The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.27.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.27.26

Live from Philadelphia, PA

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz

Meanwhile at Double or Nothing, Will Ospreay stops by the doctor’s office after his win, and Kenny Omega is waiting to give him some life advice about dealing with the Death Riders. But Will is like “I would have asked you for help if you showed up, bruv!” Fair point. And then Jon Moxley wanders in and makes it super awkward while Omega is telling Will not to trust the Riders.

Kevin Knight joins us and he’s into full heel mode after turning on Darby Allin. As he points out, he told Darby not to let the people down, and that’s exactly what he did. Also Kevin was the one who should have been in the main event, since he beat MJF. This brings out Speedball in his best Obi Wan cosplay outfit, with SHOES! So he points out that Knight made a mistake, but they can still be friends if he apologizes. But instead, Knight turns on his best buddy and JETSPEED is no more.

Meanwhile, Ricochet and his crew are unconcerned about Jericho, even though GOA are banned from ringside tonight.

Jericho v. Ricochet

Ricochet dropkicks him into the corner off the bell and goes after Jericho’s knee, which was apparently injured at the PPV. I feel his sparkly pants will help to mitigate the damage, although I have no science to back that up. Ric beats on the knee in the corner, but he tries a springboard and Jericho slugs him down and hits him with a dive to the floor. They fight on the announce desk and Jericho gets the Walls there. Back to the ring, where Ricochet SWEEPS THE LEG and we take a break. Back with them fighting on the apron, where Jericho gets a death valley driver. Back in the ring, they trade chops while the fans chant “Bald” whenever Ricochet does one. That’s pretty good. Jericho bulldogs him and follows with a brainbuster for two. Jericho back to the apron and Ric hits him with a springboard dropkick and tope, looking for the honorable countout win. Jericho is up, so Ricochet dives on him and suplexes him on the floor again. Jericho beats the count, but Ricochet springboards with a splash for two on the way in. Jericho takes him down with the Walls, in the ring this time, but Ricochet powers out to escape. Rollup gets two and he goes low behind the ref’s back to set up the Ricosault, which only gets two. We get some SHOCKED TWO COUNT BALD and Ricochet heads up to finish, but he misses the 630 and Jericho hits him with the codebreaker for two. Judas Effect puts his lights out and the Lionsault finishes at 14:30 to presumably blow this off. Hell of an opener, although Jericho’s bad leg didn’t factor into the match that I could see. ***3/4. And then it’s Jericho’s next bald challenge, in this case Ciampa, who attacks Jericho and leaves him for dead.

Meanwhile, Andrade can now focus on winning the World title.

SUPERSTATION SHOWCASE: Orange Cassidy v. Rush v. Lio Rush v. Brian Cage

This is some kind of tribute to Superstation TBS. Also Orange’s sideways head shirt is INCREDIBLE. So simple and yet so genius. Cage awkwardly takes Rush down with a headscissors and follows with a samoan drop where Orange gets two. Orange is kind of freaked out by Lio Rush and whatever he’s got going on, but he dropkicks him to the floor. Back in, Cage tries a powerbomb on Lio and gets reversed to the floor. Orange hits them both and we tease a Rush dive as we take a break. Back with Orange slugging Cage off the top rope and following with an elbowdrop for two. Cage with a superplex for two, and he hits Lio with a falcon arrow for two. Orange manages to hit Cage with the DDT for two as Cage is just looking lost out there. Orange bails to the floor as Lance Archer hits the ring and brings the returning Jake Doyle with him for a beatdown and kidnapping. So we get the Rush-Rush showdown in the ring out of all that, and Lio hits his stunner and a spear for two. But then Lio misses a splash and Rush runs him into the railing outside and chokes him out with a cable while smashing his head into the railing. Back in the ring, Rush with the Bull’s Horns to finish at 12:11. Well that was the only possible finish we were gonna get. This match was a giant trainwreck and Cage looked awful out there, with Orange trying to hold it together and not really succeeding. *1/2

Meanwhile, MJF shows up with his new belt, but Kevin Knight interrupts and he still wants a title shot. And then Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher offer him potential employment. Lord no, keep him away from that group.

Meanwhile, the Brawling Birds talk about Double or Nothing, and Alex Windsor is going through the Wild Card entry next week on the way to All In along with her darling Billy.

MJF joins us for his 3 time World title celebration, dumping Darby’s belt in the garbage can and reintroducing his BBB again. So he puts himself over and demands to be recognized as the greatest of all time, but Mark Briscoe interrupts and calls Max a penguin. And not one of those fancy South American beach penguins, either. Mark reminds us that he pinned MJF last time they met, and now he wants a title shot. Max isn’t interested in that one, and then Rush interrupts. Max is unimpressed with multiple languages, SENOR, and teases him with a title shot tonight before moving it to next week while poor Mark Briscoe stands there all confused.

Meanwhile, Luchasaurus takes Jack Perry for some Rocky-style training in preparation for his Owen Hart tournament match.

Owen Hart tournament quarterfinals: Claudio Castagnoli v. Brody King

They trade shots on the ropes and Brody beats on him with chops, leading to a slugfest and a battle to the floor as we take a break. Back with them still slapping meat as neither one goes down until finally they both do. And then they’re up and throwing more hands on each other, leading to Claudio getting the running uppercut in the corner. Brody tries more chops to fight back, but Claudio blasts him with another uppercut to cut him off. Brody with the cannonball, but Claudio counters with yet another uppercut, and Brody regroups and hits the cannonball on the second try, sending Claudio to the floor with the first actual move of the match. Brody tries a dive and Claudio hits him with an uppercut from the floor, and back in with more uppercuts. So they slap meat again and you know Claudio isn’t ever running out of gas, and he just keeps hitting those forearms and a popup uppercut. But finally Brody hits him with a lariat and falls on top, and Claudio doesn’t anything left to kick out and gets pinned at 11:51. This was WILD work and totally different than anything we’ve seen in weeks, like their version of Rocky in wrestling form. ****

Cope and Christian join us for their Five Second Pose to celebrate their tag team title win. Christian notes that he’s pretty sure he didn’t bang any of the audience’s mothers, but the 90s were a wild time so who knows. Cope sets up the pose for the Benefit of Those With Flash Photography, but Christian doesn’t want to do it and quips that they don’t even make flash photography. So Cope pulls out a bag of disposable cameras. FUN FACT: Fuji prefers the term “single use cameras” because “disposable” implies that they’re garbage after developing, when in fact the plastic shell is very much recyclable. Anyway, before we get any offbeat shenanigans, the Dogs hit the ring and destroy the champs, before doing their own Five second pose. Well that feels like a stopgap feud before the inevitable three-way ladder match with FTR and the Bucks at All In, but it’s definitely something new and should be great.

Meanwhile, Swerve reminisces about breaking Brody King into wrestling and he wonders if Bandido might be in the hospital maybe.

Tay Melo & Anna Jay v. Ava Everett & Allie Katch

Allie’s definitely been around and would be a good pickup, although she’s just here for job duty. TayJay finishes Ava with a double-team knee at 1:00.

Meanwhile, Speedball wants a match with Kevin Knight.

Owen Hart tournament quarterfinals: Mark Davis v. Jack Perry

I’m gonna be straight with ya, I’m kind of bummed that Doyle is back because I’ve been enjoying this Mark Davis run so much. Hopefully they don’t just put them back together in the midcard again. Perry dropkicks Davis to the floor and follows with a tope as we take a break. Back with them slugging it out on the floor, and Davis beats on Perry in the ring and smashes him off the apron and into the railing outside. Davis mugs with a Taz impression, which leaves Taz unimpressed at the gimmick infringement. Good thing he’s not wearing orange. Jack beats the count and they slug it out on the apron, where Jack takes him down to the floor with a rana and follows with a dive. Back in for a moonsault press and that gets two. Perry with a senton for two, but they head to the floor again and Perry bulldogs him out there before falling victim to a falcon arrow on the apron and we take another break. Back with them fighting on the top rope as Perry has lost his boots, and he hits Davis with a superplex for a double down. Perry with sliced bread for two. Rana is countered into a sunset flip for two by Davis, but Perry superkicks him and then powers him up into a piledriver for two. Perry gets the Snare Trap off that, but Davis makes the ropes. Jack with the running knee, but Davis swats him down and destroys him with the lariat for two. Mark tries the piledriver and can’t get him up, and Perry fights back with chops and they fight to the top. But Perry slips and Davis brings him down with the piledriver for the pin at 17:27 to advance to the semi-finals and WE’RE DESPERATELY OUT OF TIME. TSN wasn’t kidding around there, they cut to black as soon as the bell rang. Davis is on an incredible run of awesomeness right now. ****1/4. And how about those semi-finals? Swerve v. Brody and Ospreay v. Davis leading to Swerve v. Ospreay finals? DAYUM.

This was a GREAT post-PPV show, featuring three great matches and some interesting new matchups and feuds. A very fun two hours and as always, Niz will have the third hour for you as well.