[7.0] "This was definitely better than the pervious blood and guts match, but not by much. The in-ring work was ok and this was very bloody, half of the people here were bleeding buckets, especially Angelo Parker, he was a bloody mess. Claudio scoring the victory here was great. Everyone was doing literally anything to destroy each other. The highlight was Eddie tossing Sammy off the cage into tables"
[8.0] "Better than the first one, compared to that it sure had more interesting or intense moments during the match. It was not that messy and they tried to keep the action going before having everyone in the cage. However, the format is still not the best, meaning that the match will have a hard time becoming a very great one. Moreover, it's hard to follow the AITA, which is better at every aspect. Still, the lineup sounded better than in 2021, the spots were good, more violent stuff that actually brings the blood in the stipulation. It was definitely enjoyable."
[9.0] "My god I need to re-write this cause in my last rating I was sounding like a goofy fan who barely know how to speak english properly. Anyway, this match was so fucking crazy. A lot worse than the AitA but it's hard to reach that level of greatness, completelly understandable. The absence of the best wrestler OF ALL TIME is also a big loose for this match, even with Wheeler being really good at this match like everyone was. Always good to see the members of BBC working together and Chris Jericho at the time was really good to watch. Shout out to Eddie Kingston, the MVP of this match and the most entertaining wrestler present here, helping to make this match fire up when he enter and the match "really" started. The end was impecable who lead us into a great fight and also a great story in Grand Slam, with Eddie finally getting what he deserve and Claudio also getting what he fucking deserve lol"
[8.0] "[3.75*] This had almost the same names as the 2022 AITA, with the difference of Sammy Guevara and Claudio Castagnoli added (and both men started the match, good touch), and Wheeler on Bryans place. I think the absence of the best wrestler in the world kind of took the match down a little bit, as expected. The War Games stipulation also gives a lot of dead time, something that happened in 2022 and 2023, until the match finally gets started. It is a very good match with a lot of crazy stuff and deserves to be praised, but the majority of the insane spots of the feud were on the AITA. Sammy did the incredible spot from the top of the cage and Claudio stealing the win from Eddie was a great finish."
[8.0] "The only things I disliked about this match were issues with the Blood and Guts format and not the match itself. Once there were 7-8 people in the ring, action really picked up, but the beginning started out slowly. Lots of memorable spots once the match got going, including Sammy from the top of the cage, Claudio's Airplane Spins on the top of the cage, and Angelo Parker hanging lifeless from the girders while bleeding buckets."
[9.0] "This is by far the best B&G match AEW has ever produced. The rivalry was heated, the spots heavy hitters and everyone (aside from Claudio) bled buckets. Two years later, none of the other Blood and Guts bouts have come close to the level of intensity and violence on display here; not a huge fan of the ending tho."
[8.0] "Good start with Castagnoli and Guevara. I liked the nod to the moment when Castagnoli and Hager meet, with a We the people chant. It's Moxley who brings the weapons first but that doesn't bother me because it fits the character. We give the public what they demand from the Faces side. Big spot from Guevara at the end. I loved the finish which lets us predict a continuation between Kingston and Castagnoli. It's better compared to last year but still the same mistake as not filming the action above the cage. We believe that they are all knocked out inside for 10 minutes but during the celebration they all get up as if nothing had happened and are already above the cage 2 minutes later, notably Moxley who is world champion at the current time. (4*1/4)"
[7.0] "Not the biggest fan of wargames/blood and guts matches and the reason for that is we know the match can't end till all 12 so for like half the match there's no tension, and these matches are usually long, this one being around 48 mins I believe so no tension for about half that time. Anyways there were still a good number of entertaining moments, I don't think the JAS could ever be a credible threat to BCC and the other 3 guys, I mean you have a 50 year old jericho and 3 midcarders plus 2 jobbers. I do find it weird how when the action goes on top of the cage, they don't show you what's going on in the ring so it's almost leading you to believe that nothing is! There was also an awkward 2 min break where nothing happened when Sammy got to the top, and Jericho was asking are we on break. So while there were many violent moments, the whole thing was just sloppy and too long, but I will still give it a 7 because I appreciate the effort of all the wrestlers involved and the spots like Sammys fall, Parker hanging off the side and Cesaro just being an overall monster."
[10.0] "This was the first ever Blood and Guts match I have ever seen (I didn't start watching AEW until January of 2022) and it's definitely my personal favorite. First, can we talk about the JAS's matching gears for a second? Like omg. Sorry, a little off topic. Blood and Guts. Definitely bloody. I like how every wrestler got to showcase themselves, if you get what I mean. Like, they all had some type of special spot. Angelo almost bled out, Sammy got thrown off of the top of the cage, Jon Moxley did what he does best: bleed, and Claudio got the win for his team. Very fun stuff. Unforgettable."
[9.0] "This is a really good match it is aew version of wargames which is really fun the only thing I have to complain about is that it is a tag to long if you shed 10 minutes off it would be awesome but that is just a little compaint it is still a very fun match. ****3/4"
[10.0] "Exaggerate, brutal, chaotic... How the fuck couldn't I love? Moxley was the GOAT of this match but in general evryone took brutal bumps and do spots. The finish was Just epic and useful to continue Kingston/Jericho feud. Then, the length was more than correct and shouldn't having been shorter at all. Better then any WWE wargames and probably also the others in WCW, MLW etc. despite I haven't seen them. *****"
[5.0] "So here we go. The near 50 minute WarGames match between the BCC and JAS was an absolute mess. It's one of the biggest mixed bag matches of the year. There's a lot to like, and a lot to dislike. One of the most important things in WarGames is to start with two great workers first. Sammy and Claudio were the perfect pair to start. Sammy being an ultra confident dickhead and Claudio being the powerhouse was a nice dynamic. Yuta coming in as the second entry for BCC was good. The crowd is absolutely loving him. Moxley was awesome as he increased the violence by bringing in the weapons as the blood began to pour. Menard and Parker are not afraid to bleed. Parker was bleeding the most out of everyone and it was a hell of a visual. The injury list grows even longer as Santana blows out his leg and gets taken out of the match. Everything after the skewer spot was what lost me. Jericho and Eddie were the last two and this is where disaster strikes even worse. Jericho botches a rubbing alcohol spot, and the fire extinguisher spot not long after that. Eddie running himself into the spray was hilarious. They went to the top of the cage and the camera never shot inside the ring again. The action just ceased to exist. There was an awkward 2 minute pause between Eddie, Jericho and Sammy where they seemed confused on what to do next. You could audibly hear Eddie apologizing to Jericho for forgetting the blade, and all 3 guys asking each other if they're on break. Sammy gets thrown off the cage onto a BOX LIKE STRUCTURE which is just a big cushion. I'm sure there's going to be a huge argument again amongst fans about that, and once again, if you can't make it look good don't do it at all, and there's no way to fall off a cage safely without it looking fake. The finish made sense to leave the door open for Eddie/Jericho and Eddie/Claudio matches in the future. There's a good match in here somewhere, but it went too long with too many stretches of filler brawling and an awful final 10 minutes of miscommunication. It's safe to say Tam/Poi's cage match was better. **3/4"
[2.0] "Negatives: 1) Too many gimmicks and furniture in a gimmick match 2) Jon Moxley's garbage wrestling 3) Chris Jericho 4) The big spot was way too telegraphed {especially for the audience in the arena} and fake 5) Went on for way too long after the bell was rung 6) The last portion of the match completely ignored what was going on in the ring. Positives: 1) Claudio Castagnoli 2) Bryan Danielson was thankfully not part of this shit. Also sorry for Santana's injury."
[9.0] "Absolutely awesome match. It was brutal, it was hard-hitting, it was gripping and above all else it was entertaining. Definitely a match I would recommend."
[9.0] "After Anarchy in the Arena this had to be extra wild. This lived up to expectations and didn't try to get too cute with the flow a good wargames match needs to be. This felt like an old school iteration and was better than last year's."
[1.0] "This is one of the worst matches I have ever seen. They used an awesome gimmick match (Wargames) and added all of this unnecessary stuff. I don't like Jon Moxley mainly cuz he always has to do the same kind of match every single match he does. This match was all of his impulses uncontrollably thrown into one match. The whole BCC JAS feud ha been torture to witness and I wish this match was the end of it."
[8.0] "I appreciate the effort their put in this match but 'blood and guts' stipulation makes me feel confused, every moment happens and gone. The ending of this match is rushed and plain, why do they end with a normal submission? but can tolerate tacks, barbwire even falling from the top of the cage. If the ending was better I would rate this match around 9-10."
[9.0] "I know I shouldn't call it "Wargames", but it's my favorite Wargames match ever. This match represented perfectly what this stipulation is all about: violence. They used everything: Kendo sticks, chairs, thumbtacks, glass and even a fire estinguisher. Guevara's fall was impressive and the ending with Claudio Castagnoli making his opponent tap out before Eddie Kingston is awesome"
[9.0] "Would? ve been a 10/10 if it wasn? t for the perculiar pacing in certain areas, otherwise perfect. The ending was insane though, and that swinging spot was one if the scariest spots I? ve ever seen."
[8.0] "This was fun, but it suffered a bit from Santana's injury, some weird/nonsensical pacing (especially the faces squandering a decisive advantage basically during commercials, and some production issues (Jericho and Conti struggling with the rubbing alcohol, and missing a good number of spots due to the chaotic natured of the stip. All the stuff on the roof seemed both tentative and perfunctory, and the obligatory Guevara bump robbed the actually dangerous Claudio Airplane Spin of some of it's punch. Still, I enjoyed the match even if it didn't hit the heights of other War Games matches"
[9.0] "That fucking ambiance, man. That was for their blood and their guts. Just twelve guys beating the living shit of fucking each other. That was crazy to watch. Even if this had some floating moments, that remained so good. Everybody's bleeding is this chaos was a thing of insanity. Menard and Parker's performance was quite something, they were the stars of this fight as they took so much. Everybody shined, for sure, in this kind of bout. Santana's injury was fucked up, but in the way, this added something for BCC. The final stretch was superb, told a smart story as this was completely mad. Eddie Kingston was the king here, a mad one, of course."
[8.0] "An entertaining match with a few issues. I felt like they started to meander a bit towards the end as the match was perhaps a bit overly long. I also felt like a few of the participants had moments of quite weak looking offense, and of course there was the very unfortunate injury to Santana. I thought the finish was a bit strange and flat as well, despite understanding the idea behind it. Regardless, there was a lot to like here. I really enjoyed seeing Claudio bond with his new BCC stablemates. Angelo Parker was the star of this encounter, with some great cowardly heel work, fun spots like pulling a camera man in to Yuta (complete with the camera man's POV shot), and the brilliant moment where he was abruptly hanging upside down outside the cage absolutely covered with blood. Definitely a fun match and worth checking out."
[4.0] "It's no wonder that the Cagematch majority: themselves overtly fans of the hyper-inflation style of wrestling that plagued NXT, NJPW, and numerous other companies have found this to be such a extremely strong match when it is, in fact, a inflated mess of sequences, nuances, and spots that the cameras only picked up on about a quarter of, ending in a big risky dive that will ultimately be rapidly forgotten about as the stakes were so little here at the end of the day. Kingston attempts to make such a format work and indeed, he does succeed in places: Jericho just ruins most of it because he's such a obvious spot-caller that it makes his gritty revenge seem less like a explosion of violence and more a carefully planned out stage play, especially given the good few botches throughout. Blood is used to such a extreme here that it means nothing: people blade to next to everything and the blood itself is just here as a set-piece than a tense way of showcasing how chaotic the match actually is. While matches like these can work with the right pacing and measurement, this was just a utter mess of shit thrown into one pot and shaken around for about 50 minutes, of which the length just adds to the confusion as the action just blurs into one long brawl that no one particularly wanted to see for this long with so much little happening. As expected, the best moments of the match were when it focused on just a few men: namely the beginning and end: as a way to both set-up dynamics for the future as well as ending them: the Claudio and Kingston feud in particular being a good highlight. It's a garbage match in the worst possible way: like garbage, it's completely impossible to tell what's the actual trash and what isn't. As someone else keenly pointed out, there's a good 20 to 30 match here somewhere, but good luck finding it."
[8.0] "A big, bloody brawl that was pretty fun most of the time-- when there was actually stuff going on and not just everyone laid out. What really made this match beyond the brawl was all the interlacing stories and rivalries that were explored. DG-WY have a Frye-Takayama moment (that was hardly shown...) that builds for their future title match and builds their existing rivalry further. Claudio gets to shine early on after his exciting Forbidden Door debut. The Kingston-Jericho feud comes to an explosive end on top of the cage until Claudio gets the submission win over Guevara just before Jericho could tap, which also builds Kingston-Claudio. The character work is what makes this good, besides some fun weapons spots, because a lot of this was just a mess that felt a bit discombobulated at times."
[8.0] "A very fun and bloody match. I love how they're building Yuta vs Garcia for DBD and also how they planted seeds for Eddie vs Claudio. The only problem was that they didn't catch a lot of the different things going on in the ring and missed possible highlights of the match, as they went unnoticed, but it's kind of to be expected when you're dealing with something as chaotic as this. Match was better after a second viewing - this time without PiP commercials, along with looking for certain spots that I missed."
[8.0] "A good match that would have been a great match had they trimmed the fat a little and cut down on some unnecessary spots. The match started off great and had me hooked right up until the cage door was opened and people began climbing the cage. Claudio had some great moments, the crowd was really behind Yuta and Eddie. This really felt like a massive blow off match but at the end with the muddied ending made it feel like all for nothing. The guys left on the floor felt like an after thought and almost like all they had accomplished before hand didn't matter. I think elimination style pins would work better in these kinds of matches.The stuff on the top went on too long although that may have partly been due to Santana being out of most of the match"
[10.0] "A fun brutal contest and I expected nothing else going into this match. Overall it's good to see how they are continually improving on the blood and guts formula. Ultimately the match made Blackpool combat club stand as out badasses which was definitely important to accomplish."
[5.0] "These big Jericho-unit brawl-and-weapons matches are really played out at this point. I didn't care for the Anarchy in the Arena match and I likewise didn't care for this. This was basically the same as all those overblown and monotonous War Games matches that NXT would always do. The match was at its best in the opening minutes when it was the few wrestlers in the ring all showing off their actual wrestling exchanges, as Claudio impressed there with his strikes and big-man spots, Sammy showed off some nice acrobatics, and Yuta showed off his impressed energy levels again. Sadly, as more people entered the match it just became more and more of a big, messy brawl with really generic weapon/prop spots all over the place, and with a few big individual spots sprinkled in, though none of which were especially creative or exciting. The BCC members had a few cool team spots together, but none of the other wrestling exchanges here were interesting. With TWELVE people in the ring(s) it was just impossible to follow any one wrestler's match-journey properly, and even the camera men struggled capturing all of the intended spots the were executing all over the place. At 45+ minutes this was quite a slog to sit through, and I felt that way at like only 15 minutes, since all 12 wrestlers became extremely complacent because they knew the match gimmick would allowethem to waste time with low-effort brawling and weapon attacks instead of, you know, actually putting together wrestling exchanges and interactions for longer than just 10 seconds. Given how frequently AEW does all these hardcore-style matches, they should really try to at least use vastly more unique stipulations or perhaps just different wrestlers entirely, because they do so many of these matches that feel so similar and end up with such similar spots that it's hard to find much of it compelling. The two things I did really enjoy were Sammy's ridiculous bump off the cage (obviously) and Kingston being mad at the end that Claudio got the win instead of him, since they have (supposedly worked, not that I really care) heat between them, and they smartly played off of that there. This whole thing was just way too overkill, even if it made for an entertaining 'garbage' spectacle at points. When you've got glass shards, thumbtacks, AND exposed ring boards all in one match, you know you're trying way too hard. **1/2"
[8.0] "I really liked this, but it felt like it was too long, nothing interesting was going on at certain points at a time which is understandable for a near hour long match featuring a lot of wrestlers locked inside of a cage. Eddie Kingston had a tremendous start with the use of the kendo sticks and him instantly going over Jericho. Claudio being featured as a powerhouse here was tremendous. There's some nasty stuff here like Mox giving Parker a piledriver onto glass, and his use of skewers into the head of Menard. Sammy's spot of flying of the cage had a blatant crash pad which leads to a lot of discourse that I could care less about. Really good match with some timing issues here and there which is understandable. ****1/4"
[10.0] "This was a huge improvement over the previous Blood and Guts match. There were a ton of great moments spread throughout the match like Hager and Claudio having a showdown, Eddie entering and knocking away everyone with a kendo stick, and my personal favorite, the swing at the top of the cage."
[9.0] "Awesome match, I really enjoyed a few things, specially some spots featuring Sammy Guevara, Eddie Kingston and Claudio Castagnoli, who I saw as the star of this contest. Great stuff overall, I'm looking forward to what they're going to do with Claudio and Kingston."
[10.0] "You want to talk about war? Here's a war for you! For over 45 minutes these twelve men beat the absolute hell out of each other. Blood, weapons, broken glass, thumb tacks, skewers, tables, and a whole lot of hate when into this match. Everyone played their part in this match beautifully, right down to Ruby Soho storming the ring to take Tay Conti out of the equation. Not there wasn't ever a misstep, the injury to Santana was highly unfortunate and some spots were not perfectly time, but even so this was wonderful stuff to me. My heart stood still when Claudio did the giant swing on Jericho on top of the cage. The ending was beautifully booked, as Kingston was on the verge of finishing Jericho only for Claudio to make Shane Matthews tap out first, ending the match before Kingston could complete his revenge. A tremendous piece of booking to cap off a wonderful match. In my top 10 of the year."
[10.0] "This was a great match and a great end for this feud. They were fighting all they can and I loved that. I can't describe this supermatch with the words I only can say watch it."
[8.0] "A lot of carnage, unfortunately, Santana was injured at the very beginning, and as for me, because of this, the overall pace slowed down until the end of the match. In general, a big fight of brutals with elements of hardcore and with original elements and combinations. Claudio and Hager are in the same ring, it's nostalgia and also a big meeting after so many years. Jericho Appreciation Society came to the match very fashionable and in general they had the right attitude. As a result, everything went well, advertising did not interfere and there were enough star participants. By the middle of the fight, there was already full-fledged chaos, there were a minimum of intelligible techniques and rather confusion ruled the match. By the end, everyone was lying down and unfortunately the dynamics completely went for a walk. At the top of the cage, everything was slow and as if everyone was waiting for something, as a result, Sammy's fall was tough and clearly the fans liked it. The angles with the Tay dress are my homage, we need to do this more often. Eddie Kingston finally wanted to force Jericho to surrender, but Claudio Castagnoli broke him off and finished the match in his own style. As a result, it is bright, fun, crazy and charismatic. Probably the wrestling itself and the participation of all the fighters at the end of the match were not enough, it's strange when everyone is lying down, and two or three participants are just standing on the cage. In general, this is better than last year."
[9.0] "This was a vast improvement from last year and felt more raw at most occasions. The duration being nearly an hour certified the intensity of the rivalry, but that itself became a bane at several occasions leading up to some visible misfires in certain spots. All twelve men's entries and their hot streak starts added much value to the match, but Santana unfortunately became the least impactful wrestler here due to the untimely injury he suffered & that became one of the prime reasons for the match going a bit south. The ending paved the way for a definite conclusion between Kingston & Jericho as well as the sowing of seeds between Kingston & Claudio's AEW rendition of their saga. 4.5 out of 5 stars!"
[6.0] "It was a great bloodbath and way better than last year's B&G match. I enjoyed the most of it, but still I wasn't a fan. The match was badly paced and overall a whole mess at times. The fight on top of the cage wasn't necessary, Jericho and Eddie didn't do much up there at first so the match felt even slower at that point. And then Sammy got there...props for him for taking that insane fall (it was great) but the way they built the spot was terrible (basically Sammy stood there waiting for Eddie to push him, without even try fighting back or anything). I probably had too high expectations for this after the Anarchy in the Arena match."
[9.0] "Such a brutal match with every participant working extremely hard to make it special. I thought it would be better with a couple less participants just to make it less of a cluster but still, so many great things happened that this will be a fondly remembered classic match for years to come."
[9.0] "This definitely had some timing issues and was, for periods, average but there were some truly ridiculous spots that really made the spectacle. The Sammy Guevara fall was insane (more replays please Tony) and the piledriver onto the glass was awesome. Lastly the Giant Swing from Claudio on top of the cage was incredible. I was nervous just watching it; hats off to Jericho in particular for doing the spot. I liked the finish as it, not only, allowed Jericho to not eat the loss without it feeling like a copout, but also set-up a feud between Claudio and Kingston in the future."
[9.0] "I thought this was pretty awesome, both from a pure wrestling and violence standpoint. Claudio and Sammy stood out in the early stages and once Mox got in there we got the crazy stuff with the table, the glass and the tacks. Much better than last year's, not just because this time it was in front of a full capacity crowd but also because the match itself was simply better. Fantastic stuff. ****1/2"
[7.0] "2022 - Claudio was the star of the whole thing, looked so good in everything he did, Yuta was over which pleases me greatly. Do wish Kingston - Jericho did more together and used this to end the feud which doesn't seem to be the case. Might have gone 8+ if that had been the case. ***3/4"
[5.0] "Sloppy, plenty of botches, too much happening at once, way too long, and had an incredibly flat finish (not as flat as last year's at least). The match started fine but once everyone started getting in it just kept declining. The pace was incredibly slow. The camera work was awful and missed quite a few big spots, like how that 2.0 guy ended up hanging off the support beam on the outside. I still have no idea how he got there. The finish was incredibly flat as well. I get wanting to tease dissension between Claudio and Kingston, but surely you could have given Kingston the rub against Jericho here to end the feud? Regardless, the match was okay at points with a couple of cool spots but it was mostly slow brawls where the pace got killed even more because of constant commercial breaks. Especially the one right after Sammy got tossed off the cage. That one took me out completely. Overall not a very good match, but Claudio was the star here and I liked most everything he did here. [**1/2]"
[8.0] "A really difficult match to rate, especially as most of it was called on the fly due to Santana's early injury. There were clearly some timing issues and some points where the camera didn't catch everything, but it was still a great match overall. I liked that the focus early on was on actual wrestling before it broke down into chaos, and the submission finish was a change from last year's surrender. Great fun, just could have been even better without the injury and subsequent issues and botches."
[6.0] "Very bloody and brutal but I have some issues with this match. First of all... it's too long. In part it's because there are 12 man involved and the match can't be finished until all contestants are in the rings. It's not the rockett science, action was good but there were no emotion involved until everyone was in... at this point we're already at like 30 minutes in. Action was all over the place, even to the point that camermans were missing the spots(like the one with JAS's member hanging of the side of the wall). Overall, action in the ring was good, we won't see war games matches like this one in WWE, the biggest issue is that it's too long."
[6.0] "This type of match is pretty solid, but match himself was bad. I love Moxley, Kingston and Jericho, but this blood bath is not my type of battle. Other members was a little bit goofy."
[6.0] "it was way too long, the pacing was bad, going fully dead in minutes at time, the pacing and ads didn't match, some big moments happened in picture in picture. it was just ok"
[9.0] "I thought that this match was violent excellence. The wrestlers on both sides did outstanding work at building this to be a possible conclusion to the feud between BCC and JAS. The thumbtacks, glass, tables and chairs was all great and pretty gruesome. Lots of great spots, such as Claudio swinging his opponent on the top of the cage, and Sammy Guevara being pushed off the cage. Definitely the best part of the show. This match was promoted to be one of the most violent matches in AEW history, and it proved to be so. 9/10"
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