The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 06.18.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 06.18.25

“Grand Slam Mexico!”

Live from Mexico City, Mexico

Tonight is for…

THE MEX-SICKOS!

Your hosts are Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness & Tony Schiavone

Hangman Page joins us to start, and he’s EN ESPANOL! Luckily Excalibur is around to translate as Hangman does the first five minutes in the local dialect, which is pretty impressive considering I didn’t even know he spoke Spanish. LOS HOJAS SON PLANTAS, DUMBASS! Excalibur helpfully lets us know that Page will be watching after Moxley in the main event tonight.

Dax Harwood, Volador Jr, Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita, Josh Alexander, Hechicero & Lance Archer v. Bandido, Atlantis, Atlantis Jr, Templario, Brody King, Adam Cole & Daniel Garcia

Good lord this show needs the extra half hour just for all the ring introductions here. Luckily they didn’t ask Adam Cole to use the staircase in the middle of the stage or else he might have shattered his ankle on the way to the ring again. Bandido starts with Takeshita and tries a GTS, but Takeshita counters out, so Bandido puts him on the floor with a rana and it’s over to Hechicero. The concept with one man in the ring and one on the apron is pretty cool. Hechicero with a running knee in the corner, so it’s over to Garcia for the universal language of dance. He takes Hech to the floor with a headscissors and that brings Dax in, as he clotheslines Garcia to the floor. Atlantis Jr, who is not really liked by the crowd, comes in with a slingblade on Dax for two. A double-team dropkick with Templario gets two. Volador comes in and cleans house with superkicks, but Templario puts him on the floor for the SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP. Next up it’s a HOSS FIGHT between Brody and Archer and they end up on the floor, which sets up a big brawl as the technicos clear the ring and we take a break. Back with Garcia hitting a neckbreaker on Alexander and making a hot tag to Bandido, and he hits Josh with a press slam. To the top, but Alexander brings him down with a belly to belly for two. We get stereo superplexes on the Callis Family for two and man people still hate Atlantis Jr. It’s whatever Spanish for BONZO GONZO is as everyone slugs it out in the corner and Cole brawls to the back with Kyle Fletcher while guys dive. Back in the ring for another meat match between Archer and Brody, but Hechicero hits Brody with a flying clothesline to put him down. Brody snaps off a rana (!) and then dives onto some heels outside for fun, and then we get a showdown between Atlantis the Elder and Dax Harwood. Dax puts the boots to him, but Atlantis gets a lame cradle out of nowhere for the pin at 15:55. This was an interesting exhibition of styles but there was SO MANY guys in there that it never really attained any kind of momentum, and the finish sucked. Plus, as I’m sure many people know, I do not care for the lucha libre style in general and don’t really “get” it. **1/4

LAST WEEK: Okada turns even more heel and drops a flying elbow on Kenny, RIGHT ON THE DIVERTICULITIS, sending him to the hospital on a stretcher.

Mark Briscoe v. Kazuchika Okada

Mark tosses him to start, but Okada denies us a dive and then clobbers Mark on the way back into the ring. But then Mark uses REDNECK KUNG FU and unleashes the CRANE KICK to take over. Briscoe with the chops and he slugs away in the corner and hauls Okada to the floor for a dive to pay off the tease from earlier, and back in for a slugfest in the corner. Okada puts him on top and unleashes the dropkick to put Mark on the floor as we take a break. Back with Okada hitting him with a pancake, but Briscoe reverses a tombstone into a cradle for two. Okada goes to the eyes and Briscoe fights back with chops and hits a fisherman’s buster for two. Okada with a backdrop, but Briscoe lands on his feet, so Okada hits him with the neckbreaker and goes up for the flying elbow. But then Briscoe goes up and drops his own elbow, for two. Jay Driller is escaped by Okada and he gets a backslide and the Okada Dropkick. They trade finisher attempts and Okada hits the tombstone and Rainmaker to finish at 13:00. Man can they PLEASE stop jobbing this poor guy? ***1/4

MJF v. Mistico

MJF busts out the patriotic gear for tonight, and Mistico gets the singalong treatment from the crowd for his music. Huge heat for both guys, as MJF gets a cheapshot to start and Mistico gets a Code Red for two and MJF bails to the floor and hides behind the Hurt Syndicate. Back in the ring, Mistico hits him with a rana, but MJF stomps him down in the corner while MVP warns him to keep his concentration. So he counters a Code Red into a powerbomb for two and we take a break. Back with MJF continuing to use his shenanigans and clown on Mistico, but Mistico fights back with a handspring elbow and goes to the apron for a springboard bodypress and tornado DDT to put MJF on the floor again. Mistico with a dive for a double down on the floor. Back in for a swanton and powerslam for two. MJF goes to the eyes, but Mistico hits him with a destroyer, and MJF pops up with a superkick for two and they’re down again. They fight to the ramp and MJF catches him on a headscissor attempt and tombstones him, then demands the countout win. But then Mistico powers up and they fight to the top rope for a Spanish Fly from Mistico, which gets two. He gets La Mistica and MJF is tapping, but MVP takes the ref, and Max goes low for two. But then Mistico comes back again, so Max has had enough and just kicks him in the nuts a second time for the DQ at 17:00. Obviously neither guy was gonna job but that was still a pretty weak finish. And then the Hurt Syndicate beats him down, allowing MJF to steal the mask, before Kevin Knight and Speedball make the save. And luckily they brought a backup mask with them for Mistico. They were having a hell of a match before the ideas ran out at the end. ***3/4

FOUR MILLION PESO match: Ricochet v. Hologram v. Lio Rush v. Mascara Dorada

Ricochet and Rush team up on the masked men to start, but they try stereo dives and Hologram cuts them off and dropkicks them off Dorado’s boost. They fight on the floor and the heels take over again out there. Back in the ring, Dorada runs wild for a bit, but Rush sends him to the floor and into the railing. Hologram springboards into the ring, but Ricochet springboards up with a dropkick to counter, and then tosses him for a dive as we take a break. Back with Hologram fighting by himself and losing, but then Lio dares to mock the BALD and the heels explode. The babyfaces come back and clear the ring before hitting stereo dives. Back in the ring, Dorada and Hologram trade flips and Hologram cradles for two. Dorada with a crucifix bomb for two, but Ricochet saves and then Lio dumps him. Dorada with a spinkick on Lio, but Ricochet comes in with a double stomp and then Lio hits him with a poison rana. He tries one on Dorada, but it’s countered, so Lio takes him to the corner and hits it on the second try. Lio goes up with a frog splash on Dorada for two, but Ricochet saves. Ricochet goes up and Lio brings him down and they fight for a superplex until Hologram breaks it up. Lio rolls up Hologram with the ropes for two, but Hologram finishes with the Portal Bomb at 16:00 to win the FOUR MILLION PESOS. Not sure why they didn’t just do a tag match but this was a suitably crazy and fun lucha sprint. ****

CMLL Women’s title: Zeuxis v. Mercedes Mone

Mone offers a handshake but gets attacked by Zeuxis and kicked down in the corner for two. Mone tries a sunset flip and Zeuxis sits down on her for two. Mone tries a senton and Zeuxis catches her and hits her with a lungblower for two. Mercedes quickly rolls her into the Bank Statement and Zeuxis makes the ropes and bails to the floor, but Mone hits her with a meteora for two. Zeuxis with a rana and Mone bails, so Zeuxis hits a tope as we take a break. Hopefully she fixes her mask during the commercial and stops messing with it. Back with them fighting on the top and Zeuxis brings her down with a Spanish fly for two. They fight to the top again, and this time Mercedes lands on top off a powerslam attempt, for the pin and the title at 9:18, adding another belt to her collection. A very lackluster match by Mone’s standards, as they just didn’t work well together at all. *1/2. Also I know people dog on Mone for her famous boo boo jobbing face but DAMN, could Zeuxis at least try to look interested in being out there, maybe? Afterwards, Toni Storm does a noir detective promo on the screen and then shows up in the ring like Carmen Sandiego to attack before Mone runs away. This is still a weirdly flat buildup between two people with gigantic characters and a million belts between them.

Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Samoa Joe, Shibata & Powerhouse Hobbs v. Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, The Young Bucks & The Beast Mortos

Gee I wonder who does the job here? Mortos hits Ospreay with kicks in the corner and the pop up samoan drop, but Will comes back with a rana to put him on the floor before walking into a kick from Nick on the apron. The Bucks double-team Will in the corner and add some more for Swerve, but Will takes them both down and Yuta comes in to get abused. Ospreay and Swerve double-team him and Swerve stops to dance, and then brings in Joe to beat on Yuta some more. Shibata puts him down with elbows and Joe adds the enzuigiri for two. This brings us Mox for a slugfest with Joe, but Joe gets the sleeper and everyone brawls as Ospreay hits everyone with a dive and we take a break. Back with Moxley working on Ospreay’s arm with the kimura, but Will fights out of it and it’s hot tag Hobbs. He pummels Yuta with clotheslines in the corner. So all of the Death Rider team gangs up on him, but he fights them off and the Opps triple-team Yuta for two. Mortos saves and dives onto Hobbs outside, but runs into Joe for a slugfest. The Bucks break that up and set up Ospreay for the EVP Trigger, but Will pops out of it and hits them with a double cutter as we’re clearly building to a Ospreay/Swerve v. Bucks tag match that should RULE. Yuta hits Shibata with the bu saiku knee and then Swerve slugs it out with Moxley and we get more double-teaming from Swerve & Ospreay. But then Marina takes the ref and Moxley rolls up Swerve for the pin at 15:50. I would not have called that finish. Afterwards, the Death Riders do the heel beatdown on Swerve, but Hangman Page makes the save as promised, and hits his good friends the Bucks with a buckshot lariat while Moxley makes his retreat to end the show. ***1/4

Also peak Tony Khan is having all the social media channels tell everyone that the show is running 2:30 tonight and to set your DVRs for that, and then doing a 10 minute overrun on top of that.

A super hot crowd for this one and a very fun show overall with lots of good matches, but I don’t really see why they needed the extra half hour here. MJF-Mistico was great and made Mistico look like a big star for the TV audience. And apparently made MJF into such a huge heel that people were attacking him at his hotel, so that’s a bonus. But as a “Grand Slam” special, there wasn’t really much here in the same way Grand Slam Australia felt like a Big Deal. Hopefully they come back again soon with a bigger card, though.