AEW has confirmed that Blood & Guts 2026 will take place on November 4 at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The date and location were announced during this week’s edition of AEW Collision, putting one of the company’s most distinctive annual television specials on the late-year calendar. The announcement sends Blood & Guts back to Jacksonville, the city that hosted the first event in 2021.
Blood & Guts has become one of AEW’s recurring marquee attractions since its debut. Built around the brutal two-ring cage match concept that shares the event’s name, the special has been presented annually as a television event and has often served as the setting for major faction confrontations. While AEW has not yet announced the participants or matches for the 2026 edition, the confirmation of the venue gives the promotion more than a month of runway before the show arrives.
A Return to the Birthplace of AEW Blood & Guts
Jacksonville has a unique place in Blood & Guts history. The inaugural edition was held there in 2021, establishing the event as a major fixture of AEW programming during a period when the company’s schedule and live-event presentation were still heavily connected to the Florida market.
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Bringing the event back to Jacksonville in 2026 creates a direct link between the special’s first chapter and its current status as an established annual attraction. Over the years, Blood & Guts has been used as a culmination point for rivalries involving some of the most prominent groups on AEW television. The match format, which places teams inside a large steel structure spanning two rings, is designed around escalating chaos and the kind of high-stakes conflict that is difficult to replicate on a standard weekly episode.
The 2026 event will be held at Veterans Memorial Arena, giving Jacksonville fans an opportunity to host the special once again. AEW’s announcement did not include further details regarding ticket sales, the event’s full lineup, or which weekly program will carry Blood & Guts. Those elements are expected to become clearer as November approaches.
Blood & Guts Remains an Annual AEW Television Fixture
Since 2021, AEW has staged Blood & Guts every year as a television special. That consistency has made the name valuable on the company’s event calendar, even as the wrestlers, rivalries, and host cities have changed from year to year.
Unlike a conventional single-match show, Blood & Guts is closely identified with its signature multi-person cage bout. The format gives AEW a natural destination for long-running issues between factions and allies, particularly when a rivalry has grown beyond a standard singles match or tag team contest. The stipulation also makes the announcement of a Blood & Guts date significant on its own, because it signals that AEW will eventually need to establish the conflict worthy of occupying that slot.
The event’s annual status has also allowed it to function as a late-season landmark. A confirmed November 4 date means AEW has a clearly defined destination for storylines unfolding through the fall. Whether the promotion begins laying the foundation immediately or develops the central issue closer to the event remains to be seen, but the special now has a confirmed home and date.
AEW Blood & Guts will take place November 4 at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
Last Year’s Event Was Held in Greensboro
The 2025 edition of Blood & Guts took place at the First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. The move to Jacksonville for 2026 continues the event’s pattern of traveling while retaining its identity as an annual AEW spectacle.
Greensboro’s hosting of last year’s show demonstrated that Blood & Guts is not permanently tied to one market, despite Jacksonville’s importance to the event’s history. However, the return to Florida has an added symbolic value because the city was the location for the original 2021 installment. It gives the 2026 edition a sense of continuity without changing the formula that has made the special a regular part of AEW’s programming.
For Jacksonville, the announcement also adds another notable AEW date to a market with longstanding ties to the promotion. The city has been important to AEW from its earliest days, and Blood & Guts returning there places a major annual special in front of an audience familiar with the company’s history.
What Has Not Yet Been Announced
AEW has only confirmed the core logistical details: Blood & Guts is scheduled for November 4 at Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville. No teams, individual competitors, championship matches, or additional stipulations have been revealed at this stage.
That leaves considerable room for AEW’s television stories to determine the makeup of the event. Blood & Guts traditionally calls for an issue involving multiple wrestlers on each side, making alliances, internal tensions, and faction conflicts especially relevant as the company moves toward the fall. A rivalry does not need to be in place at the moment of the announcement, but the special’s format will inevitably place added attention on groups whose conflicts intensify in the coming weeks.
There is also no announced information on whether other matches will accompany the signature Blood & Guts contest. The annual special’s identity is anchored by the cage match, but AEW can use the rest of the broadcast to advance championships and other prominent programs. For now, the promotion has left the card open.
A Key Date on AEW’s Fall Schedule
With November 4 officially set, AEW has given fans and performers alike a major fall target. Blood & Guts is not simply another named episode of television; its match concept demands a level of conflict, numbers, and physical intensity that usually distinguishes it from weekly programming.
The announcement is also a reminder of how AEW has maintained the event from year to year. Since its 2021 debut, Blood & Guts has endured as a recurring special rather than a one-time concept. That longevity has made it one of the promotion’s recognizable branded events, alongside the kinds of shows that offer fans a specific expectation before the full card is announced.
Jacksonville will now host the next chapter on November 4. As AEW’s fall stories take shape, attention will turn to which wrestlers and factions emerge as the leading candidates to enter the two-ring cage and define Blood & Guts 2026.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.