Adam Page, Jack Perry, Kazuchika Okada, Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson vs. Anthony Bowens, Darby Allin, Mark Briscoe, Max Caster & Swerve Strickland

[6.0] "This was an enjoyable blood and guts, some moments were enjoyable but some moments weren't enjoyable. The story going into this wasn't the greatest, I feel like outta all the storylines going into blood and guts, this was the worst one. The in-ring action itself somewhat saved this from being garbage. The staple gun segment was actually both brutal and funny, especially when Okada gave the finger and Swerve stapled his finger. The one moment I hated and I always will was the unprotected chair shot Mark gave to Jack, that shouldn't have been approved at all, or ever been a thought."

[8.0] "[4.0*] I do not know if the best Blood & Guts was this one or the 2022 one, but this shit over delivered a lot. Of course it had some things I dislike, such as the Bucks using a mic to do melodrama with Hanger at the middle of the match, this is a thing from the modern wrestling that I just do not get, I do not think it is good storytelling or anything like that, but even with that, I can understand. It made sense with the story (but it was bad). Bowens was my MVP, he went all in on the hardcore stipulation and took some ridiculous bumps such as the slam on the barbed wire table and the big bump off the cage. Darby was awesome too as always and very creative, as much as I thought the ending was fucking weak. Okada and Caster were clearly the worst ones on the match but while Okada looks beast doing it, Caster looks like the idiot that he is. Swerve had a godly presentation and his hot comeback sequence with the stapler was divine, one of the best moments of the match. Overall I liked it a lot, this was the B&G Match with the most things that I love but also the one with most things that I hate. On balance, there were a lot more things to cheer than to boo and it builded a ton of stories for All In. Successful match."

[2.0] "Weakest Blood and Guts so far with a really terrible build and no real stakes whatsoever. The ending that didn't make sense back then and makes even less sense now. AEW fell into the same trap that WWE did with hell in a cell where this match type has to happen at a specific time period instead of rivalries developing naturally and reaching their conclusion as expected in this type of match. However now every year we have to do this match between June-July even though we totally don't have to and it could happen at any time. Lame as hell. Aside from a couple of cool hardcore spots which have blended so much with the rest of the cool hardcore spots that happen almost weekly on AEW, the only thing that was cool was the sequence between Swerve and Hangman which played into their heated feud."

[9.0] "Think I enjoyed this more than most. It was a lot of fun. Darby was my MVP, and that coffin drop was NASTY. Hangman and Swerve's staredown was hella cool, and was so logical that Hangman didn't come out when he was meant to and instead attacked Swerve. The ending made sense because ofc the Bucks don't wanna see Perry on fire."

[8.0] "This is a match that's lots of fun to rewatch and is pretty fast flowing. Although it has a number of memorable moments and almost all of the competitors shone through, my favourite part is by far Swerve's comeback after being attacked by the Elite with the staple guns; Such a cool moment and it made him look like a superhero as someone else said. Other than that, the ending with Perry almost looking like Jesus on the Cross, with Darby threatening to set him on fire and his remaining unfazed was quite nuts too. It's a match worth the time imo and even if you don't know the stories going into it, you can still enjoy the action."

[9.0] "This was SO fun and SO memorable and brought me back to some of New Japans best shows in the late 2010's with their Multi-person matches that did such a good job of keeping the crowd entertained while protecting everyone's stories and gently progressing them forward. This was excellently wrestled, well executed, and a terrific TV match"

[9.0] "Great match. It was a fantastic one with very good hardcore wrestling. Their psychology was not so good in this match, especially darby should have sold some more. Page and Swerve's storytelling was good here, and everybody followed their role so cool. (****1/2)"

[7.0] "I mean, how fun was this? Swerve looked like an absolute killer. Darby and Briscoe were maniacs. Hangman progressed his story exactly as needed. Jack taking awesome bumps and creating some pretty iconic imagery. The 49 minutes here felt more like 10."

[8.0] "That was a good Blood & Guts match, but it had a lot of ups and downs, I have mixed feelings about several things here, but I definitely enjoyed most of it. Previous in the episode, The Elite "won" the coin toss and gained the advantage, and the match began with Jack and Darby, the two youngest and craziest dudes on each team, followed by Young Bucks and Mark Briscoe. I've liked the beginning, in a lot of moments there wasn't much action and they were just beating whoever was in the minority, but when Mark Briscoe came and had his moment the match improved a lot, he's one of the best wrestlers in the world. Kazuchika Okada was in the match, collecting another fat paycheck and doing nothing, not a single bump or dangerous spot done or taken, can't judge him. And I thought the match was pretty cool, they mixed well some old-school War Games style with modern day spots, the match had almost 50-minutes and didn't looked long or tiring at all, even the more dead or PiP moments were easy to watch, the pace was pretty good. Unfortunately it had a lot of disappointing things as well, the lineup and the storyline were disappointing, but everyone knew that previous to the match, and I think it affected the match in a way that they couldn't made people interested enough about the stakes in the match, like, Team AEW won, and now? And if Team Elite had won? I don't think it would change anything and that's why they couldn't take the match to the next level, it was just a very good match, but will not be remembered. Darby Allin said before the match he had crazy things planned, couldn't see that, he was great as always, but nothing mind-blowing, and the Swerve/Hangman story was the peak of the match for sure, their hatred is unbelievably and their story is the best of the company since late 2023 by far, I had goosebumps when they were at each side of the ring and had a staredown. I'm not a huge fan of talking angles during matches, and when the Young Buck scolded Hangman it was ok, but the ending stretch was pretty lame in my opinion, with Darby setting up a Wembley match against Jack... I mean, that's it? The finale of your great Blood & Guts is a setup for a TNT Title match? It's not big enough. Bowens took the biggest bump but I thought it was awkward, didn't had enough anticipation and was too easy, it looked like they just did because they had to, didn't meant nothing, and consequently it wasn't huge enough to make people go mad about it. The Young Bucks briefcase was another hole, I thought it would be something really important, but they left the briefcases there and at the end of the match, Team AEW (? ) opened and handcuffed Jack... just brilliant, they brought a briefcase, didn't used and lost the match because of it. That's it, a lot of positives but also a good amount of negatives, this match was enjoyable most of time and had really satisfying moments, but when it came to details and well thought angles, the creativity was poor, I've missed near finishes here, it became an I Quit match, when it shouldn't - {***3/4}"

[9.0] "Another convoluted spotfest from our EVPs, but way less convoluted than the Anarchy in the Arena. But honestly, this was very fun. The match itself was interesting and surprisingly it was used very well to build stories between the participants, and it served to advance 3 feuds (Bucks vs The Acclaimed, Hangman vs Swerve and Darby vs Perry). There were a lot of amazing moments, and all of my favorites involved Darby Allin and Mark Briscoe, who were the MVPs of the match in my opinion. The ending was unexpected, and technically Darby already set Perry on fire once, so it wouldn't be that much of a big deal if he did it again, but it was still fun. The only parts i didn't really like were the interferences and the staple spot."

[7.0] "Probably would've ranked it a point higher if the ending didn't feel a bit abrupt, but still... good fun. LOLed at Swerve staple-gunning Okada in the middle finger..."

[7.0] "I'd say that this was one of the less interesting Blood and Guts matches in AEW's history, but it was still a very enjoyable spectacle. Hangman and Swerve were the highlights for me."

[7.0] "Extremely poorly built, with very little connection between the participants: came off heatless at times. Swerve/Hangman was the saving grace of this match but it only took a small portion of this match so it doesnt make this great. Extremely flat finish and unclear stakes. Some fun spots here and there but it dragged a lot early on"

[6.0] "First of all, I really like how this time the Blood & Guts match was not another match that settles a simple "we hate each other a lot" feud but fueled an overall evil corporation vs. blue collar working men story. You still had Swerve vs. Hangman for the blood feud part, so a little bit for everyone in this one. The match itself was not bad but it had several moments were nothing happened and people just stood around and rested/waited. Maybe I personally am just kind of tired of the Wargames concept with the same formula (face has advantage, heel gets the 2 on 1, faces make comeback, heel gets the 3 on 2, repeat). The last of those kinds of matches also did not click for me that much. This one also went to long to keep me entertained throughout and a cagematch should be a cagematch with no one leaving the cage during the match. Also not to hot about the finish. The "someone quits for the sake of their teammate" seems to be the only finish in Blood & Guts matches. Especially weird if the heel gets my sympathy because the face acts like an absolute madman. Some people complained about the chairshot to the head and I get why. I don't like those as well but in this case it was not the hardest shot and the chair was as gimmicked as it can get. I just feel like they wasted that spot inbetween Darby looking for something under the ring. No real build, just the chairshot out of nowhere. Still a fun main event but just to many bits and pieces for me that did not land."

[10.0] "My second favorite match from last week's extremely full AEW/ROH schedule, slightly behind Athena/Aminata and just ahead of Hirsch/Diamante. The fact that AEW does this type of match every year at a more or less pre-set time is something I think they could improve on, but as many have said despite a somewhat questionable build the match itself here really delivered in a big way. All told I'd put this as the #3 match of the 4 B&G matches AEW has done so far but that's no slam, all have been extremely high quality in my opinion. The best part of this for me was everything between Hangman and Swerve, they ended up stealing the show together and drove forward the story of Hangman's never ending hate towards Strickland beautifully. That Page had to be forced to participate in the match beyond his fight with Strickland was a stupendous character piece. For the rest of the match it was as violent as you'd hope, lots of blood and nasty looking spots, some great looking big bumps worked in as well. The team fielded by the Elite was not super strong in my eyes but they did well enough, and the AEW team really shone out here. The finish worked for me, it could have been done a bit quicker but in the end I really can't complain about anything, the whole match just worked great. I'd say it cracks my top 60 matches for the year so far."

[2.0] "Why a 2? Well here we have a match that was overly long, without real stakes, lacking star power, and finishing in the limpest way possible. I suppose this match did it for some people, but I just don't see much here that can be defended or praised. The Elite vs AEW/Tony Khan story has been an ongoing disaster. Coming off the heels of another annual massive gimmick match (AITA) that had virtually no fallout, thus rendering it meaningless as anything but a spotfest spectacle, Blood and Guts had no chance to succeed unless it was a true blow-away spectacle. It simply wasn't. 45 minutes of silly, phony looking spots we've seen before in some fashion or another and booking that simply doesn't make sense -- particularly the absolutely flat and unnecessary promo finish that built a future match between two mid-carders, one of whom the crowd could not care less about. What the hell are we doing here. Measured against other matches of this type AEW has put on, it's likely the worst. Low simple entertainment factor. Worst kind of empty calorie match, Measured as a storytelling device, it might be even worse because it damages the future and not only the present."

[6.0] "Few nice spots and ideas, but pretty disappointing overall. Surely the least entertaining out of every Blood and Guts. The Swerve / Hangman angle was alright but could have been crazier, and finally making them leave during commercials ruined everything about that. The match was ok, better in the end, but it looked weird and clunky sometimes, for example each member of The Elite waiting for so long for their moment to get beat up by Swerve..."

[5.0] "Honestly, I don't know where they could've gone both from the anarchy in the arena match or last years blood and guts match. It was really really hard for this to live up to expectations, and while it was good and fun and the staple gun spot call back was cool, there just wasn't enough to get me invested. Also, the spot where Matt is yelling at Hangman while he's beating Swerve looked really stupid, and having the Swerve Hangman spot where they both get taken out during commercial was bad."

[9.0] "After a flat build, this greatly exceeded expectations, likely claiming the title of AEW's best WarGames match yet. Mark Briscoe is the centrepiece in that regard, producing a classic performance that transforms the match in an instant. Almost everyone is on their game here though, not only layering the violence but more importantly, capturing a genuine chaos along the way. The finish is pretty weak in execution and as usual, it's bloated at this length, but they find the right tone here, feeding a hot crowd with gory good vs. evil pro wrestling. ****1/4"

[6.0] "I've never liked the Blood and Guts matches that much, and this was probably the least entertaining of them. The match is way too long. It didn't really get interesting until the end when Hangman and Swerve came out in my opinion. There were some creative spots definitely - the ending was definitely different although way too drawn out. I like what they're doing with Hangman ans Swerve. And the athleticism and crazy spots throughout by many of the wrestlers were pretty awesome. But... just not a great match in my opinion. The ending didn't quite feel right too - the babyfaces threatening to light the heel on fire, and the heel refusing to quit, didn't quite feel right. And Okada... what has happened to you. If he's going to hang in AEW he needs to participate in these matches and take some crazy bumps like everyone else."

[8.0] "This was a classic, very good blood & guts match. The spots were brutal and well executed. Some comedy acts from especially Okada were quite funny and added to the match. The story leading to the match wasn't perfect, wasn't even really good but the "substories" like Hangman vs Swerve or Darby vs Perry were presented damn well. Briscoe was my personal mvp of the match with all of his crazy bumps and jay driller spam. I didn't like that Strickland and Page were eliminated this early but before that bump Swerve was presented like a real champ almost destroying all of the elite by himself. The ending was quite interesting although it's only leading to a mid-card match so was it really worthy ending that big match with such a not main eventish story?"

[3.0] "They eat up the opening of the match with a crowd brawl with Darby and Jack. This isn't bad. The ring is loaded with weapons right at the start which is kinda eh. It's a crutch to fill time immediately and get into the garbage rather than effectively brawl. Jack really pour on the intensity but it's hard to go the bad ass heel route when you're both short and thin. The elite have the advantage, obvious booking so that is good. When the 3-2 advantage happens the elite have some fairly innovative offense during this time. By the time it gets to 3 on 3 we get the ridiculous spots starting. golden scissors that somehow don't murder anyone. Okada is nexr and i live in disbelief that they managed to sign Okada and completely waste his first several months. I liked the moment Page was MIA and then ambushed Swerve. That was pretty good. Shortly after the next commercial though we get a Brandon Cutler appearance which is possibly the last thing anyone would want to see even if it is just to get beat up. Swerve finally gets in and clears the elite, the spots with Okada all looked terrible and fake. Okada looks absolutely lost in this current role. I wasn't big on the stapler spot. Schiavone continues to be the worst current day announcer somehow outdoing Excalibur weekly. Things continue, very little brawling or actual building of anything. Just reckless spot after reckless spot. Pop after pop, nothing breathes. The Darby coffin drop was pretty cool. The unprotected chair shot looked wild. The fire ending wasn't great. This tiny bic flame was supposed to symbolize his demise and it just looked weak. I get it's pure deat if he does it but it looked underwhelming. The fact Perry is just fine after that chair shot and looked with it is a little lame as well. How to rate it, it was more good things than I expected but also just a reckless spot fest that felt void of story. *1/2 sounds fair. Definitely not average, so slightly below."

[9.0] "I felt like it started out slow till mark came out this match was very fun I just wish that jack Perry got set on fire 9/10"

[9.0] "Excellent war games style match. Tons of intriguing story beats and a hot crowd mixed with a ton of crazy over the top spots that Blood & Guts has become famous for. Some of the highlights include Darby's coffin drop from the top of the cage, Swerve getting a staple gun power up, Anthony Bowen's table spot from the top corner of the cage and Mark Briscoes Jay Driller party to the whole of team Elite. This match is an easy recommendation from me and a great match for all of those who love violent brawls."

[6.0] "For how bad the build to this match was it might have been the most I've liked the actual Blood and Guts match in AEW. Which is to say, not much, but still. The ending was absolutely awful though and anticlimactic. It's probably a good idea to hold off on these until there's a proper feud from now on."

[9.0] "Very fun match with some absolute wild spots. Even though the other B&G matches have had better builds, this may have been my favourite one. The only thing that could have been improved was the execution of the ending but its not bad like people say it is and it is definitely a believable finish"

[8.0] "Blood and Guts is usually an entertaining match and this wasn't any different. I'm glad Briscoe got his chance to shine here, because he was a monster. Swerve and Darby looked great too! There were a few workers who felt out of place though. Okada, who didn't seem to gel with what was going on in the ring spot-wise as much as the others did. Caster, who I legitimately forgot was in the match at multiple points while watching. Bowens did at least try to pull his weight and get into the brutality, which I can appreciate."

[9.0] "This match had everything that a wrestling fan could expect from Blood and Guts, everything played out very well, all performers delivered and the ending was pretty dramatic."

[9.0] "Definitely will be considered as either the best or one of the best B&G matches so far. The finish fell a bit flat and if it wasnt for that little nitpick, this match wouldve gotten a 10 easily. I didnt want this chaos to end. So many great moments. Swerve and Hangman face off, Gnarly chair shot on Jack Perrys dome piece, Max Caster chewing on thumbtacks then getting super kicked, etc. I can go on all night. Briscoe, Darby and Bowens really shined here and even though the Acclaimed seemed like they didnt fit on paper, both guys stepped up to the plate and showed everyone they belonged there. It truly didnt feel like it went on for 50 minutes. The flow was pretty smooth. They really let the match breathe. I think its absolutely hilarious that Okada didnt take any major bumps or bled. Im really digging Jack Perrys Scapegoat era and Im excited to see whats next for him. Jay Briscoe would be so fucking proud to see his brother go on this spectacular solo run, and the energy that he brought to this match really helped elevate it exponentially. This match wouldve hit 5 star status if the finish wasnt so anti climactic. Everything just stopped and it never ended with a bang. Despite that, I had a hell of a time watching it and it delivered way beyond my expectations."

[9.0] "I think while the B&G matches are more violent than WarGames, I think AEW still needs to find a way to book the finish, 4 years in a row were the worst part of the match is the finish, I still trying to understand how does the power works right now, this is a question I got because the build and the stakes of this match weren't great, Max Caster was (and is) terrible, and Okada didn't take any bump in this match (a real worker), but when you have two crazy bastards like Darby and Mark you can forget all that, and when you have the best feud going in AEW in this match that helps too, one thing I hated about this match was they wrestling outside the cage, if you want to jump from the cage don't put a roof on on the top, still probably the best B&G match AEW has done"

[9.0] "[9.2] The build to this match wasn't good, but when it came time for the match itself, they more than delivered. Darby and Jack start off and take shit like absolute madmen throughout the match. Anthony Bowens came out looking like an absolute star, Mark Briscoe was consistently great throughout, but the real star of this match was Swerve and Hangman's blood feud. In fact, it was such a highlight that, aside from Max Caster very clearly being the weak link through the entire match, it could be argued that it was the only issue with the match. This feud shines so bright that it's almost hard to give a reason why it shouldn't be the main focus. Ultimately, Swerve and Hangman took each other out, which left Team AEW to win by Darby threatening to kill Jack Perry on live TV (and Mark Briscoe coming damn near close to actually killing Jack with a hopefully gimmicked chair headshot that sounded horrible.) Another easy TV MOTY contender in a string of weeks where it feels like AEW is pumping them out on the regular."

[7.0] "****1/2 great match, it was brutal, they were up to par with the spots but I think there were a couple of problems, the first is that they hardly told anything about the story between Swerve and Hangman, only a little during Swerve's entrance because Afterwards they would hardly have moments together, that being the best story between the participants, and the ending being so strange because although it is logical that they would give up, those types of spots are too much, they could take out a weapon and threaten death to win any extreme match, The point is that here they are not death threats but threats of pain, such as using the staples on Jack until he surrenders."

[9.0] "First out Jack Perry and Darby, starts fast with a chair to Darbys face, and then into the crowd for some fight walking. Eventually back in the ring. Darby lawndarted into a trash can. Next up Nick Jackson. The elite take it to Darby into an ad break. They work Darby through out the break. Out comes Mark Briscoe, BIG POP. Out with so red neck kung fu and bringing up the energy. Big dem boys chants. Nick Jackson slammed into a ladder. Briscoe does a Senton onto a ladder on NJ. Next up, Matt Jackson. He hits a ddt onto a case hes carrying and then scrubs Mark Briscoes face on the cage and powerbombs Darby into Briscoe. The elite take on Darby 3 on 1. Next up, Bowens. Hits some offence and gets stopped by Nick. Briscoe counters TK driver with a sweet cutter. Darby hits Nick with a skateboard full of thumbtacks and then Bowens mauls Perry with a pair of scissors. Next up, Okada. Second big pop. Hits everyone with a rainmaker sign and then tombstones Briscoe and then dropkicks a chair into his face. AD BREAK. The elite dominated throughout. F the Young bucks chants from the crowd. Briscoe tries to fight back. Next up Max Caster. He attacks with a mic, a chain and a chair. Okada took a chair to the head, protected but still jarring. Caster brings out a barbed wire board. Bowen gets slammed into it TWICE. They followed this with a barb wire sandwich, and then force feeding Caster thumb tacks and kicking him in the mouth. Hangman up next and he doesnt come out. Saw it coming, but very clever. Team AEW gets back on top. Bowers does scissor me timbers with his leg wrapped in barbed wire. Next up SWERVE. Third big pop. Here comes Hangman and he flattens swerve with a chair before handcuffing Swerve to the cage and flattening Nana and hitting swerve with his title. Matt Jackson threatens to fire hangman if he doesnt get into the ring. Okada and Hangman square up and team AEW gets back on top. AD BREAK. Back from the break and Jarrett comes out he smashes a guitar over cutler. Shame he only had one. Swerve is freed, and cuts his way into the cage. He flattens four of the Elite and then Swerve and Hangman lock eyes, they meet in the middle and go OFF. They exchange wrestling moves in a good which was a nice change of pace in this match until hangman scrubs swerve with the barbed wire board. Everyone takes turns hitting offence and swerve pulls out a stapler but gets low blowed. The elite finally opens a case and it had multiple staplers inside. They all surround Swerve and staple him. He stand up laughing uses the Jacksons own staple guns on them, before stapling nicks face, staples Perry in the neck and then staples Okadas middle finger. Swerves ducks a buck shot and Okada eats it. All in written all over it. Swerve staples hangmans face and then house calls him. Swerve looks like a god here. AD BREAK. Swerve and hangman head up the ramp and fall off the stage. They all escape the cage and head outside. The Jacksons are stacking Tables on the outside. Big bump incoming. Darby tortures Perry in the ring. Back from the break. Nick Jackson and Bowens start climbing the cage. Bowens falls and goes the tables. Briscoe hits four Jay Drillers. I love this guy. He hits a Froggy Bo through the table on Nick. I LOVE THIS GUY. Darby uses the cage as monkey bars and coffin drops Perry through a table. Briscoe handcuffs Perry to the cage and whips him with a kendo stick. Mark Briscoe then hit an INSANE unprotected chair shot to the head on Perry. Darby covers Perry in petrol. Matt gives Darby his TNT title match and quits to save him. TEAM AEW WINS. That was a f**king RIOT. 8.5/10"

[9.0] "Really good match, of the quality that we would expect from Blood & Guts. However, the ending, while it narratively made sense, fell a little flat, which is why this is a 9.0 rating..."

[9.0] "I felt this was probably the best Blood & Guts, it's either this one or the 2022's edition. I think the match's structure was great and the nearly 50 minutes length didn't feel heavy at all. The pacing was consistent and there were no pauses which didn't break the flow of the match which I remember being a major issue in last year's match. Both teams delivered great perfomances and there were a bunch of crazy-ass spots. YB are still one of the greatest tag teams in the world, they just have to wrestle more. Briscoe and Darby always thrive in these kind of enviroments while Jack Perry is a fucking madman. The Acclaimed didn't do any damage to the match and Bowens even took a wild bump through four tables. Max Caster ate some thumbacks and got superkicked while they were in his mouths which was also super cool. Darby climbing the cage like a monkey and hitting a coffin drop through a table was crazy and Briscoe's unprotected chair shot to Perry was unbelivable. Swerve and Hangman's face-off gave me goosebumps and I loved how Hangman came out only when Swerve came out to beat him up and Matthew had to threat to fire him to get him in the cage. The whole staple guns spot was phenomenal. Loved how Swerve got ganged but no sold it and destroyed the Elite. Probably the biggest quality of the match was the fact they were blend in multiple stories: Swerve and Hangman but also Perry vs. Allin with Darby asking for a title shot at All In. The ending of the match was also good with Darby threatning to lit Perry on fire so Matthew surrended for his team. Kinda the same ending as last year but they didn't botch it this time. Awesome match. 9/10 - 4.75*/5*"

[9.0] "this was absolutely amazing and enjoyable, very close to five stars for me despite having a few problems. they could've given much more time to Hangman and Swerve, and the ending could've been a bit better and more unexpected! I think this was better than the last year Blood&Guts, and all participants performed very well. (****3/4)"

[6.0] "This was a heavy mixed bag for me. Positives include the star power of Hangman and Swerve, a lot of really fun spots, a few nice story beats, and Jack Perry looking like a badass in a totally unexpected way. The negatives really dragged it down for me though. The two most glaring issues were the lackluster ending, and the unforgivable chairshot. While I understand it's most likely it was gimmicked, it's still dangerous and made me deeply uncomfortable and took me out of the match for a bit. If you don't think the chairshot would bother you, it's probably more likely to be a 7-8, but I feel like I'm already overrating it for my enjoyment."

[7.0] "This was a pretty awesome match - right until the finish. Somehow, someone thought it would be a bright idea for a babyface to threaten to murder someone via immolation on live TV. That on its own makes no sense, as it's a one way ticket to life in prison, DQs or no DQs. But what makes just as little sense was the fact that the heels got a babyface moment at the end with Perry being defiant and his team quitting on his behalf. Just a totally overbooked mess of a finish. It especially sucks because most of the rest of this rocked. They successfully built up a bunch of future matches, and everyone got some well-executed and crazy hardcore spots in. ***1/4"

[9.0] "Not a great build, but the match itself had a clear narrative and stuck to its pacing, which remained solid throughout. Some fantastic spots, including the staple gun surround spot, Darby's coffin drop from the roof of the cage, Okada flipping the bird and getting his hand stapled, the Swerve/Hangman staredown, and Bowen's big bump. Jack looked strong in defeat, standing his ground, and I expect Jack and Darby to have a killer match together at All In. I did like how team AEW weren't entirely cool with each other and still won, but team Elite, despite being heels, had a nice bit of character work. Jack was willing to be set on fire rather than give up, because the Bucks had his back when no one else did. And Matt Jackson, despite being a power crazed asshole executive, genuinely didn't want to see Jack hurt. Briscoe and Darby were the standouts here, Perry, Bowens, and the Bucks played their roles well, Max Caster and Okada were the weakest. Okada was expected, but Caster doesn't have the cache to be phoning shit in at this point."

[6.0] "Despite the action being relatively entertaining, there were things about this match I hated. Mic work in the middle of the match in order to tell the story was just a cop out. We're back to EVP's being able to fire people somehow, and Hangman just obeyed like a dog. Swerve is on the outside of the cage before the bucks use their 'power' to start the match. Why didn't they just start the match when it was three on two half way through then? Rubbish. The end was atrocious and actually, harmed the legacy match. Moving forward we know someone will just give up now because they were 'threatened' with something utterly preposterous, which is a cop out. Could they not have just beat the shit out of Perry and Matt Jackson while handcuffed quit on his behalf with out all the silly fucking mic work before hand. Just give me a nice conclusive finish with someone giving up without all this absolute garbage. Action was good, real good in some places, the booking was a mess."

[6.0] "A disappointing build to this one left me completely unhyped which didn't help with getting into the match admittedly. I dont think they made the best use of this stipulation and it didn't really feel like a big deal like it should. The ending was also kinda bad sorry."

[10.0] "As for every B&G this was no short of incredible. The action was chaotic and violent as always and the way they used weapons throughout the match was more smooth than usual with spots and spots happening one after another at an high speed rather than the spot-rest-spot-rest structure which is slow and boring and also cuts time for other spots. I really liked also the bits that involved Swerve and Page and the incredible charachter work on Perry. A really enjoyable bloody war full of storytelling, weapons and incredible moves perfect to end a rivalry. *****"

[8.0] "For such a long, convoluted gimmick match with so many moving parts this was really well laid out. And save for a couple of brief stutter steps, it was brimming with violent & significant moments - although as a whole it definitely didn't feel like a blowoff and the finish in particular was basically an angle to set up a ppv bout ****"

[9.0] "Great match...Aew delievers every freaking time...they'll never disappoints us...Coming to this match...it was great with some jaw dropping moments...but the end leads to the unsatisfaction, even though it is concentrated on the build to ALL IN..."

[9.0] "This is very easily the best Blood and Guts match they have done. Great spots, good story throughout, great crowd. One the best AEW matches of the year. ****1/2"

[6.0] "In my opinion this match had a disappointing build and Blood and Guts have never been my favorite stipulation. The cage is used as a prop more than an actual weapon. I think the Hangman and Swerve interactions were well done. Lots of weapons spots that were hit or miss to me as always along with the camera showing wrestlers just waiting to get beat up. Still enjoyable but not my favorite stipulation or match."

[8.0] "Terrible build up to this match. Okada felt out of place in such a match and so did Max Caster. The unprotected chair shot to Perry and the coffin drop by Darby were the highlights of this match. Cannot wait for Swerve and Page to face each other."

[8.0] "I think that, contrary to what happened at last year's B&G, the match itself was way better than the disappointing build-up to it. While it never achieved the highs of the best Blood and Guts match (2022), this one came pretty close. The structure never felt like a spot checklist; it had adequate pacing and a solid (not great) finish. However, there were a few elements that hurt the match: first and foremost, both Max Caster and Okada felt really out of place, too far from their usual playground (the same sensation I had last year with PAC and Claudio). Secondly, I think the best moment of the match was cut short: Swerve vs. Hangman. Their rivalry is pure fire, and it shows; no one during this Dynamite came close to the colossal pop their appearance and confrontation had, so when both went out, some of the vibe was lost. They should've played a greater role in the finish. At the same time, though, I get why they don't want to beat the rivalry to death. Given the importance of this match, however, I think this was the wrong choice. Problems aside, it was a really good bout that exceeded the quality we had last year (it wasn't a bad match, but it wasn't great either); I hope this doesn't give AEW an excuse to neglect the build next year."

[8.0] "The build was not the greatest, and I still feel like the Acclaimed didn't belong. They felt like a placeholder in case FTR couldn't return in time, but then just stayed in the match anyway. Was there live so there wasnt any confusion for me about what was happening during PiP. However, although I loved the whole match, the ending did feel a tad anticlimactic. But Jack looked very strong by refusing to quit, and all the faces got a turn to shine. The heels had some great moments too, loved the stapler spot with Swerve. Please turn Max Caster heel or tell him to stop acting so heelish on camera, it was all I hoping for from the Acclaimed's involvement in this match."

[7.0] "One of the better Blood and Guts matches. A lot of fun hardcore spots and some great performances from almost everyone, especially Darby and Mark. The only people who I feel didn't pull their weight here were Okada who isn't a good fit for plunder matches anyway and Max Caster who just sucks in general. This also furthered a lot of storylines and provided a few teases for potential Wembley matches. Of course there was all the excellent stuff between Hangman and Swerve which, for as much as I love Danielson, is the match I want to see at Wembley. But it seems the direction for Hangman is a match with Okada as there was continued dissension between those two in this match. They got in eachother's faces when Hangman entered the match and later on Hangman accidentally nails Okada with a Buckshot when Swerve moves out of the way. Arguably the main story in this match though is the one between Darby and Jack. They start the match and are involved in the finish, as Jack gets handcuffed to the cage, hit with a brutal chairshot to the head by Briscoe, doused in gasoline and is told that he will be set on by Darby unless his team forfeits the match and Darby gets a TNT Title match at Wembley, which naturally forces Matthew Jackson to forfeit the match and grant Darby his match at Wembley. Overall this was a good Blood and Guts match, with a ton of fun spots and fair amount of storyline advancement within it too. ***3/4"