Steel Cage Match History

 

Steel Cage Match History:

All Elite Wrestling has held a handful of Steel Cage Matches in its short history. Here is a list of all Cage matches to take place in AEW Hist
ory:

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• AEW Dynamite - February 19th, 2020 - Steel Cage Match: Cody Rhodes def. Wardlow*

*Note: As part of the requirements he had to pass to face MJF at AEW Revolution 2020, Cody Rhodes had to defeat Wardlow inside of a Steel Cage Match. This came after Cody received 10 lashes from a leather belt from Wardlow the week beforehand. The angle was reminiscent of the angle the Original ECW ran back in the early 1990s which saw Tommy Dreamer take 10 lashes from a Singapore Cane from The Sandman, a moment which saw the ECW faithful finally show some support for Dreamer after taking the lashes and fans watching his back literally bleeding but Dreamer refused to lie down and took all the lashes like a man. In addition to winning the Steel Cage Match and the 10 lashes, he also had to agree not to lay one single finger on MJF until the match at Revolution. 

• AEW Dynanite: Blood and Guts 2021 - May 5th, 2021: Blood and Guts Match: The Pinnacle (MJF, Shawn Spears, FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Wardlow) def. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager)*

*Note: The 'Blood and Guts' match was AEW's version of WCW's 'WarGames' match. The match see's two rings side-by-side with a steel cage encompassing the two rings, with a top on the cage which prevents from people escaping. Before the match, usually there will be a flip of a coin to determine which team would have the advantage going into the match. The match starts with one wrestler from each team. They wrestle for 5 minutes, when a member of the team that won the coin toss joins the match giving that team the temporary 2-on-1 advantage in the match, lasting two minutes, when a member of the opposing team enters the match to even the odds. They continue to enter the match, alternating between teams every two minutes until all the members of each team have entered the match. Once all members of both teams have entered the cage, the Blood and Guts match officially begins. The match can only end by submission or surrender, with pinfalls, count-outs and disqualifications not valid as ways to win the match. The WarGames concept was originally thought of by wrestling legend and father of fellow ex-AEW Executive Vice President and ex-AEW wrestler Cody Rhodes, whose father Dusty Rhodes invented the match back in the late 1980s. The match was originally set to take place for the first time in AEW in March of 2020, however, the match was scrapped due to the unfortunate circumstances that surrounded the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdowns that began that month. Originally, The Elite ("Hangman" Adam Page, Cody Rhodes, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Kenny Omega) were set to face The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Santana, Ortiz, Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara), with the match set to take place on March 25th, 2020. Instead, the match was decided to be scrapped by AEW President Tony Khan who felt it would be better to wait until fans were allowed to be in attendance for such a match. Instead, fans were treated to the Stadium Stampede match which took place in May 2020 and served as the end of the Elite/Inner Circle rivalry)

• AEW ALL OUT 2021 - September 5th, 2021 - AEW World Tag Team Championship Steel Cage Match: The Lucha Brothers (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) def. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) to win the titles

*Note: AEW ALL OUT 2021 is considered among many AEW fans to be AEW's finest pay-per-view offering. The event received critical acclaim, specifically in regards to the aforementioned Steel Cage Match and the newsworthy surprise debuts that night which saw Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson both make their AEW debuts, to close off a show which already seen the AEW debut of Ruby Soho earlier in the night. The show also featured CM Punk's return match after years away from wrestling when he faced Darby Allin in a match that was a lot better than it could have been given Punk's time away from wrestling, showing virtually no ring rust despite not stepping foot in a ring in close to 8 years. The show is also AEW's most watched pay-per-view doing over 205,000 buys, earning the company an estimated $10 million in PPV revenue, of which AEW would receive an estimated $4.01 million  Not to mention, 10,164 tickets were sold, earning the company $700,000. 

• AEW Dynamite: St. Patrick's Day Slam 2022 - March 16th, 2022 - AEW Women's World Championship Steel Cage Match: Thunder Rosa def. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) to win the title 

*Note: Thunder Rosa ended Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.'s 290 day reign as AEW Women's World Champion in front of her hometown crowd in San Antonio, Texas. This match came one-year following their critically acclaimed Unsanctioned, Lights Out Match that took place on the St. Patrick's Day Slam edition of AEW Dynamite in 2021. Their match in 2021 saw the two women have a rarely seen gory women's match which even saw the use of thumbtacks, with both women bleeding profusely and a lasting image of Baker smiling as blood ran down her face after taking a backdrop into thumbtacks. The match was shocking because very rarely, if ever, did a national promotion on TV do such a gory women's match. It is almost unheard of happening. Unfortuantely, Thunder Rosa would only hold the belt for 172 days, most of which she spent on the shelf rehabbing an injury, having suffered the injury in August 2022

• AEW Dynamite: 3 Year Anniversary of Double or Nothing 2019 - May 25th, 2022 - Steel Cage Match: Wardlow def. Shawn Spears*

*Note: MJF served as the Special Guest Referee for the match. Wardlow was forced to win the match against Spears in order to receive the match he wanted versus MJF at the Double or Nothing 2022 pay-per-view. Much like MJF's demands when preparing to face Cody Rhodes in 2020, MJF made Wardlow take 10 lashes of a belt and another stipulation was winning the cage match with MJF as the referee to make the odds even more in Spears favor. After Spears attempted to hit Wardlow with a Steel Chair, only to hit MJF instead, this gave Wardlow the window of opportunity and he would hit the Powerbomb Symphony on Spears, pinning him before a replacement referee (Bryce Remsburg) completed the 3 count and awarded Wardlow the match. This came after MJF and Wardlow's relationship came to an end at AEW Revolution 2022, when Wardlow finally gave in to MJF's treatment of him and gave CM Punk MJF's Dynamite Diamond Ring which Punk used to defeat MJF in their Dog Collar Match at AEW Revolution. This was after months of MJF talking down to Wardlow and making him seem like he was dumb. 

• AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts 2022 - June 29th, 2022 - Blood and Guts Match: The Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli), Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz def. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia)

• AEW Full Gear 2022 - November 19th, 2022 - Steel Cage Match: "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry def. Luchasaurus 

• AEW Dynamite - May 10th, 2023 - Steel Cage Match: Jon Moxley def. Kenny Omega

• AEW Dynamite: Blood and Guts 2023 - July 19th, 2023 - Blood and Guts Match: The Golden Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), "Hangman" Adam Page and Kota Ibushi) def. The Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta and Jon Moxley) and Konosuke Takeshita and PAC by submission

• AEW Collision - January 27th, 2024 - 6-Man Elimination Steel Cage Match: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Daniel Garcia def. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews)