The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.06.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.06.26

As always, the ground rules for these extended shows are that I’ll do the two hours of Dynamite, but Collision airs on a different channel and my DVR never catches it anyway, so Niz will handle that aspect of the show.

RIP Ted Turner, who was a huge influence on the wrestling business, but ended up having a complicated legacy. And Tony Schiavone kicks off the show with a tribute to Ted, and even brings out Sting to tell stories about Ted saving wrestling from TBS and their attempts to cut it off. And we get a 10 bell salute, which honestly is way more than some notable wrestlers have received in the past few years.

Live from North Charleston, SC. That sounds like a confusing place to find.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone

Continental title eliminator: Jon Moxley v. Juice Robinson

They slug it out to start and Juice wins that battle with chops and catapults Mox over the top, but Jon stomps on his hand on the way back into the ring and uses some SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION on him. Mox is somehow bleeding from his cheek already and they brawl to the floor again. Back in, Juice slugs on him in the corner and we take a break. Back with Mox working on the hand again, presumably trying to negate the Left Hand of God, but Juice puts him down with a side kick and follows with a corner clothesline. Mox puts him down with a cutter while Juice is showboating, but he beats on Juice in the corner and takes a powerbomb as a result. Juice comes back with a rana out of the corner and a lariat for two. Juice with a full nelson slam and he goes up with a flying bodypress for two. They trade headbutts and Juice runs him into the post for two, but Mox reverses the DDT into his choke and a piledriver for two. Back to the choke again and Juice is out at 15:00. Fun opener, although Juice clearly had no shot here. ***

Meanwhile, the Death Riders continue training with Will Ospreay, as Yuta uses him as a bench and does situps on his back. And Moxley lays out the motivation: Get Will’s neck fixed and push past the mental roadblocks to finally become the top guy. I know people bust on Moxley but I legit have no idea where this storyline is going and I think that’s pretty cool. There’s no standard trope here that you can easily point out, and that’s refreshing.

Double Jeopardy match: Dax Harwood v. Orange Cassidy

Winner earns a shot at the loser’s title. FTR brings out the Dogs and Callis Family geeks as backup, so Orange has the Conglomeration, Young Bucks and C&C. I sense a chaotic finish. Dax puts him down with shoulderblocks, but Orange works a headlock on the mat and hits him with an Orange Punch out of the corner, before they brawl to the floor. Orange ends up getting his arm wrapped around the post, and we take a break. Back with Dax trying for a superplex, but Orange fights him off and goes up for a slugfest on the top rope. Orange comes down with a DDT for two. Dax bails and Orange hits him with a dive, but Dax catches him and slams the hand into the desk to further injure it. Back in the ring, Orange fires back but his hand is hurting too much, and Finlay necks him from the floor and Dax rolls him up for two. So everyone brawls at ringside and Dax grabs the bell in the melee, but Orange hits him with a PK and then can’t hit the Orange Punch due to pain. So Dax gets the slingshot powerbomb, but Orange comes back with the stunner and finally gets the Orange Punch, but it only gets two. Dax throws kicks from his back, so Orange wraps him up in a cradle for the pin at 12:19. So the Conglomeration earns a future tag team title shot. Dax doesn’t do many singles matches but they’re generally all good. ***. Afterwards, Rocky and Trent are left alone after all their allies run away, and the babyfaces all take turns beating on them.

Meanwhile, we take a look at RUSH.

Meanwhile, Jericho is pretty furious with Ricochet, and he heads out to the ring to express his anger appropriately and calls out the Demand. Ricochet throws out a challenge for Stadium Stampede at Double or Nothing, even though Jericho doesn’t actually have four partners at the moment. So Jericho tries to take them on alone, but that goes badly for him, and the Hurt Syndicate saves, which gives him two partners at least.

Meanwhile, Mina and Harley face Shida & Statlander later tonight and Mina is so excited that she tears Harley’s shirt off before realizing that there’s no gear underneath. Thankfully it only motivates Harley more.

International title: Kazuchika Okada v. Bryan Keith

Keith works a headlock to start and throws kicks to put him down for two. Kneedrop gets two. They go up and Okada dropkicks him off the top and down to the floor and follows with a DDT out there as we take a break. Back with Okada hitting a knee strike to put Bryan down, but Keith gets a DDT for two. Back to the floor for another DDT from Bryan out there. Back in, Okada with the neckbreaker and he goes up for the flying elbow, but Keith escapes the Rainmaker. So Okada dropkicks him again, but Bryan headbutts him and powerbombs him for two. He tries a Diamond Dust, but Okada counters out and hits the Rainmaker to finish at 10:24. Fans were confused about who they were cheering for here, and the result was mostly that they cheered for no one. **1/2. And afterwards, Okada declares that he’s coming for the AEW World title.

Meanwhile, we take a look at Andrade El Idolo, who also wants the AEW World title. Lots of people seem to want that thing.

Meanwhile, Kevin Knight ALSO wants the AEW World title so he can be Kevin Two Belts.

Meanwhile, the Opps throw out another offer to pry Will Ospreay away from the Death Riders and join them instead. Apparently Samoa Joe is going to give Anthony Bowens a chance to succeed. I feel like we need the Jim Carrey “So you’re saying there’s a chance” meme there.

Harley Cameron & Mina Shirakawa v. Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida

Well, sadly Harley has found her gear now, but there’s always her Instagram. Kris overpowers Mina to start and gets a backslide for two, but Mina dropkicks her and shakes her stuff. Over to Harley, but Shida doesn’t want any of the Wrath and it’s on Kris to take care of it. So the babyfaces (?) double-team Stat and Mina slingshots onto her for two. Shida traps Mina in the heel (?) corner and gets the running knee on the apron to take over and we take a break. This is another match where the roles aren’t particularly well defined and it’s lacking in heat. Shida and Mina slug it out, as Mina puts her down with an elbow and makes a hot tag to Harley. She comes off the top with a crossbody on Statlander and follows with a DDT and running knee for two. Mina goes up and Stat brings her down with a superplex for two. But then Mina fights them off and it’s back to Harley, who hits Shida with a neckbreaker for two. They trade cradles for two, but Statlander saves Shida with a big boot, and Shida hits the falcon arrow to finish Harley at 11:10. I feel like they need to figure out where this is going and get there. This was the usual OK women’s match in the death slot. **1/4

Meanwhile, Swerve wants more power and control and to be the most dangerous, and that’s why he’s aiming for Bandido, who is the most wanted. But I mean, he doesn’t want the ROH World title, because that would be STUPID, am I right?

Meanwhile, Bandido and Brody King warn Swerve not to mess with them.

AEW World title: Darby Allin v. Kevin Knight

They trade takedowns to start and Knight works a headlock on the mat, and Darby reverses to his own for two. They slug it out and Darby hits a coffin splash for two off that, and they fight to the floor as Knight dives and we take a break. Back with Darby hitting his own dive on the other side of the ring, nearly killing himself as usual, but he goes up to the top and Knight was playing possum and pops up for a rana to the floor. Why would you take that bump? Knight preps the table while the ref desperately reminds him that he wins the belt IN THE RING, but then Kevin goes into the ring and springboards from the ring, off the top rope, and onto Darby on the desk with a flying clothesline in a spot I can literally say I’ve never seen done before. Knight seems like he hurt his knee on that one. Back in the ring, Darby catches him with the Scorpion Deathlock, but Kevin quickly makes the ropes. Darby goes up and the coffin drop misses, and Kevin hangs him in the Tree of Woe and goes up for the Coast to Coast dropkick to KO Darby again. But then he goes up and adds the UFO splash, hurting his knee on the way down, and that only gets two as a result. Knight goes up again while Darby crawls the other way and suckers him into a guillotine, but Knight fights to the ropes to break. Darby goes up with a coffin drop on the ropes, and then goes up with a second coffin drop to finish at 15:21 and retain the title. Another great one in a series for Darby, which saved the show this week. ***3/4. And then Sting comes out to celebrate with him as Dynamite ends right there.

This was a definite off week aside from the main event, as they didn’t really do much for the PPV, aside from announcing Stadium Stampede, but even then we don’t have the full lineup for the teams yet. Plus it was a small crowd and they were not great as compared to some they’ve had lately. I’d say check out the Darby match and the rest is kind of a pass this week for me.