The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.15.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.15.26

Hey, I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff in the can and ready to post this week thanks to vacation anyway, so we’ll just put this up right now for obvious reasons and give you a bonus Thursday rant in the morning as well.

Live from Seattle, WA. Wait, sorry, there’s someone with a sign in the front row that says “This isn’t Seattle”. Sorry, my bad.

Live from Everett, WA

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Bryan Danielson

Meanwhile, MJF shows up and hasn’t yet been informed that Darby Allin is getting the title shot tonight. So Don Callis shows up and accidentally informs him that Darby won the title shot. And then a frustrated Renee has to give him the bad news…which is apparently happening right now.

AEW World title: MJF v. Darby Allin

Max is not even dressed in his gear and he’s not into the idea of an impromptu match and threatens to sue everyone involved in the match. And his back hurts. Plus he’s doing Darby a favor because Darby isn’t championship material. So Darby tells him that he climbed Everest and hung posters and it’s time to ring the bell. But then Bryan interrupts and passes on a message from Tony Khan and the match will happen later tonight in the main event instead. And Darby promises to beat him with a headlock takeover when he wins the title.

Meanwhile, Kenny Omega talks with Tony after his loss at Dynasty, but he’s got nothing to say and just hangs out with an equally bummed Will Ospreay instead. Will offers a peptalk, but Kenny doesn’t feel like he’s got another shot in him. But he knows that Will does. But Will still believes in Kenny and doesn’t want to take his shot yet.

Tommaso Ciampa v. Dezmond Xavier

Ciampa immediately boots Xavier to the floor and runs him into the railing. Back in the ring, Xavier tries for a takedown, but Ciampa knees him back to the floor again. Back in, Xavier gets a leg lariat and chases Ciampa out, but can’t hit a dive as we take a break. Back with Ciampa holding a chinlock, but Xavier fights out of that and hits a cutter to come back. He pops with a tornado DDT for two, but misses a 450. Ciampa with a powerbomb, but Xavier reverses into a rana for two. To the floor and Dezmond hits the dive, and back in with a frog splash for two. He goes up again, but Ciampa hits him with a knee strike on the way down and follows with Project Ciampa. And then it’s down with the kneepad and he puts Xavier’s lights out at 9:46. Good opener. **1/2. And he challenges the winner of the World title match tonight, because he’s sick of waiting for the gold.

Meanwhile, we take a look back at the previous match between Darby and MJF and Darby’s quest to be champion.

FTR joins us after a rather surprising win over C&C at Dynasty, and Dax understands why everyone is angry at them winning all the time. And Copeland & Cage will never get another title shot again. Big Stoke declares that there’s a lot of David v. Goliath stories and FTR is Goliath. Um, he knows what happened to Goliath at the end of that story, right? Regardless, there’s no competition left for them, so Tony Khan will go to CMLL or New Japan or whatever and whoever he finds will just get beat like all the rest. So for the benefit of those with flash photography, they give us a 10 second pose.

TNT title: Kevin Knight v. Claudio Castagnoli

Knight comes out with a sunset flip for two right away and hits him with a dropkick to put him on the floor, but Claudio comes in with a lariat to put him down and they trade chops. Claudio slams him and goes to work on the neck, but Knight flips out and takes him to the floor for a forearm off the apron as we take a break. Back with them trading forearms and Knight pops up with a clothesline and follows with a splash for two. Knight sends him to the floor and hits him with a tope con hilo. Back in, Claudio goes up and Knight tries to bring him down with a rana, only for Claudio to just block him and hoist him up in the air for a Neutralizer attempt off the top. Knight fights out of that, but Claudio comes down with the uppercut and gets two from that. Knight tries a springboard move and Claudio catches him in a backbreaker for two. Giant Swing follows, but Knight blocks the Sharpshooter and pops up to the top with a lariat. And then it’s back up for the UFO splash to retain at 9:43. Claudio was a spectacular base for Kevin’s wacky flying as usual. ***1/2. Afterwards, Knight puts him over in his promo, and he’s also waiting to see who wins the World title tonight.

Jericho joins us for an interview with Renee, but Ricochet quickly interrupts. Ric advises Jericho to quit while he’s ahead and maybe reinvent himself as the guy who loses to Ricochet all the time. So Jericho goes deep into the SNL for Kevin Nealon’s subliminal news report gag, and he challenges Ricochet to a match TONIGHT IN THIS VERY RING. But then Jericho wins the slugfest and GOA runs in for the beatdown. And he adds his new finisher, the RICO-SAULT, for good measure. Still not sure where this Jericho thing is going but it feels like he’s building up to something.

Meanwhile, after Dynasty, more tension between Takeshita and Okada. Takeshita is VERY SORRY for what happened, although I don’t think he’s being 100% sincere.

Will Ospreay v. Hechicero

Don’s introduction is more unhinged than usual, featuring him working “Super Nintendo” into the faux Spanish at one point. Will is more K-Tape than man tonight. Will takes him down with a headscissors to start, but Hechicero gets his own and then boots Will in the head and starts beating on the neck. They take it to the floor as we take a break. Back with Hech hitting Will with the swinging hammerlock and then sending him into the corner for a knee to the back that gets two. Hech hits him with a sliding dropkick to put him on the floor. Back in for the flying surfboard and bend Will’s neck further, but he grabs the hair and it forces the break. Ospreay comes back with a flipping kick and goes up with the springboard elbow for two. Standing moonsault gets two. Hechicero is FIRED UP and he drops the straps, but Ospreay hits him with an enzuigiri. Hechicero with the guillotine headscissors for two, as Will has to use the ropes to escape, and he beats on the shoulder until the ref calls in the doctor to check it over and we take another break. Back with the match continuing, as Hechicero holds him in an abdominal stretch and then yanks on the neck using the top rope. Will charges and lands on the floor, and Hechicero pulls out a dive to put him down. Back in with a top rope clothesline to the back of the neck, which gets two. He kind of had to give Will the iggy there, it looked like. Will tries a comeback, but Hechicero reverses into a cradle for two. Will with a backslide for two. OzCutter is blocked and Hechicero counters into the armbar before turning it into a triangle choke. Will turns that into a Styles Clash somehow and fires up for one last Hidden Blade to finish at 18:16. This was crazy good, with Ospreay’s injury playing right into Hechicero’s playbook. ****1/4. But then Don calls for Plan B, which turns out to be a sneak attack from Mark Davis and a piledriver on the bad neck.

Thekla joins us via the crowd, declaring the industry to be full of nothing but dumb bitches. I love that she has no interest in putting anyone over. So Alex Windsor shows up to defend Jamie Hayter’s honor and apparently in Japan they call Thekla “the girl who was silly enough to get fired from Japan.” Thekla admits that yeah, she got fired and Alex challenges her to a title match on Collision and then fights off the Spooky Sisters before chasing Thekla away. Thekla has a really fun charisma as an obnoxious shit talker.

Meanwhile, Jon Moxley saw Ospreay’s cards on the table and wasn’t impressed. Also he’s not impressed with Nick Wayne, who gets a shot at him on Collision. Apparently Nick is still the ROH TV champion. Literally had no idea.

TBS title: Willow Nightingale v. Kamille

Willow fights off an attack and runs her into the corner, but Kamille goes to work on the arm and snaps Willow’s arm on the top rope. Willow fights back with chops, but Kamille works the arm again as we take a break. Back with Willow hitting her with clotheslines and a pounce into the corner to set up the cannonball, which gets two. Kamille fights back with a facebuster and a Rough Ryder for two. She goes to an armbar, barely looking like she knows how to apply it, but Willow escapes that and finishes with the BACKSLIDE OF DOOM at 8:29 to retain. Kamille hasn’t advanced that much since last year but she didn’t completely embarrass herself at least. *1/2

Meanwhile, Hikaru Shida makes a tag team with Kris Statlander, whether Stat wants to or not.

Meanwhile, STING stops by to give Darby one last one last bit of motivation. And it’s not Showtime, it’s Darby’s time.

AEW World title: MJF v. Darby Allin

MJF hands over the ring and then hits Darby with a low blow, but then Darby fires right back with his own and hits the Scorpion Deathdrop. Coffin Drop follows, and a second one to keep MJF from rolling out, and then a third one. MJF tries to roll away again, so Darby goes up with a fourth one, and then it’s the SIDE HEADLOCK OF DEATH to win the World title at 1:54 as the locker room empties out to celebrate. I don’t see this one lasting past the PPV but it’s really nice to see them pull the trigger on someone who’s hot and in their hometown and in a complete squash to boot. Also crazy that they finally paid off the side headlock gag after all these years, because I sure didn’t think Darby was ever getting that one back. So kudos for that.

Well this was an episode that people are gonna be talking about for a while, I bet. I’m guessing Double or Nothing is Darby/Kenny/MJF in some form and then they can get to the business of building towards Ospreay’s shot at Wembley.