The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.28.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 05.28.25

Starting late because I wanted to watch the Florida Men finish off Carolina. I think they’ve finally qualified as my new official backup team.

Live from El Paso, TX

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz & Ian Riccaboni

Hangman Adam Page joins Tony to start, with his fancy new Owen Hart belt. He would have made a hell of a North American champion back in the day. Hangman speaks of the fleeting nature of triumph, and defeat, and he puts over Ospreay for giving him the fight of his life. And sadly he has to return the Owen belt to Tony because he’s looking forward now. And he makes Texas a promise, to win the AEW World title and free the belt from Moxley. So this brings out Swerve Strickland, who points out that the Young Bucks screwed him out of the title, on behalf of Hangman. So he demands to know if the Bucks were working with him, but Hangman points out that if he wanted to cost Swerve the title, he would have done it by himself when he had the chance. And this brings out Will Ospreay, standing up for his new bestie Hangman. So Will points out that they’ve got one shot to get that belt off Moxley, but they all need to work together, and Swerve is NOT into that idea. Neither is Hangman. Come on, why won’t those crazy kids just admit what they feel for each other?

Meanwhile, Anarchy in the Arena certainly lived up to that name.

Meanwhile, the Death Riders arrive with new recruit Gabe Kidd in tow.

Marina Shafir, Gabe Kidd & Jon Moxley v. Willow Nightingale, Mike Speedball Bailey & Mark Briscoe

Kidd and Briscoe slug it out to start and it’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA as everyone brawls on the floor and we get a Sabu tribute from Mark as we take a break. Back with Mox dropping an elbow on Briscoe for two, but he fights back and brings in Speedball. Bailey with the kicks on Mox, and a shooting star gets two. Bailey with an inside cradle for two, and it’s over to Willow for a slugfest with Marina and a powerbomb for two, but Kidd breaks that up. Marina throws a suplex on Bailey and trade shots with Willow. But then Bailey goes up and Yuta sends him to the floor, where Kidd drops him on the timekeeper table and we take another break. Back with Kidd dropkicking Bailey for two, but Bailey hits Moxley with an enzuigiri and then kicks the shit out of Kidd until Gabe fires back with a lariat. Hot tag Briscoe and he battles Kidd in the corner and dropkicks him to the floor, where Bailey hits the triangle moonsault. Back in the ring, Briscoe drops the froggy bow on Kidd for two. This brings Claudio out to help now, but Komander ropewalks out of nowhere and takes him out and Briscoe rolls up Moxley for two. Mox the Paradigm Shift and bulldog choke on Briscoe, however, and Mark is out at 18:34. Yes, we kick off this week with a PARTY MATCH. ***1/2

Meanwhile, MJF pledges that the AEW World tag titles won’t ever leave the waists of the Hurt Syndicate.

Meanwhile, Ricochet continues his quest for gold in AEW, but first he needs a crew.

No DQ: Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford v. Anna Jay & Harley Cameron

The plunder is loaded up in the ring and Bayne cannonballs a chair in the corner as a result, but she shrugs it off, so the babyfaces beat on her with weapons until Bayne takes them both down with a crossbody. Anna dropkicks a chair into Bayne’s face for two and Harley legsweeps Ford for two. They set up a table outside while we take a break. Back with Harley trying a powerbomb off the apron, and she finally puts Bayne through the table on the third try with help from Anna. But then Bayne slams Harley onto the stairs, and Harley is BUSTED OPEN. Back in the ring, Anna with a Gory Bomb onto a chair for two on Ford. Bayne comes back with an F5 on Anna and then a lariat on Harley for two. Doomsday Device finishes Harley at 11:04. Very fun match to keep the feud going. ***

The Opps v. The Frat House (Griff Garrison, Cole Karter & Preston Vance)

Win or lose, they booze. I don’t want to rush to judgment but I think they’ve got something with this one. Wait, didn’t Preston Vance get kidnapped by Rush and left for dead in Mexico months ago on Collision? How did he make it back into the country? I’m gonna need someone to ask that one at the next PPV press scrum. Hobbs squashes the shit out of the geeks and hits all the pledges with spinebusters as well, and then pins Karter at 3:10. Hopefully the Frat House regroups and tries again, they ALMOST had them right where they wanted them.

Jamie Hayter joins Renee to discuss her future, but the spider lady finally debuts and lays her out after a lights out.

Meanwhile, Mistico is coming to AEW full time, it seems?

TNT title: Adam Cole v. Kyle Fletcher

Interesting one to just throw on a random episode. Fletcher tosses Cole around with slam, but Cole puts the boots to him in the corner and superkicks him to the floor, which brings out RPG Vice and Paragon for a brawl to the back. Kyle superkicks Adam on the floor and apron bombs him and that looks VICIOUS. We take a break a return with Cole making the comeback and the neckbreaker gets two. He goes up and Fletcher counters the Panama Sunrise for two, but Cole gets another neckbreaker and the second Panama Sunrise hits and then Josh Alexander runs in for the DQ at 9:10. This was fine but didn’t go anywhere. **1/4. And then Brody King makes the save as we move into…

AEW International title qualifier: Josh Alexander v. Brody King

Joined after the break with Alexander choking him out with his shirt as Callis declares Alexander to be the greatest Canadian tactician of all time, even more than Don Leo Jonathan! Thems’ fighting words in Canada. They fight to the floor and Brody hits the post by mistake, as Josh goes to work on the hand. Brody fires back with chops out there and then sends him flying to the floor again with a shoulderblock. Alexander fights back with a DDT on the apron, THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING, and then sends Brody to the floor with a bodypress. We take a break and return with them fighting on the top rope and out to the apron, where Alexander suplexes him out there for a double down on the floor. Alexander tries a Brody King crossbody onto a chair, but Brody has had enough of this guy and chops him down before hitting his own. Back in the ring, Brody with a cannonball, but it misses, and Alexander goes to the anklelock. German suplex gets two and Josh is busted open. He goes up for a moonsault, but that hits the knees and Brody puts him down with a lariat and Ganzo Bomb to finish at 13:35 and advance to the four-way next week. This was a HOSS FIGHT. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Adam Cole and Kyle Fletcher continue their beef backstage.

Face to Face: Mercedes Mone v. Toni Storm

Mercedes says that people are sick of a black and white champion and want someone with color. Toni notes that they have a lot of similarity, but while Mercedes wants all the titles, Toni only needs just one. And at All In, some girl with big dreams will be watching and say “Holy shit, these bitches are crazy”, and while Mone might be the greatest of all time, Toni is timeless. That’s clever. And then they offer a handshake before trying to piledriver each other on the belt to end the show. This was fine but didn’t feel like a show-closing angle or anything.

A hot show with a great crowd, and it flew by this week. Main event didn’t feel like much, but I think 20 years from now we’ll be talking about where we were when the Frat House changed the sport for good.