The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.05.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.05.25

I think we can all use a real banger of a show tonight. Fingers crossed.

Live from Atlanta, GA

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Taz & Excalibur

Meanwhile, Jay White stops by to chat with Renee outside the arena, but the Death Riders show up to start some shit, and Rated FTR are luckily there to make the save and trigger a brawl. They fight into the arena, where Wheeler Yuta takes another Blade Runner, and Pac takes a Shatter Machine. Sign of the week at ringside: “The Bore Horsemen”. But then Claudio uses his Giant Swing to turn the tide and allows the Riders to beat Jay down in the corner, and Cope makes the save with a spear. And then he finally challenges Mox to the World title match for Revolution, but Mox doesn’t want any part of him and it’s CHALLENGE DENIED. So then Jay White makes his own challenge for a tag match at Grand Slam, and I guess that one will happen regardless of Moxley’s feelings on it. This was, as Taz noted, what they call a “hot start” in the biz.

Meanwhile, Buddy Matthews accuses Okada of being afraid to defend his title, so they’ll do the title match at Grand Slam.

Will Ospreay v. Mark Davis

So Mark is the mystery member of the Don Callis family, thus ending his rather lame solo babyface run, and Callis explains on commentary that he gained control of Mark’s contract while he was in the hospital, so he doesn’t actually have a choice in the matter. They trade chops to start and Davis backdrops Ospreay and hits him with a sliding forearm in the corner for two. They slug it out and Davis takes him to the top, but Ospreay fights off the superplex attempt and puts him down with a springboard clothesline as we take a break. Back with them trading chops in the corner and Davis drops him with a release dragon suplex and then curb stomps him for two. Ospreay fights back with the corkscrew kick to put Davis on the floor and follows with a dive. Back in for a superkick that sets up the Ozcutter for two. Hidden Blade is blocked by a lariat that flips Ospreay over, and Mark piledrives him for two. Davis yanks off a turnbuckle to go for the kill, but the ref catches him and Ospreay finishes with the Hidden Blade at 11:38. So Davis sadly is unable to live up to his new Ospreay Killer nickname given to him by Don Callis. Obviously these two know how to have a great TV match with each other. ***1/2. Afterwards, Kenny Omega joins us and offers help to Mark Davis should he need to escape Don Callis. And Kenny does the hard sell for Grand Slam and hits the catchphrase, getting so much pyro that he even surprises himself. And he’s an EVP!

Meanwhile, we get a rundown of Swerve and Ricochet, with an interesting touch in that Ric points out that Swerve has had the yips ever since Hangman burned his house down.

The Hurt Syndicate join us, looking like giant stars as the new tag champs and drawing the biggest babyface reaction of the show so far. So they’re open for business and are accepting all open challenges, which brings out the Gunn Club to talk some business. MVP respects the courage and respects Billy Gunn, so he offers them a title shot next week and resurrects the Ass Boys name. And Austin’s sick burn reply is bleeped out but I assume it was SAUCY.

Meanwhile, Harley Cameron WINS on Collision, and then brings Mercedes Muppet out to apologize for last week. But then the real Mercedes interrupts, still not interested in defending the title despite Harley’s 1-0 record in the past week.

Meanwhile, Hangman Page clarifies that there was no regret on his face when he was beating on Christopher Daniels, but Max Caster interrupts because he’s taking too long and Hangman decides to answer the Max Caster Open Challenge as a result.

The Hounds of Hell v. Kyle Fletcher & Konosuke Takeshita

Buddy and Kyle trade wristlocks and Buddy goes for the PK, but Fletcher rolls away from it for the stalemate. Over to Brody and Takeshita, and Brody beats him down with chops as everyone bails to the floor for a brawl. Brody stacks them up in a chair and hits them with a double crossbody. Callis: “I watched you shoot on half your opponents in the ring and you let this guy take your chair?” We take a break and return with Takeshita in control via facelock, but Brody fights out of the corner and hits Takeshita with a lariat. He’s got no Buddy to tag, though, and Takeshita hits him with a german suplex as a result. Brody pops up from that and we get a double clothesline for a double down, and they both pop up and then go down again. Yeah I’m gonna need a singles match there, STAT. Hot tag to Buddy and he hits Kyle with a leg lariat and runs wild with knees and it’s back to the floor again. Buddy with the dive, and back in with the double knees to Fletcher for two. But then Okada’s music interrupts and Buddy gets distracted, so Brody hits the cannonball on Fletcher instead for two. They all head to the apron and Fletcher hits a draping DDT on King for two out of that. He tries the brainbuster but Brody powers out of it, so Takeshita joins in with a double brainbuster and that finishes at 14:15. Man I wouldn’t have stopped the Hounds’ momentum like that already but this was a fucking great match, up until it fell apart at the end a bit. Really the Callis Family had to win to set up Grand Slam, but I don’t think I would have made the match in the first place this soon. ***3/4.

Meanwhile, Hook and Joe go to confront Christian and he’s not there, so they beat up the Patriarchy instead as Cage thinks about stepping in and then thinks better of it.

MJF joins us, laughing at his own hilarious joke about Jeff Jarrett representing All ELDERLY Wrestling, and now he’s out of his hair. But then Max Caster runs in, trying to escape Hangman Page, and we get a brief moment between MJF and Hangman before Page runs into the audience to chase Caster again. And then before he can finish his catchphrase, Dustin Rhodes interrupts this time, and he wants MJF to keep Owen Hart’s name out of his mouth. So Dustin tells Max that he’s better than him and Max’s punk ass bitch mouth knows it. So then MJF fires back with the Dusty card and then accuses him of living in the shadow of his brother, and Dustin can’t take any more and beats his ass until security pulls them apart. At which point MJF sneaks back in and kicks Dustin in the nuts to get the last word. Still the same idea as the JJ feud, but Dustin has WAY more cred at this point and this was much better.

Timeless Toni Storm v. Queen Aminata

Toni is playing the role of Mariah May tonight, doing a pretty impressive impression it must be said. They trade headlocks and Aminata offends her with a butt rub, so Toni gets a sideslam and puts her on the floor with the hip attack. Aminata with her own dive and we take a break. Back with Aminata in control with a submission move as this is a really confusing match because fans don’t know who the babyface is supposed to be and the vibe is all off. On commentary, Mariah notes that Toni is missing 2 very important aspects of the Mariah character, while Toni gets a corner headscissors for two. They slug it out while Toni’s weave falls apart, but Aminata hits her running boot on the ropes for two. Storm with a DDT and the hip attack in the corner, and MayDay finishes at 9:03. This was a BAD idea, as they got too cute for their own good. If you’re gonna do a wacky thing like this, then make it a quick squash and not a confusing mess where two babyfaces go 50/50 for 10 minutes. I think they did the Storm reveal too soon. **

Meanwhile, Dustin Rhodes throws out the challenge to MJF for next week, THIS TUESDAY IN TEXAS. I’m presuming he mis-spoke there because I don’t think Dynamite is pre-empted next week.

New York Minute with Chris Jericho has BREAKING NEWS. Bandido is back but no one wants to see him, and then Powerhouse Hobbs and the Outrunners storm in for a brawl right here in the ALT (Appreciate the Learning Tree!), leading to a chokeslam battle between Big Bill and Hobbs. And they brawl into the crowd as we take a break.

Ricochet v. Swerve Strickland

Ricochet attacks in the aisle and destroys Swerve before the bell, quickly hitting the Vertigo for two. Backbreaker sets up a second try, but Swerve escapes, so Ric dropkicks him out of mid-air to block a leapfrog. Out to the floor with a dive and they brawl out there and climb onto the railing to slug it out. Ricochet tries a rana on the railing and Swerve powerbombs him on the top of the rail with a sick thud. How do you even protect yourself? Back to the ring as we take a break. Back with Ric hitting a lungblower out of the corner for two, and a backbreaker, but the crowd mocks his baldness and gets him all bothered. Swerve fights back, but Ricochet hits him with kicks and they do a cool powerbomb reversal sequence that leads to Swerve hitting a powerslam for two. Swerve with a german suplex and he rolls into the flatliner and right into the House call. Swerve Stomp gets two. They head to the apron and Ricochet hits him with a german suplex on the apron and back in with a 450 for two. Shooting star press gets two. Ric tries his Spirit Gun and Swerve puts him down again to counter and comes off with another Swerve Stomp, but he lands wang-first on Ric’s fist and the Spirit Gun finishes at 12:30. Goddamn it Swerve needs to stop doing so many jobs already. I know he wants to put everyone over and he’s basically bulletproof but BRO, come on. However, this one lived up to all the hype and was an awesome main event. ****1/4

A HOT crowd in Atlanta and a hot show with MINIMAL DEATH RIDERS was an amazing boost for my mood today, and dare I say this was the banger we needed. Well except for the Toni Storm match which was kind of a disaster, but that’s about it.