these Blood & Guts matches would give wrestling fans a better reason to stick around and watch AEW instead of NXT tonight.
Which teams will win the men and women’s Blood & Guts matches? How many of the 24 wrestlers involved will spill their blood and guts on the ring mat? Which team members will be the ones who surrender? To what extreme will Adam Copeland go to after announcing his retirement in 2027? Is Steven Borden ready to handle this kind of match? Will Fletcher and Ospreay get through it still medically cleared to run their main event world title match at Full Gear? Tune into AEW’s Blood & Guts episode of Dynamite to find out.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Swerve Strickland and New Level are challenging Brodido and Hangman Page for the AEW world trios titles at Full Gear. Swerve is hell-bent on making it a Texas Death match, so he bloodied Bandido backstage and tore off his mask. If that’s not enough to convince Hangman’s team to accept the stip, what crazy, violent shit will Swerve do tonight to get a “yes” out of them? Are Kofi and Austin Creed in on it with him?
– The Death Riders and The Cut are going to war in Blood & Guts an Anarchy in the Arena match at Full Gear. Jon Moxley’s babyface squad might need some reinforcements after their one man wrecking crew Claudio Castagnoli was sent out on a stretcher last week by Jay White’s new heel stable. If The Conglomeration isn’t quite dangerous enough to join Mox’s team, have they instead considered hiring the Hurt Syndicate? What about bringing in Claudio’s former WWE teammate Sheamus?
– Mercedes Mone is defending the AEW women’s world title against Marina Shafir at Full Gear. The CEO was irate about Marina calling her a pussy last week. How will she react when Shafir does it again tonight?
– Ilja Dragunov takes exception to Tommaso Ciampa referring to himself as the greatest damn signing in AEW history. Is this issue turning into a three-way match with AEW National Champion Andrade at Full Gear?
– This weekend’s episode of Collision takes place on old man Jericho’s cruise. Will there be some kind of angle tonight that sets Jericho up for a major match on that show?
– Samoa Joe hinted at big changes coming to The Opps after HOOK’s failed run as leader. Will this issue come into play whenever “Jungle” Jack Perry gets his rematch against Joe?
– Motor City Machine Guns are up 2 to 1 in their best-of-five series of dream matches against FTR.However, Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler have a major advantage heading into Match Four due to their their post-match attack on Fright Night Dynamite. Is this all building to a decisive fifth match taking place at Full Gear?
– Where the f*** is Ricochet? AEW creative seems to have forgotten about him since he competed in Clockwork Carnage at WrestleDream.
What will you be looking for on Dynamite?
