The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.22.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 04.22.26

Live from Portland, OR

Your hosts are Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness & Tony Schiavone

LAST WEEK: Darby Allin wins the AEW World title!

MJF joins us to start, and he’s not really happy. Darby cheated! The ref cheated! He stopped Hangman Page from challenging for the title ever again! And if Darby has any guts or dignity, he’ll come out and give Maxwell his World title back RIGHT NOW. But Kevin Knight answers instead, and he should be Jet Two Belts. So then MJF recaps the promo and points out that, no, Knight should not be World champion because MJF already beat him. And hey, the TNT title is perfect for someone with a ceiling like Knight has, because he’ll never be a World champion anyway. Knight mocks MJF for never being TNT champion and offers to give him an ass-whooping TONIGHT IN THIS VERY RING. But MJF wants a shot at the title, so Knight is fine with that. Knight hung in there pretty good with MJF all things considered.

TNT title: Kevin Knight v. MJF

But nope, MJF reveals that he wants the title shot NEXT week, and walks off.

Meanwhile, Jericho ha a six-man scheduled for Collision against Ricochet and his group, and he’s trademarked “the guy who gets his ass beat by the Demand every time that he shows up”, which is actually a shoot, by the way.

Brody King v. Lio Rush

Lio appears to have gone off the deep end and turned into a Kevin Sullivan character from 1991. Lio runs away to start and Brody smashes him with corner splashes before sending him to the floor and beating on him with chops. Brody tries the bodypress into the railing but misses, and Lio runs him into the post as we take a break. Back with Lio trying his stunner, but King clobbers him with a lariat. Lio catches him with a necksnap on the apron and kicks Brody to the floor before hitting a dive and then going to the top with a bodypress to the floor. Back in with a frog splash for one. Brody hits him with a Black Hole slam, however, and follows with the cannonball in the corner, and the Ganzo Bomb finishes at 9:22. I’m gonna say, I’m glad Lio is trying something new for his own sake, but it’s firmly in the category of Not For Me at the moment. **

Meanwhile, Ciampa wonders if Darby wants the AEW World title as much as Ciampa needs it.

Meanwhile, Copeland wants another tag team title shot for Double or Nothing, but this time in a New York Street Fight, and this time they’ll put their careers on the line.

Hikaru Shida v. Mina Shirakawa

Kris Statlander continues hanging out with Shida for reasons unknown. Mina grabs a headlock and Shida beats on her with forearms to break and then tosses her by the hair. Mina stops to dance and pops up with a kick off the top and a sling blade to put her down. They trade cradles for two and Shida puts her down with a nice high knee as we take a break. Back with Mina hitting a slingshot splash for two and she goes for the figure-four, but Shida blocks that and bails to the floor. She sends Mina into the stairs and hauls her back into the ring, but slams her on the apron on the way in. Shida goes up with a meteora from the top, and that gets two. Mina escapes the falcon arrow and hits her with a rolling elbow for a double down. Mina is up first with a missile dropkick and she goes up again with a sling blade for two. She gets the figure-four on her second attempt, but Shida rolls to the ropes right away. Shida goes for the kendo stick, but Mina grabs it first, and Stat steals it away from her. And this allows Shida to hit the falcon arrow for the pin at 11:20. This felt surprisingly messy for a lot of the match, but they got the crowd into it by the end. ***

Will Ospreay v. Mark Davis

Mark attacks and sends him to the floor right away for a beating out there, but Will dropkicks the stairs into his knee and jumps off them with a rana. Back in with a springboard clothesline for two. Davis clotheslines him to the floor again and they brawl out there, leading to Ospreay somersaulting off the ramp onto Mark as we take a break. Back with Will trying a springboard in the corner, but Davis brings him down with a neckbreaker for two. Will puts him down for a double down and punches him in the back of the neck for two. Davis blocks the Hidden Blade and crotches Will on the top rope before completely destroying him with a lariat for two in a great bump by Ospreay. Will escapes the piledriver and hits him with a Spanish fly for two. They slug it out and Davis keeps trying a backdrop driver but gets foiled. Ospreay hits him with a kick and tries the OzCutter, but Davis catches him and suplexes him on the bad shoulder. And then Ospreay gets up, so Davis does it AGAIN. Will retreats to the apron, so Davis suplexes him back in the ring and gets two, making sure to hook the neck and arms in a nice touch. Davis with an enzuigiri, but he runs up for the lariat and Will hits him with a Hidden Blade to counter, and that gets two. Another one is countered with a lariat and Davis hurks him up into the piledriver for two, as Ospreay’s foot lands on the ropes to save him. Ospreay can’t feel his hand due to neck damage, so Davis follows him to the apron and piledrives him out there like a complete psychopath, dropping Will’s lifeless body to the floor. Oh that was awesome. Davis demands the countout, but the doctor stops the match instead at 15:55. Well that’s even better for him! Man Mark Davis has been making the absolute most of his singles run and I’m glad to see him get something here. Also holy shit that match ruled. ****1/4. Davis wants to deliver another piledriver, but the Death Riders surround the ring and back Davis off, before kidnapping Ospreay for their own purposes.

Meanwhile, Alex Windsor is going to tear off each of Thekla’s stubby little legs by herself because Jamie Hayter is still injured, so Persephone steps in to help for Collision. Wait, so Renee just completely ignored her husband kidnapping Alex’s husband less than a minute before?

Samoa Joe v. Cody Chhun

Well they found quite the geek to sacrifice for Joe here. Cody works the arm and Joe punishes him for doing that, slugging him down in the corner until Cody rakes the eyes to escape. But then he goes up and misses the crossbody, and Joe beats him down even harder and finishes with the Muscle Buster at 2:30.

Meanwhile, Jericho strikes a deal with MVP to recruit the Hurt Syndicate, which means we get ANOTHER Demand v. Syndicate match.

Darby Allin joins Tony to talk about winning the title, but MJF interrupts and wants a rematch right now. Shouldn’t he be studying for his match with Knight next week? Darby blows him off and tells him to get lost, but he seems like he’s going to hang around.

AEW World title: Darby Allin v. Tommaso Ciampa

I swear to god if I ever spell “Tommaso” with the current number of M’s and S’s right on the first try, it’ll be the first time it ever happens. Darby immediately hits him with the corner dropkick and Ciampa bails to the floor, so Darby follows with a coffin drop out there. Ciampa shoves him off the apron and into the announce table and then tosses him into the railing as we take a break. Back with Ciampa choking him out on the floor and he catapults Darby under the ring frame. But Darby runs him into the timekeeper pit and then dives off the post with a crossbody onto the table in an insane spot. Ciampa is busted open out there, so Darby smashes him into the desk with a dive and goes after the cut. Back in the ring, Ciampa uses the ref for distraction and then crotches Darby on the way in before putting the boots to him and spattering his blood onto the camera lens. Gross. Darby hits the Scorpion Death Drop, but Ciampa pulls a turnbuckle off in the process. Ciampa escapes the coffin drop by rolling to the apron and he brings Darby down from the top rope again and beats on him with chops before taking him to the floor with an Air Raid Crash off the top rope. WTF. We take a break after that. Back with both guys down, but Ciampa just destroys Darby with chops in the corner, but Darby pops up with a double stomp off the middle rope and makes the comeback. Ciampa cuts that off with a knee strike, but Darby is up again with a Code Red for two. He goes up with a coffin drop but lands in a choke from Ciampa, and then rolls it over for two. But Ciampa runs him into Chekhov’s exposed turnbuckle and hits the bare knee strike for two. Project Ciampa follows and he hits another bare knee for two. Ciampa decides to go for broke with the Scorpion Deathlock, but Darby counters to his own and Ciampa can’t make it to the ropes and taps out at 19:00. So Darby kicks off his title reign with a BANGER for the sickos. Unbelievable match for free TV. ****3/4. I probably would have gone the full monty but the Deathlock finish fell apart a couple of times and looked really awkward.

Afterwards, Brody King hits the ring and he wants his own title shot NEXT WEEK, because Darby is insane and he’ll just defend against anyone until the wheels fall off.

Not exactly sure where we’re going for Double or Nothing yet but damn if that Darby title run isn’t off to a great start, and Ospreay has another incredible match on TV just to prove he can. A great show this week.