The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 06.24.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 06.24.26

Live from Rio Rancho, NM

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel

Meanwhile, the Death Riders and Ospreay do a quick bonding exercise before the show, but Will takes a goofy bump into the wall and all the Riders completely crack up on camera, except for Moxley of course. He breaks for NOTHING. Also this was amazing, especially the look on Will’s face.

Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta & Claudio Castagnoli v. Bandido, Brody King & Mistico

So apparently the Forbidden Door match was supposed to be Moxley v. Callum Newman from New Japan, but Newman blew out his shoulder and they just had to swap in Bandido for something to do. I mean they could have just taken a break from having a Moxley match on every PPV but this was also a way to go about it. Bandido takes Yuta down with some armdrags, but Wheeler foils him and they battle to stalemate. Over to Mox and he goes after Bandido’s arm, and then Mistico comes in and flies around off Claudio’s base before taking him down with a headscissors. Over to Brody and he slugs it out with Claudio before taking down both Mox and Claudio with a ropewalk wristlock takedown and then a dive as we take a break. Back with the Death Riders triple teaming Bandido in the corner and Moxley gets two off that. Back to Brody and Moxley tries to put him down with a sleeper, but Brody just runs him into the corner and cannonballs him. Bandido and Mistico come in and clean house while Brody lays out Mox with a lariat, but Claudio blasts Brody from behind with the Continental belt and Mox pins him at 12:08. This had fun moments but nothing we haven’t seen before. ***

Meanwhile, Team Conglomeration has words leading up to Forbidden Door, although Mark Briscoe is notable by his absence. Also notable is Renee’s “Rebel Heart” t-shirt, I think. WHAT COULD THIS MEAN? Actually it might just be a tribute to Rebel Tinea, and her battle with all the horrible things happening to her.

Harley Cameron v. Marina Shafir

Harley Cameron is cosplaying Supergirl this week and I strongly approve. Marina kicks her down, but Harley goes for the leg and dropkicks her to the floor before hitting a bodypress off the apron. Back in the ring, she goes up and Marina slams her off the top as we take a break. Back with Marina having shed her boots and proceeding to throw more kicks, but Harley comes back with a suplex and her own high kick. Harley slugs away in the corner, but Marina hits her with knees and then reverses a half crab into a choke, and then Harley rolls her over into a cradle for the pin at 7:44. Pretty decent little match. **1/4

Meanwhile, we take a look at Maya World’s journey to the Owen Hart tournament finals. What a weird tournament this one has been.

Will Ospreay v. El Phantasmo

Well this certainly has a Forbidden Door feel. They trade takedowns to start and ELP stops to pose, so Will chops him. ELP takes him down with a flashy headscissors, but Will lands on his feet and dropkicks him to the floor before hitting him with a dive. To the apron as ELP backdrops out of a piledriver attempt there and follows with his own moonsault to the floor as we take a break. Back with ELP slamming him down, but Will pops up with a kick and ELP does a great goofy sell from that. And then Ospreay hits him with a corkscrew kick for two. ELP has really good facials and personality and he could probably stick around once his New Japan deal is done. ELP with a stunner for a double down, and they slug it out with forearms and then do a wacky series of trades until Will hits a Spanish fly for two. Hidden blade is countered into a rana for two. They trade cradles and Will rolls him into the Styles Clash and the Hidden Blade ends it at 10:40, with a NASTY looking shot in fact. ***1/2. Good performance from ELP here in a relatively short Ospreay match. Not surprising since they got a LOT of matches to get through tonight.

Swerve Strickland v. Daniel Garcia

And from there, we go right into this one after a quick staredown between Ospreay and Swerve on the way by. Garcia is all BOWED UP on him, but Swerve runs him into the corner and beats on the back to take over while Nana shills for Swerve branded headphones. You go, Swerve, get that bag. Swerve sends him to the floor and they fight out there, as Daniel manages to trap him in the apron skirt and take out the knee in the process. Daniel hits him with a running kick on the railing, but he stops to annoy some ringside fans and allows Swerve to fire back with his own kick as we take a break. Back with Daniel taking out the knee on the apron, but Swerve hits him with a death valley driver out there, on the HARDEST PART OF THE RING. Back in for a brainbuster that gets two, but Garcia fights back with a lariat and goes to an anklelock. Swerve quickly escapes that and flips him into a powerslam for two. Swerve’s attempt at a House Call is foiled by his bad knee and Garcia is able to hit a piledriver for two. But then Swerve rolls into a flatliner and then hits a second attempt at the House Call for two. But then he decides to use a Hidden Blade and that finishes Garcia at 12:29. I’m not great with social cues but I think he was sending a message there, guys. Match was all right but the crowd didn’t seem particularly invested in either guy as far as picking favorites. **3/4. Afterwards, Will Ospreay hits the ring and brawls with Swerve, but he’s about to fall victim to a Vertebreaker, which would likely break his vertebrae given his neck, and Garcia saves before taking the move in Will’s place. Look, no one buys Swerve as a serious threat to win this tournament, and we all know the finish is gonna be Swerve hitting the Vertebreaker and Will’s miracle Death Rider neck saving him and letting him kick out at one and yada yada. That’s one of the main reasons why the promotion feels a tad aimless at the moment.

Meanwhile, the Callis Family does their go-home promo before the cage match. And Don unveils a new DCMJF t-shirt, which I kind of hope is in my next AEW t-shirt crate but also not because I don’t really want to be seen wearing it in public.

Zack Sabre Jr. v. Jack Perry

ZSJ immediately ties up Perry and takes him down for two, and then goes after the arm until Jack makes the ropes. Jack gets his own takedown and wraps up Zack for two, but Zack bails. Back in, Perry goes for a wristlock takedown and Zack immediately counters him into the cross armbreaker, so Jack takes him to the floor and sends him into the post. Zack jacks Jack’s arm again on the apron and we take a break. Back with Perry hitting a Sliced Bread out of the corner, but Zack gets back to the floor and then blocks a dive with another cross armbreaker, this time on the floor. They fight on the apron and Jack gets a Sliced Bread on the apron this time and then hits him with a monsault to the floor. Back in, ZSJ immediately wraps him up in a crazy submission hold and then turns it into a triangle sleeper, but Perry powerbombs out of it for two. Zack with a sleeper and Jack cradles for two and gets the Snare Trap, but that’s amateur hour stuff for a guy like Sabre. And indeed he easily cranks on the arm to escape, but Perry hits him with a lariat and powerbombs him for two. Jack sets up the knee strike, but Zack leglocks him to block it and then just traps him in a horrifying Rings of Saturn type move and taps him out at 13:25. Wow, this was a totally different type of match from everything else on the show thanks to the submission work of Sabre and they had excellent chemistry. ****

The Young Bucks v. Mikey Nichols & Bad Dude Tito

And then we flow right into this one as this show has NO TIME TO WASTE and join it in progress after a quick commercial break. The Bucks double-team Tito and then put Haste on the floor with him and follow with a double dive. Back in the ring, Tito throws Matt around to take over and TMDK double-teams him with a slam for two. Matt fights back with a DDT on Mikey and makes the hot tag to Nick, who hits a flying bodypress on Mikey and we a SUPERKICK PARTY from the Bucks. Meltzer Driver finishes at 4:13. This was the closest thing to a Bucks squash you’re gonna see. *1/2. This brings out Sabre for an attack 3-on-2, but Kenny Omega makes the save and chases them off.

Red Velvet v. Queen Aminata

They trade cradles to start and Aminata hits her with a german suplex and running knee for two. And we get an awkward as fuck sequence where Velvet avoids a headbutt and the crowd is just totally dead for this and they both look completely lost out there. Velvet with an axe kick for two and we take a break. Hopefully they get their shit together during the commercial. Back with Velvet hitting a bulldog for two, but Aminata gets a supremely awkward inverted DDT off the ropes to make the comeback. Sliding boot in the corner and she goes up with a double stomp for two. To the top and Velvet takes her down and hits a frog splash for two. They slug it out and they just can’t get the crowd at all, but Aminata headbutts her and hits the running kick for the pin at 10:02. The crowd just didn’t care about this one at all, and I can’t blame them. This was BAD. ½*

Meanwhile, the Bucks threaten superkicks at the PPV, but their promo is interrupted by a brawl between C&C and the Dogs as we get a reminder that they all still exist. And the Dogs win the backstage brawl with the power of hair products and musical instruments, leaving the champs laying.

AEW International title: Konosuke Takeshita v. Ricochet

They immediately trade bombs and Ricochet hits a springboard 450 for two and chokes him out on the ropes. Takeshita comes back with the clothesline, but Ricochet gets a springboard elbow for two as we take a break.

AND…because it’s on a different channel in Canada tonight due to the World Cup, my DVR cuts it off before the overrun and that’s all I get. I’m sure it was a great match, though. And I’m sure there was some big brawl with all 12 guys in the cage match to take it home for Forbidden Door.

Anyway, this was the third show in a row with a small crowd and not much reaction from the audience, which is a concerning sign leading into the biggest show of the year. The wrestling was good as usual but I just don’t have anything hooking me for Sunday’s show and it would honestly be a skip if I didn’t need to cover it for the site. I think they’re trying to cram too many PPVs into the summer months and there’s just no compelling storylines going on to justify it, as they kind of peaked with the Darby run and haven’t been able to chase that high again. They need something big to kickstart it again, for sure.