Dynamite
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The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 07.01.26

By Scott Keith on 2 July 2026

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 07.01.26

Happy Canada Day! Hope you all wore your Canadian tuxedo today to celebrate! Lord knows I love me some denim.

Live from San Diego, CA

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

Meanwhile, Will Ospreay and his new bride stop by for a chat with Renee in the dressing room after Forbidden Door, but Jon Moxley stops by for a quick chat about how the business is full of carnies and liars, but Will has earned his Death Rider patch…if he wants it. But then the other side of the argument is Kenny Omega, although Will thinks he’s given up on himself. And then MJF stops by to take a potshot at Omega, setting up the Montreal PPV.

AEW World title: MJF v. Mark Briscoe

Mark sweeps the leg and slugs away in the corner to start, but Max catches him with the piledriver for two. Briscoe is immediately busted open again due to the PPV match, and Max backdrops him out of the corner, but Mark lands on his feet on a second try and he comes back with REDNECK KUNG FU and a corner clothesline. Mark goes up and MJF crotches him, but makes the mistake of pointing to his head to indicate intelligence, allowing Briscoe to send him down and drop the froggy bow for two. Max goes for the arm, but Mark sends him to the floor and hits him with a cannonball and then another one off a chair, then puts Max on a table out there, which ends up backfiring on him. This sets up a great heel heat spot with Max breaking down the table and returning it under the ring as we take a break. Back with Mark pulling up the mats this time, but MJF backdrops out of a Jay Driller attempt. Mark regroups with a slam on the concrete and drops a Cactus elbow, and then back in for a Burning Hammer that only gets two. Back to the apron and they fight to the floor again, where Briscoe resets the table again, but MJF runs him into a chair before walking into a JUDO CHOP and neckbreaker off the railing from Briscoe. Mark actually slips on the stairs, but then recovers and goes up and finally puts MJF through the table with a froggy bow, just smashing the shit out of the table, and back in for two. They slug it out and Briscoe hits him with a lariat and goes up with another froggy bow, but he wants the Jay Driller, and that gets two, which I think makes MJF the first person to kick out of that. Back to the top and Mark wants a top rope version to make sure, but MJF escapes to the apron and they trade cradles for two. Max sends him back to the apron and hits the Heatseeker to finish at 19:00. Great match to start the show, although it ultimately all felt a bit pointless, with Mark throwing everything he had at MJF, who kicked out of it all and then won with his cheap-ass finisher out of nowhere. I was hoping it would lead to Mick Foley inspiring Briscoe or something along those lines, but really there wasn’t anything beyond Mark getting a World title on a TV show in between PPVs. Also a LOT of the match was clearly Briscoe covering for the limping MJF by taking all the bumps and punishment. ****1/4. Afterwards, MJF knocks out Mark with the diamond ring, but Kenny Omega makes the save and wants a title match TONIGHT IN THIS VERY RING. But MJF points out that he’s beaten Kenny twice and already kicked out of the One Winged Angel, so the answer is NO. But then he has a revelation and makes a new offer for next week: MJF v. Kenny Omega with Kenny never able to challenge for the AEW World title again if he loses.

Meanwhile, Renee clarifies the stipulations with MJF, but Max wants to talk about how much he hates Andrade instead and then reels off all the people he’s beaten and declares Kenny to be “literally gutless”. And then Will Ospreay stops by and MJF stresses that he will be the guy defending against Will at All In, on my 28th birthday, and no one else.

Andrade joins us after his babyface turn, and he doesn’t even want to talk about the Don Callis Family because his only focus is MJF. But of course the Family isn’t done with him, and they attack after he hits the catchphrase. Brian Cage increasingly looks like he just woke up for a week long bender all the time and I’m kinda there for it. Also we’re not even an hour into the show they’ve already established two big World title programs, plus teased one for after All In with Ospreay v. Moxley and Ospreay v. Omega.

Meanwhile, Mercedes reminds us that she won the Owen Hart tournament two years in a row and the AEW World title is next.

TNT title: Kevin Knight v. Lio Rush

Lio brings yet another backpack with him, which contains his ROH TV title, but in black. Lio freaks out Knight and sends him to the floor and then follows with a handspring kick on the apron and dive to the floor as we take a break. Back with Kevin hitting a backbreaker for two, but he hurts his knee and Rush hits him with an enzuigiri and the springboard stunner for two. Lio with a bridging cravat submission, but Jake Doyle pulls a desperate Knight out of the ring to save. So Lio dives onto Doyle, but Knight finally hits Rush with a clothesline off the apron to buy some time. Back in with a springboard lariat and Crash Landing uranage to finish at 8:52. Rush as a losing TV challenger for someone like Knight is a good spot for him and they had a good match. ***. Afterwards, this brings out Darby, who also wants a title match, but Don Callis doesn’t deal with CRIMINALS who use exploding booby trapped bags, so NO TITLE MATCH. I mean, fair.

Meanwhile, Ciampa tries to bully Renee, but Jericho shows up and bounces a garbage can off his head to save before taking him to the parking lot for a brawl. Jericho somehow survives a cardboard box hurled at his head and then fights off a power drill (it looked 18V! Maybe even 21V!) but security breaks it up, setting up a match next week.

Meanwhile, The Elite discuss the pros and cons of taking Max’s deal next week, but Kenny hasn’t made his decision yet.

Will Ospreay & Jon Moxley v. Blake Christian & Lee Johnson

The Swirl attacks Moxley at the bell and goes after the leg, but Moxley fights them off by himself until Johnson monkey flips Blake into Moxley with a lariat. Over to Ospreay, who runs wild and hits them with a double dive to the floor as we take a break. Back with Lee working on the arm of Moxley and they hit him with a double-team death valley driver for two. Mox fights them off again, but gets tripped up by Jay Lethal, prompting a suplex from Marina to take care of him. So Moxley makes the comeback and it’s hot tag Ospreay, who hits them both with a handspring kick and moonsaults Johnson for two. Mox and Will double-team them with elbows in the corner and Will finishes Lee with the Hidden Blade at 9:13. Moxley seemed to having fun playing face in peril but really they should have run through those geeks even faster than they did. **1/2

Meanwhile, Christian Cage wants to know what the hell the deal was with Jay White at the PPV.

Jay White joins us with the full Bang Bang Gang for the first time in a long time. Jay rants about the Dogs and how David Finlay is a “nepo baby bitch boy” and we’re still living in the Switchblade Era. Good little promo from Jay to establish the feud and there’s lots of comibnations of Dogs v. Bang Bang they can run through in the midcard.

TBS title, Survival of the Fittest: Maika v. Harley Cameron v. Hikaru Shida v. Kris Statlander v. Persephone v. Queen Aminata

So this is a six-way elimination match and it feels like Shida or Statlander is the obvious winner and the rest are just there to take falls. They clear the ring to start and Shida cradles Persephone for two. Harley and Persephone team up for a bit and have some success with that, but then Persephone turns on Harley and pins her at 2:38. We take a break and return with Maika making a comeback on Shida with a delayed suplex, but Shida hits her with a high knee and goes to an anklelock. Maika makes the ropes, so Shida goes for the kendo stick, but Stat stops that, so Persephone takes her out and Shida cradles and pins Maika at 7:27. Shida and Aminata slug it out and Aminata rolls up Shida for two off that. She goes to the top, but Persephone trips her up and Shida hits her with a knee. And Persephone sneaks in and rolls up Aminata at 9:28. Man they’re going in exactly the order you could have predicted from a mile away. We take another break and return with Statlander powerbombing Persephone for two, but Persephone comes back with a german suplex for two. They collide for a double down and Shida steals a near fall on both. Stat with the Michinoku Driver on Persephone for two and a rollup finishes her at 15:05, shockingly leading up to Stat v. Shida in the finale. Shida with the falcon arrow for two and she grabs the belt, but Statlander goes for the piledriver and they trade rollups from that. Shida with the anklelock, but Kris makes the ropes, and then Persephone returns to knock her out with the belt. And Shida gets the title by ref stoppage at 17:11. So yeah, Shida wins the title after weeks of buildup and qualifying matches with a bunch of rollups and then a screwjob finish. This felt like a huge disappointment. Wasn’t bad but it was really overcomplicated for what honestly should have just been a quick tournament, and it didn’t really sell me on the concept of the match. **1/2. At least they didn’t go with the MOST boring choice possible in babyface Statlander.

Kenny Omega joins us to answer MJF’s challenge, despite Will Ospreay trying to stop him. He believes he’s got one more time in him but he wonders if the cost is too high. But apparently the answer to that is NO, so his answer is YES and next week he’s winning the title. And then MJF lays him out from behind and security breaks them up but they continue brawling to end the show. So yeah, next week is a pretty goddamn huge main event.

Hell of a show this week, although the TBS title match wasn’t particularly moving. But the rest did the work this week and made that World title seem like a HUGE deal.