The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 07.29.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 07.29.26

Live from Detroit, MI

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz

Meanwhile, at Redemption, Will Ospreay wishes the Death Riders the best in their future endeavors, but then he turns his back on Kenny Omega and takes a One Winged Angel as a result. And we get an extra angle of Moxley watching from the dressing room, telling Will to take his shot first and then having to watch Kenny take the shot instead. And Jon is like I TOLD YOU SO. Well you don’t have to be a dick about it.

Meanwhile, Ospreay shows up at the arena tonight and meets a pack of wild Death Riders, including whatever is going on with Pac’s hair tonight, and he takes out Garcia before any shit-talking can occur. And he gives back the patch, which I’m sure Moxley will accept with grace and forgiveness. And then Hangman stops by for a cameo, amused at the whole thing, and offers his help and advice if needed, since he’s not a threat for World title anymore. But Will isn’t trusting anyone right now.

AEW National title: Andrade v. Jungle Jack Perry v. Nick Wayne

Brought to you by Mortal Kombat II because reasons. Jack rolls up Wayne for two off the bell, but Andrade suplexes both of them and sends Nick to the floor. Perry follows him out there and bulldogs him on the floor, but Andrade takes them both out and stops for a selfie. This allows Nick to hit a sliced bread off the railing, but Perry takes him back into the ring for two. They trade chops and everyone fights to a triple down before Andrade fires up with the Three Amigos on Perry. But then Wayne catches him with a Spanish fly for another triple down and we take a break. Back with everyone stacked up in the corner and Andrade powerbombs Wayne, but Jack takes him off the apron with a rana to the floor, setting up Wayne hitting Perry with a destroyer to the floor and they’re all dead again. Back in the ring, Nick hits a springboard splash on Andrade for two. Perry and Wayne slug it out and we get a NOT THAT TOM GREEN sighting from the social media blade! Good for you, buddy! Perry hits Wayne with a poison rana to put him on the floor and follows with dives on both guys and then moonsaults them for good measure as the crowd is just going crazy for this. Back in the ring, Perry with a powerbomb on Wayne for two. Jack misses a charge and Andrade clotheslines him to the floor and hits Wayne with an inverted DDT before going up and missing a frog splash. Wayne to the top with a Phoenix splash off that, for two. Jack tries his running knee, but walks into the back elbow from Andrade and goes flying, and Andrade finishes Wayne with the DM at 14:19 to retain in a SUPER HOT opener. ****1/4

Afterwards, Tony interviews Andrade, and he’s feeling pretty happy about screwing MJF out of his ring. So next week, he’s in a qualifying match for the Casino Gauntlet and they’re in Mexico so he’s confident about his chances there as well. They’ve really got something with Andrade right now.

Meanwhile, the Brawling Birds clarify that it’s not All Elite Talking and so Divine Dominion should put up or shut up. Or both.

Meanwhile, The Callis Family continues squabbling, and Don points out that Kevin Knight obviously DOES need the family and they’ve all learned some valuable lessons. But Knight also eggs on Kyle Fletcher about next week’s defense against Speedball, and then Okada comes by and drops a snarky remark of his own.

Kyle Fletcher, Brian Cage & Jake Doyle v. Brodido & Speedball Mike Bailey

Brody overpowers Fletcher to start as the crowd does the “Fuck Don Callis / Fuck ICE too” chant, but Doyle and Cage team up for a double suplex on Brody in the heel corner to take over. The babyfaces trap Kyle in their corner and triple-team him, and we get a really awkward spot where the faces clear the ring and all three of them seemingly forget what the next spot is supposed to be. Bandido deadlifts Fletcher into a suplex, but the DCF works him over on the floor and Cage powerbombs him into the post as we take a break. Back with the heels working him over in the ring, but Bandido fights back with a tornado DDT on Fletcher and it’s hot tag Brody. He smashes Cage and Doyle with corner clotheslines and follows with a cannonball in the corner for two. Speedball comes in and misses the moonsault, so Cage powerbombs him into the corner. Doyle with a torture rack drop into a knee strike from Fletcher gets two. Fletcher goes for the Last Ride to finish things, but Bailey reverses out and kicks him down, into the moonsault knees. Fletcher charges and walks into a spinkick from Bailey and it’s back to Bandido. Press slam on Doyle sets up the forg splash, but Doyle just rolls into a slam and powers him down. Brody comes in and Cage hits him with a TKO, but Speedball superkicks him. Bailey dives onto Fletcher outside and everyone is out. Bandido with a rana on Doyle for two, but Doyle powers up and puts him down with a forearm. But then Speedball tags himself in and hits the moonsault knees and cradles for the pin at 14:08. Had to give Bailey a big win before his title match next week, even though he’s not going to win there. ***3/4

Meanwhile, Renee sits down with the Young Bucks and C&C in advance of their tag title match on my 24^th birthday. They put each other over but then it gets nastier as the Bucks call them old and the champs feel like they have to beat the Bucks to solidify their legacy.

TBS title: Maya World v. Persephone

Speaking of Persephone, I took my daughter to the movie theater version of Hadestown this week and now I’m an honorary theater kid, I think. It’s a pretty awesome show. They trade takedowns to start and both get near falls, leading to a stalemate. Maya with a leg lariat and she sends Persephone to the floor, but Persephone drops her on the apron as we take a break. Back with Persephone working on an anklelock in the ring, but Maya gets a pair of rollups for two. Maya with a shining wizard for two. Persephone sends to the floor and follows with a dive, but she points to her head to indicate intelligence and actually says “I’m so smart” so you know that’s not gonna end well for her. Back in the ring, Persephone puts her down with a lariat and follows with a german suplex for two. Persephone misses a blind charge, but that brings Shida into the ring to deliver a kendo stick to Persephone, and then Kris Statlander stops it from being used and Maya gets the fallaway slam for the pin at 9:47 to retain. This was better than the PPV match but not great or anything. ***

Meanwhile, Mark Davis is FURIOUS about losing his National title, so he’s gonna take it out on Will Ospreay next week in Mexico.

Willow Nightingale joins us for her title celebration with Renee, and she gets a giant reaction from the crowd and even seems overwhelmed by it herself. And she talks about getting inspired to come back by her mom. But then Mercedes interrupts and gets Willow to sign the contract, and apparently Detroit really dislikes Mercedes. Mercedes complains that Willow keeps stepping on her moments while the crowd gets madder and madder, and Mercedes promises to take the title and her smile. And that leads to Divine Dominion in their hockey jerseys hitting the ring for the heel beatdown, but the Birds make the save. This match has some HEAT and Tony was right to go with it as the title match.

AEW Continental title: Jon Moxley v. Komander

Why is a guy who literally never wins getting a title shot? Komander works the arm to start but the crowd is very much into Moxley, and Mox powers Komander down before Komander gets a cradle for two. Komander goes up with a flying armdrag, but Mox chops him down. Komander dropkicks him to the floor and follows with the ropewalk, but Mox walks away from it in disgust. So Komander hits him with a tope as we take a break. Back with Moxley working a facelock, but Komander cradles for two. Mox misses a charge and Komander springboards into a dropkick and follows with a bodypress for two. But then Mox has had enough of the flippy stuff and just nails him before slugging away in the corner. Komander hangs him on the top rope and follows with a guillotine to put him on the floor, and then springboards into a 450 on the way in, for two. Back to the top for another ropewalk gimmick and a crazy moonsault out of that, but back in the ring he whiffs on the shooting star press and Mox curb stomps him. Death Rider and choke finishes at 12:39. Komander as usual has a hell of a match and loses in the end. ****

Meanwhile, Mick Foley interviews the Bang Bang Gang, who are missing Jay White again for unexplained reasons, and they challenge the Death Riders to a match on Collision.

AEW World Trios title: The Conglomeration v. Ricochet & GOA

We get a giant brawl to start with Orange doing his patented dangerous elbowdrop on Toa outside, and back in Orange torments them with the pockets until GOA double-teams him to take over. Kaun slams Toa onto Strong and we take a break. Back with Strong hitting a backbreaker on Ricochet before bringing KOR in to run wild. He puts Kaun in the anklelock, but Ricochet breaks it up and moonsaults him for two. But then they miss charges on Kyle and he brings Orange back with the hot tag. Orange mocks the baldness, but Kaun brings Strong down with a superplex. And everyone fires off big moves until Strong and KOR hit the High Low on Kaun for two. Toa overpowers them both and no-sells the Orange Punch. But the Conglomeration triple teams him until the Lethal Twist all run in and hit Orange with the title belt behind the ref’s back, putting Ricochet on top for the pin and the titles at 11:03. I kind of felt like a title change was coming here. Match was fun but not on the level of the other stuff tonight. **3/4. This prompts a 6-on-3 beatdown on the babyfaces, but Hangman returns with a barbed wire chair to save and then hits Lethal with a buckshot lariat for good measure.

Meanwhile, the Death Riders accept the challenge of the Bang Bang Gang.

Kenny Omega joins us as this show is running WAAAAAY overtime, but Will Ospreay immediately interrupts. So Kenny explains that he gave Will the One Winged Angel hoping that the message would get through the first time, but apparently Will didn’t get it. So Kenny talks about putting their friendship first all of the time, but then Will accused Kenny of giving up and Kenny took that very personally. So Ospreay admits he came back too early from surgery because he wanted revenge, and his body crapped out so that he couldn’t be the Billy Goat and he had no friends to help him. And then the Death Riders saved him and he liked being with them. But he doesn’t share their philosophy and he wants to be World champion by beating the best on his own. Kenny accuses him of wanting to finish the job with the plastic bag himself and calls Will a LIAR who betrayed him and slaps him around while getting increasingly unhinged and paranoid, and finally Ospreay slugs him down and Kenny slithers out of the ring while Ospreay does the money promo and HE WANTS THE BALL. And he’s gonna pull the trigger, but not from behind and not while Kenny is injured, and Kenny is gonna see it coming. Incredible promo to end a super hot show. They should bottle this Detroit crowd and take it around the country, they were awesome.

Unfortunately there’s still a month to go before the PPV because they SOLD it tonight. The Trios title match was kind of lacking but the rest of this was a home run with a super hot crowd to begin the build to All In.