The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.15.24

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.15.24

Live from Everett, WA

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Excalibur & Taz

Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson v. Jeff Cobb & Kyle Fletcher

We get a huge brawl on the floor right away and Danielson dropkicks Cobb into the railing while Mox beats on Fletcher to the tune of Bryan’s theme song. Finally they ring the bell to end the music and Bryan brings Cobb into the ring and beats on him in the corner. Over to Moxley and the BCC splits the legs on Cobb to set up a figure-four from Danielson. Kyle comes in and throws chops on Moxley, but Mox just laughs it off and fires back harder. Mox with the backrake to set up a superplex for two as my wife wonders if it’s against the rules to claw at someone’s back like that. I assured her that it is. Danielson with a flying knee guillotine on Fletcher as we take a break. Back with Moxley as face in peril, but he fights back with a german suplex on Cobb and makes the hot tag to Bryan. He beats on Cobb with kicks and follows with the running elbow, then sends him to the floor and follows with a dive onto the heels. Back in the ring, Cobb catches Bryan with a spinning backdrop suplex, but Moxley comes in again to take care of business. Fletcher makes a quick comeback but Mox lays him out with the lariat and then puts Cobb down with a cutter. Fletcher hits a Michinoku Driver for two, but Danielson saves. So they get rid of Danielson and Fletcher hits Mox with a tombstone for two. Doomsday Device is evaded by Mox, and Bryan hits Fletcher with the knee, into the Death Rider from Mox to finish at 13:00. But then Takeshita in his fabulous pants lays out Moxley to continue setting up that program until Claudio makes the save. A very fun opener and Fletcher continues to hang with the big boys. ***3/4

Meanwhile, we get a recap of Swerve’s media tour and feud with Christian Cage.

Adam Copeland joins us to call out Malakai Black, but the House of Black jumps him before he can even make it to the ring. And they choke him out and take the wedding ring, before Kyle O’Reilly makes the save. And then he gets laid out as well. Man, I wouldn’t mess with Beth Phoenix. This felt really flat.

Meanwhile, Eddie Kingston runs afoul of the Elite at New Japan Resurgence. And now he’s out of Double Or Nothing and the Elite don’t seem particularly broken up about it.

Meanwhile, FTR has a fourth guy for their team in mind already.

The Young Bucks v. Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal

Sydal puts the Bucks down with knee strikes, and it’s over to Daniels, who beats on Matt in the corner. The faces double-team Matthew and Sydal gets a standing moonsault for two and we take a break. Back with Sydal hitting both Bucks with a rana and he makes the hot tag to Daniels, who fights off the Bucks alone but gets double-teamed. Sydal hits Matthew with a dive outside, but winds up getting tossed into the front row, leaving Daniels without a partner to tag. And the TK Driver finishes at 8:30. This had fun moments but was mostly an extended squash for the Bucks. **1/4. And unfortunately, Daniels is not only eliminated from title contention, he’s FIRED. And poor Tony gets a Flair energy drink dumped on him by Jack Perry, so really gets the worst of it.

Meanwhile, Toni Storm shows off her maternal instincts in advance of destroying Harley tonight.

Meanwhile, Malakai has a counter offer for Adam Copeland: If Cope loses the barbed wire steel cage match, he joins the House of Black.

Hook v. Sebastian Wolfe

Hook immediately drops the geek on his head with a suplex and finishes with the Redrum at 0:27. So he calls out Chris Jericho, who sadly has to decline a fight tonight because it’s a teaching moment, not a fighting moment. And although the crowd wants Jericho to retire, at which point he’ll no doubt be inducted into several pro wrestling Halls of Fame, he doesn’t want that yet. So Hook attacks and bops Jericho in the head with the microphone, but Bill saves his teacher and they double-team Hook until Shibata makes the save.

Swerve Strickland v. Brian Cage

The absence of Nana immediately robs Swerve’s entrance of a big element of cool. Swerve hits Cage with a high knee right away and dumps him to the floor for a dive, but Cage catches him in a suplex. So Swerve stomps the arm from the apron and rolls into a flatliner for one back in the ring. Cage beats on Swerve in the corner and follows with a press slam into the corner and we take a break. Back with Cage hitting a superplex for two. Swerve makes the comeback and hits the back elbow and then follows with a deadlift brainbuster for two. Cage blocks the rolling flatliner and goes for Weapon X, but Swerve reverses him into an armbar attempt. Cage powers out of that into Diverticulitis for two. Swerve counters the Drillclaw into a rollup for two and they fight to the apron, where Swerve stomps him to the floor. Back in with a 450 for two. Cage with a double powerbomb for two. Another Drillclaw is reversed into a rana by Swerve and they slug it out, but then Swerve makes it personal and snaps the arm before hitting the House kick for the pin at 14:48. Swerve had some crazy hometown heat here and they had an awesome power match. ****. Afterwards, Nick Wayne sneaks in with a low blow and then smashes a photo on Swerve’s head, busting him open above the eye in gross fashion. Man there’s a lot of heels getting HEAT on this episode.

Meanwhile, Hook and Shibata argue over who gets Jericho first, but Samoa Joe stops by and laughs at how much of a goof Hook is becoming. “He’s too large to be wearing a floral pattern” notes Shibata, for the line of the night.

Toni Storm v. Harley Cameron

Storm takes her down with a headlock, but Harley comes back with knees until Toni puts her down with a Thesz Press. Hip attack puts Harley on the floor, but Toni gets distracted by Serena Deeb as we take a break. Back with Storm hitting a backstabber in the corner and following with a DDT into a fisherman’s suplex for two. Harley with a running knee for two. Storm with a short powerbomb for two as the crowd is 100% behind Toni but they keep booking her as a heel. Cameron with a rollup for two and they trade near-falls until Storm Zero finishes at 7:07. Damn, Harley had another really watchable match on TV. There might be something there. **1/2

Meanwhile, Will Ospreay brings up his retirement of the Tiger Driver 91 again, but he doesn’t respect Roderick Strong, bruv, and Roderick accuses him of being a fraud. Simple but effective and it actually made it feel like a bigtime title match for the PPV.

Contract Signing: Mercedes Mone v. Willow Nightingale

Willow does a nice babyface promo about being the face of TBS and Mercedes does her usual “I’m the best” heel response and brings up Brooklyn from 10 years ago again, before Willow gets the mic drop line by pointing out that the last time they met, Willow walked out with a title and Mercedes didn’t walk out at all. So Mercedes attacks and Willow powerbombs her through the table for Mone’s first bump of her AEW career. This was easily the best segment they did together. But are we ever going to learn who attacked Mercedes when the lights went out? Am I the only one who remembers that?

AEW Continental title: Kazuchika Okada v. Dax Harwood

Dax goes for the Sharpshooter early and Okada bails to the floor to escape that. Back in the ring, Dax beats on him with chops until Okada runs him into the corner and we take a break. Back with Harwood fighting back with a spinebuster, but Okada dropkicks him to the floor and follows with a draping DDT off the railing. Dax beats the count at 9 and goes dead weight to prevent a Rainmaker before coming back with rolling german suplexes. They slug it out and Okada’s dropkick is countered into a Sharpshooter attempt, but Okada kicks him into the corner and follows with the neckbreaker for two. They fight to the top and Dax brings him down with a superplex for a double down. Dax comes back with a lariat and follows with the slingshot powerbomb, but Okada reverses to a rollup, which Dax reverses to his own rollup for two. Dax with a tombstone for two. He goes up and misses a diving headbutt, but reverses the Rainmaker into the Sharpshooter and Okada has to make the ropes. But then Okada distracts the ref with shenanigans, goes low, and finishes with the Rainmaker at 16:14. ***1/2 The Elite hit the ring for the beatdown, but Darby Allen returns from bus injury to make the save and join the Anarchy in the Arena match after an insane 13 minute overrun.

Lots of good this week, although the show felt really long to me. Anarchy in the Arena will likely be a show stealing classic, but I don’t know that the rest of the PPV card is particularly jumping out at me as a loaded show or anything yet.