Winners crowned in chaotic first-ever women’s AEW Blood and Guts match
The women of AEW made history Wednesday by competing in their first-ever Blood and Guts match as part of a special edition of Dynamite.
The team led by the Triangle of Madness got their hands raised at the end of the match after Toni Storm surrendered for her team.
The beginning of the end saw Marina Shafir throw a mirror at Storm’s head as she was running in for a hip attack. Shafir then stepped on the glass and used it in stomping Mina Shirakawa’s chest, who had Megan Bayne in a bat-assisted figure four. Shafir then judo tossed Shirakawa onto the glass and held her in place as Bayne whipped Shirakawa’s back with a title belt.
Storm was helpless to assist as she was held back by Thekla, Skye Blue and Julia Hart. Storm eventually surrendered and was then beat up by the heels afterward.
The 12-woman bout featured nearly all of AEW’s top female talent including AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander, Storm, TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, Bayne, Willow Nightingale and others. Statlander and Mone were not part of the end as they had made their way to the outside of the cage where Statlander took out the TBS Champion with a Samoan drop off one of the trusses through a table.
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Mone and Statlander, who will meet next Saturday at the Full Gear pay-per-view, had several interactions. Mone made it a point of being grossed out by the blood and later brought in several of her many title belts to hand to her teammates to use on their opponents.
As expected, the match opened up the show from Greensboro, North Carolina, with the men’s Blood and Guts match set for the main event slot. Also as expected, the match featured weapons like a chair, a trash can lid, a belt, a kendo stick with barbed wire, a pool cue, a bag of tacks, and more.
Shafir, a standout in the match, attempted to up the ante after she entered, dragging Statlander outside the cage and counter-clotheslining her on a bed of nails. Storm was the last entrant after Shafir and started hitting women with clutched pearls before Shafir no-sold them and went on the offensive. Storm later got her revenge, wrapping her hands in tape and then sticking broken glass to them for punches.
Blue was busted open early during her opening salvo with Nightingale with her face and upper torso nearly completely covered in red after a few minutes. Statlander was also bleeding at one point as were Bayne, Shafir and Shirakawa.
In another notable spot, Jamie Hayter and Blue were fighting on the top rope when Hayter power bombed Blue through a table that didn’t break, followed up by an elbow drop that also didn’t fully break the table.
The infamous Mone puppet also appeared, hiding a pair of brass knuckles held by Harley Cameron. Cameron, Hayter and Nightingale were not involved in the finish.
Penelope Ford and Queen Aminata, both injured in recent weeks and pulled from the match, made brief appearances.
Order of Entry:
- Willow Nightingale and Skye Blue
- Julia Hart
- Harley Cameron
- Thekla
- Jamie Hayter
- Megan Bayne
- Kris Statlander
- Mercedes Mone
- Mina Shirakawa
- Marina Shafir
- Toni Storm
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.