Most of the attention on AEW’s first ever Blood & Guts match is focused on Chris Jericho’s big fall onto cardboard. And while I agree that the spot left a lot to be desired, it pales in comparison to the worst thing about the match - the return of chair shots to the head. There seemed to be multiple instances of this occurring, including late in the match when Sammy Guevara blasted Wardlow’s cranium with a chair.
AEW has a controversial history with chair shots to the head. One such spot between Cody Rhodes and Shawn Spears went awry at Fyter Fest 2019. Cody spoke about how he wanted to safely “take chair shots to the head back for the boys” by using a gimmicked chair. Tony Khan called the spot regrettable and put the blame on Spears. Chair shots to the head were reportedly banned in AEW after that incident.
But it sure looked those head shots returned to AEW last night. It was alarming enough that Tony Schiavone was asked the following question from a fan on the Blood & Guts post show: “Did we see a return of chair shots to the head tonight? If so I’m a fan for life.”
Here was Schiavone’s response:
“You’re for that CTE, aren’t you buddy? I don’t know if we saw a return. I don’t know. We saw some pretty stiff shots. I’m sure they’re gonna look at it and re-evaluate it, because, you know...”
Maybe this is the part where AEW comes up with their own version of the CM Punk ass cam to try proving that these apparent chair shots to the head were not actually chair shots to the head. But for now, Tony Schiavone and many wrestling fans who watched Blood & Guts are not comfortable with what they saw in this match. If those were indeed chair shots to the head, there’s simply no place for it in pro wrestling.
Like Tony said, AEW will need to look at this and re-evaluate it, that’s for sure.