AEW didn’t announce Blood & Guts early because the storyline was ready. According to people within the company, it was because they needed to get tickets on sale.
This comes after fans questioned why AEW revealed the November 4 edition of Blood & Guts before there was an obvious rivalry leading to the company’s signature double-ring, double-cage match. Speaking on The Hump, Sean Ross Sapp said he went directly to people in AEW to find out why the announcement happened the way it did.
“There were a lot of people that kind of gave that a lot of flak because Tony announced it. And I spoke to people in AEW. I was like, ‘Hey, why did you all announce that this way?’ Because, I mean, the bag on that whenever it’s like WarGames or anything is, why does the match never facilitate the announcement of the show?”
According to Sapp, the people he spoke with didn’t disagree with the criticism. They would’ve preferred the feud to naturally build toward Blood & Guts too, but they felt they couldn’t afford to wait.
“And people in AEW were like, ‘Well, ideally we would like it to be like that, but the show is less than two months away and we got to get tickets on sale, and there’s one configuration that that could possibly be for, so we might as well promote it from the jump and get those tickets sold.’”
The explanation comes down to logistics. Unlike a normal episode of Dynamite, Blood & Guts requires a double-ring, double-cage setup, meaning arenas have to be configured differently and tickets have to be sold with that layout in mind. Rather than waiting for a rivalry to reach that point, AEW decided to announce the event first and let the storyline catch up.
Sapp admitted he’d still rather see Blood & Guts announced because a feud demands it instead of because the calendar does, but he also said he understands why promotions don’t always have that luxury.
“Where do you stand on that? Because I am also of the belief I would always love it to be that way, but with the configuration setup, I do understand why WWE and AEW have to do this.”
AEW officially announced Blood & Guts during the September 12 edition of Collision, confirming the special will take place on November 4 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. No participants or storyline have been announced yet, but fans now at least have an answer as to why the company revealed the event before revealing the feud.
Do you prefer Blood & Guts to be announced only after a rivalry reaches that point, or do you understand why AEW made the announcement early? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
