AEW Blood & Guts Just Showed WWE What WarGames Is Missing

All Elite Wrestling's annual television special exemplifies what sets the company apart from WWE's flawed attempt at nostalgia.

On Wednesday, AEW Dynamite returned to Jacksonville, FL, for this year's Blood & Guts. The episode's namesake references Vince McMahon's infamous quote from a 2019 Second Quarter Earnings call.

The phrase unintentionally gave his distinguished competition a call to action , a way to reject the status quo and create an alternative. To that end, AEW works best as a counterculture to WWE's polished, ostentatious product because that's all mainstream fans saw for a long time.

Conversely, the world-renowned purveyor of sports entertainment has lost much of the edge that made it popular during its fabled Attitude era. The company has undeniably cultivated a loyal audience, but its programming lacks the grit and spirit that its competitor has embraced.

WWE must recapture some of the energy that made the WarGames match memorable because it often pales in comparison.

Two Opposing Takes On An Unforgiving Tradition

AEW Blood & Guts is violent and chaotic. It delivers a big, heaping dose of pro wrestling spectacle, complete with buckets of blood and a sack full of thumbtacks.

It takes a toll on its participants and effectively raises the stakes of the most bitter rivalries. It's brutal and grotesque because the stipulation is supposed to be dangerous. Although it can be difficult to make calculated risks believable, this special produces in-ring danger that's both palatable and convincing.

Many fans have become desensitized and cynical. Nonetheless, the annual tradition makes us believe anything can happen in a genre that we know is predetermined. Viewers believe the wrestlers don't only want to win the match; they want to hurt each other.

That's what's missing from WWE's WarGames matches now. The result is often a sanitized version of the signature steel cage match that Dusty Rhodes created in 1987.

The company usually does an excellent job of building up both teams. Case in point: The 946 has become a credible threat to The Bloodline, and their brawls have been tremendous. However, the Survivor Series match too often feels more like a formality than the proper culmination of a feud that warrants this stipulation.

Blood adds realism, but that's not the only reason that AEW's approach stands out. WWE's showcase of high spots and plunder has also grown formulaic. It hasn't done anything innovative with the WarGames matches in years.

Yes, it's important to cater to its audience and sponsors, so it will steer clear of graphic violence. Still, the creative team hasn't found a way to evoke the match's trademark intensity with these corporate constraints.

AEW's women's division has taken its fair share of criticism, but the women upstaged the men for a second consecutive year. Their evident hunger for more opportunities and drive to prove themselves make their foray into the double-sided cage unique.

Moreover, the babyface team's animosity towards the heels feels genuine. Skye Blue is still a bloodthirsty sociopath. Divine Dominion came off as two unstoppable amazons, and the renewed hostility between Thekla and Queen Aminata generated one of the night's best reactions.

It's still a controversial subject, but the use of blood puts them on equal footing with the men. It shows that they can handle the same physical demands and creative freedoms as their male counterparts.

Their second Blood & Guts match was a rousing success, proving Tony Khan can trust the women's roster to deliver under pressure. After all, they produced the better performance in the opener without two of the division's biggest stars.

Meanwhile, this hasn't been a strong year for WWE's women's division, and the company hasn't put as much effort into constructing its teams for Survivor Series. Raw has been building up The 946 as The Bloodline's opponents since August.

The women don't have a storyline nearly as interesting heading into the event. Similarly, AEW's usage is far from perfect, but the women rose to the occasion and overdelivered. WWE should give its division a chance to exceed expectations too.

Women's wrestling fans are among the most passionate and vocal members of the fanbase. They're still clamoring for something to build anticipation for this year's WarGames match, and it's three weeks away.