This past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, Team AEW (Swerve Strickland, Mark Briscoe, Darby Allin, Max Caster, and Anthony Bowens) defeated Team Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry, Adam Page, Matthew, and Nicholas Jackson) in a Blood & Guts match.
During the match, Jack Perry took an unprotected chair shot to the head from Mark Briscoe while handcuffed to the cage. The spot made huge headlines after WWE commentator Corey Graves issued a statement on X.
During the ROH Death Before Dishonor media call, AEW President Tony Khan was asked about Jack Perry’s controversial spot and his opinion about unprotected chair shots in pro wrestling.
“I love that we analyze the mechanics of pro wrestling and the things going on. I do like to leave some of the art of this and some of the kayfabe of this in the wrestling, and I think that’s the best way to do it. But I thought it was a great match. Everybody came out of it in great shape, all things considered. I mean, everyone is beat up bad, but to be honest, this is probably the least major injuries we’ve ever had coming out of a Blood & Guts match, or one of these very brutal multi-man death matches. And I’m glad everyone’s gonna be okay. It’s a really beat-up group, but all things considered came out very well.
I don’t think all these spots are created equal. There are different spots, and different ways to do things. I don’t want to compare apples to oranges, necessarily. I think it’s a great question. There’s definitely some mystery to be left to how things are done, and how things might be done now might not be the same way they would be done 25 years ago, just to do the same spots, for example.”
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) July 25, 2024