The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.21.24

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.21.24

Live-ish from Cardiff, Wales

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz & Tony Schiavone

TBS title contract signing:

As usual, there is to be no physicality. So they do their promos and sign the contract, and Britt gets a good line when she says she never had a Plan B, she had “two Plan As”. Also she accuses Mercedes of being more concerned with being the highest paid woman in wrestling than with inspiring people like she used to do. And since she can’t hit Mercedes, she hits Kamille instead and chases the heels out of the ring. Decent opening segment although it’s nowhere near the time for Mercedes to lose yet.

Meanwhile, Chris Jericho is upset that Tommy Billington is calling himself the Dynamite Kid, just because he’s related by blood to his famous uncle. Man’s got a point. I think. Also Bryan Keith clarifies that Wembley Stadium is in fact, quite large. We all learned something.

Chris Jericho v. Tommy Billington

The commentary is mixed a tad low on this episode, which I’m assuming has to do with sending the signal over the pond. Also TSN is doing a direct dump of the TBS feed tonight for some reason, so it’s maybe it’s related to that. Tommy grabs a headlock and manages to put Jericho down with a shoulder, and then goes up with a good Stampede missile dropkick that chases Jericho to the floor. Tommy follows and runs Jericho into the railing, but of course that results in Big Bill taking him out as we take a break. Back with them colliding on a crossbody, but Jericho hits the Lionsault off that for two. Kid fights back with a german suplex for two, but Jericho takes him down for the Walls and Billington makes the ropes. Tommy fights back with a snap suplex and tombstone, but he stops to dive onto Bryan Keith instead of following up. But then he comes back in the ring and lands in a codebreaker, which gets the pin for Jericho at 9:25. Good little TV match to get Billington some exposure. **1/2. Afterwards, Jericho calls out Hook “right here in Cardiff England” for some cheap heat, and Hook indeed answers, but gets chokeslammed by Big Bill.

AEW Women’s World title: Toni Storm v. Saraya

Toni uses some crane style armdrags to start, and then does some World of Sport wackiness before countering a single-leg attempt into a rollup for two. Saraya with knees on the apron and Harley helps to run Toni into the railing while the fans sing their support for Toni. We take a break and return with Storm coming back with a DDT and a fisherman’s suplex for two. Saraya sweeps the leg for two and they fight to the top, where Saraya powerbombs her and follows with the Rampaige for two. Toni catches her with a short powerbomb for two and then goes after Harley with a kiss of death, before doing the same to Saraya and finishing with the piledriver at 8:51 to retain. And then Mariah pops out of the crowd and lays her out with a shoe again. Decent outing for Saraya. **1/2. Unfortunately I think the Mariah feud peaked with the Calgary turn and May hasn’t really held up her end of the deal very well since then. I don’t think she’s ready for the title.

Meanwhile, the Conglomeration has some words via Mark Briscoe.

Face to Face: Will Ospreay v. MJF

Will is of course crazy over, as he recounts his journey to get here, including wrestling in a bar “that’s filthier than the wife”. Plus some other references I don’t understand but Wales seems to enjoy. MJF claims that he came back early from injury because he was begged by WBD to clean up Ospreay’s mess. Will notes that MJF doing the double clothesline was a funny joke but the joke went on too long. And so Tony Khan, who “already has 3000 people signed back there”, called him up and asked him to please put on a good wrestling match because his World champion couldn’t do it. MJF retorts that pundits and actual current World champions declared him the best in the world, and who declared Ospreay the best in the world? Apparently just the fans in Wales, whose opinion doesn’t count because they like Will Ospreay matches. Also Will isn’t man enough to pull the trigger on the Tiger Driver. Also Max drops a “facts don’t care about your feelings” which doesn’t shock me in the least. And then Will gets under his skin by pointing out that no one loves MJF anymore, and Max bursts out “They loved me until you showed up!” in a great bit of character work. So then Max goes nuclear by insinuating that he screwed Will’s wife, so Will clarifies how much the fine for punching MJF is, and then decides that it’s worth it and attacks him while security pulls them apart. But then Max uses the ring to knock him out and hits him with a brainbuster and “pins” him. But before he can deliver a Tiger Driver, security pulls him off to end the segment. Fantastic go-home segment to make everyone want to see Ospreay hit the piledriver and get his revenge.

Meanwhile, Hangman Page announces that he’s in the Casino Gauntlet and anyone who gets in his way gets run over. So his friend Evil Uno stops by and announces that he’s in the match too, so Hangman lays him out with a chair and literally walks over him. Man Page better win that one now.

Continental title: Kazuchika Okada v. Claudio Castagnoli

So at this point TSN loses the signal for about 10 minutes, and we here in Canada join the match with Claudio dropping an elbow on Okada in the ring for two. They slug it out and Okada hits him with a DDT and a neckbreaker for two. Claudio fights back with a clothesline to put Okada on the floor, but Okada sends him into the post and we take a break. Back with Claudio hitting a gut wrench into a double stomp for two. He goes up and Okada dropkicks him to the floor, but Claudio fires back with an uppercut in the ring to knock Okada off the top in return. They slug it out and Okada dropkicks him into the corner and goes up with the flying elbow, but still won’t do the Rainmaker pose. So Claudio takes him down for the Giant Swing, but he revs up for a forearm and walks into the dropkick. Okada tries the Rainmaker, but Claudio counters with a spinning forearm, and then Okada puts him down with the neckbreaker for the double down. They slug it out and Okada gets a backslide for two, but Claudio hits the pop up forearm and Okada bails to the floor to escape, before Claudio drags him back in for two, and time expires at 20:00. So the Elite come out and offer the fans FIVE MORE MINUTES, but unfortunately the contract only stipulates 20 minutes and they’re sticklers for the rules. We lost of a bunch of the match here in Canada but the rest was excellent. ****.

And so we move right into…

FTR & Darby Allin v. The Young Bucks & Jack Perry

The fans somehow managing to sing along with FTR’s music is tremendous. Dax trades chops with Perry to start and everyone slugs it out, but the Bucks clear the ring and hit the babyfaces with dives. And then Darby hits them with a coffin drop, but they take him out with a Doomsday Device on the floor as we take a break. Back with Darby making a hot tag to Dax, who cleans house on the heels and hits Perry with rolling germans. Brainbuster gets two. Over to Cash, who hits the Bucks with forearms before taking a backslide from Perry for two. Cash ducks the EVP Trigger and FTR gets stereo Sharpshooters. So this prompts the Elite to take a walk, but Cash hits them with a crazy tope and it’s back in the ring as they trade more big moves, leading up to Perry hitting Darby with the Deathdrop. Running misses and FTR gives him the Shatter Machine, and they follow with a Powerplex on Matt Jackson, and the Coffin Drop from Darby finishes at 10:03. See, this is exactly what the show has been lacking for months: A PARTY MATCH! A bunch of wacky shit and big moves and the babyfaces go over. ***1/2. And then the Acclaimed come out and do their go-home promo to make sure we don’t forget them either.

Nigel McGuinness joins us to moderate one last discussion between Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson, and puts over Swerve before burying Bryan, letting Swerve do his promo first. Swerve promises to ruthlessly destroy Bryan until he retires, and then track him down in Mexico and attack him there too, or maybe show up at his house and go after his family. So that brings out Danielson, who takes out Swerve with the knee, because he’s had enough and wants to prove once and for all that he’s the best wrestler in the world.

I thought this was a GREAT go-home show for All In, with no bad segments and a whole lot of home runs. The only things I thought were weak were the TBS contract signing and Mariah May’s post-match attack, but the rest was tremendous, with a HOT crowd and a full building.