The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.26.26
By Scott Keith on 27 August 2026
The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.26.26
Live from Glasgow, Scotland
Your hosts are Excalibur & Tony Schiavone
Will Ospreay joins us to start in advance of his World title shot on my 21st birthday, talking about going up and down the roads of Wales and Scotland back in the day. So apparently Kenny Omega isn’t here tonight and Will has to do his go-home promo one-sided, which is a weird choice. But he’s got a debt to pay to his fans and family and it’s time to bring the AEW World title back home, and prove to his son that he’s the real hero.
Continental Challenge semi-final: Jon Moxley v. Claudio Castagnoli
They fight for the test of strength to start and Claudio has the advantage there, and he beats on Mox with chops. They slug it out off that and Claudio puts him down for two and then clobbers him to the floor with a forearm. So Mox takes him down and puts him in a figure-four on the floor, where it hurts more, but Claudio breaks free and swings him into the railing as we take a break. Back with Claudio firing off more forearms in the corner, but Mox tosses him and follows with a tope. Back in, Mox slugs away in the corner as the crowd counts in Scottish, and they clothesline each other for a double down. They slug it out again and they’re having trouble getting the crowd for some reason, and Moxley hits him with a cutter to block a backslide. Claudio takes him down with an armbar, but Mox reverses with the help of some biting, so Claudio hits him with the Giant Swing and an uppercut for two. Mox bails to the floor to escape another uppercut. Mox beats the count at 9 and Claudio curb stomps him on the way in and follows with the Neutralizer for two. Claudio winds up another uppercut and Mox plays dead, and then suckers Claudio in for a DDT that gets one. Mox stomps him and it’s a Death Rider for two. Mox with the choke, but Claudio powers up, so Mox bullies him down again and reapplies for the submission at 15:50 to advance to the finals. They got the crowd by the end and worked hard. ***3/4
Adam Copeland & The Young Bucks v. Brian Cage, Rocky Romero & Jake Doyle
Cope and Doyle trade power to start and the Bucks come in and hit the heels with various double-teams. But then Cage and Doyle take out Nick on the floor as we take a break. Back with Copeland running wild, but he runs into Doyle and goes down. The Bucks almost superkick him, but not quite, and Doyle rolls up Adam for two. Rocky with a sliced bread for two. But then he showboats and gets superkicked, and Cope spears and pins him at 9:25. Pretty standard Bucks match here as the Callis team seemed like they were jet-lagged and moving in slow motion. **1/2. Afterwards, this brings out Christian, who continues his beef with the Bucks, and then hits Nick with a low blow before Matt superkicks him out of the ring.
Meanwhile, Willow’s entrance is cut short by Mercedes Mone laying her out backstage and stomping on her hand.
Meanwhile, Mark Davis and Don Callis are back from Croatia and feeling REFRESHED. And Davis will be in the Gauntlet on Sunday. Maybe he’ll draw #20 in honor of my 20th birthday.
MJF joins us and he’s paid off a couple of people to make sure Andrade isn’t here. But then he goes to take a picture with a lady at ringside, and of course Andrade actually is there and attacks him. Weird that they spent so much time specifically building up this feud but they’re not even in a singles match at the PPV.
Meanwhile, Chris Jericho declares for the Casino Gauntlet and announces a super-random six-man match for Collision.
Continental Challenge semi-final: Nigel McGuinness v. Kyle O’Reilly
Story is simple here, as Nigel has a bad leg and Kyle is a submission master. They trade takedown attempts to start and Kyle goes for the leg and tries a guillotine. Nigel escapes that, so Kyle kicks him down and SWEEPS THE LEG to send him to the floor. Kyle follows with a knee off the apron as we take a break. Back with Nigel hitting a falling wristlock and going to work on the arm, but Kyle goes for the anklelock and stomps the leg as well. Kyle with a sleeper, but Nigel rolls over for two. They trade cradles and Kyle rolls him up for two. They do some nice mat wrestling and Kyle hooks a leglock, but Nigel makes the ropes. They slug it out and collide, with Nigel hitting a lariat for two. Nigel with the London Dungeon top wristlock and Kyle taps at 12:03 to send Nigel to the finals for the obvious choice. I dunno, I understand why Nigel is there, but neither of his matches were anything special and he’s got no realistic shot. This was solid mat wrestling but that’s about it. ***
Meanwhile, Kyle Fletcher isn’t sure that Okada is trustworthy. Probably wise.
Persephone, Megan Bayne & Lena Kross v. Maya World, Jamie Hayter & Alex Windsor
Megan tosses Maya with an overhead suplex, but the Birds double-team Persephone and hit her with a double-suplex out of the corner. Maya with a moonsault for two. We take a break and return with the champs in control of Hayter, but they collide for a double down. Megan tries a chokeslam on Maya and she reverses out, and they all hit the big moves, leading to Maya hitting Persephone with a stunner for two. But then everyone else brawls on the floor and Persephone hits Maya with the TBS title and goes up with a frog splash for the pin at 9:53. They actually let a CMLL regular WIN A MATCH?!? They tried hard but had a tough time keeping the crowd’s interest. **1/2
Swerve Strickland v. Jungle Jack Perry
This is a weird choice for a main event given neither guy is on the PPV. Swerve slugs him down in the corner, but they head to the apron and Jack dropkicks his knee out there. Perry tries a rana off the apron, but Swerve swings him into the post headfirst and we take a break. Back with Swerve putting Perry into an over the shoulder submission hold, but Jack flips out to the floor and hits him with a sliced bread out there. Jack follows with three dives in a row and a moonsault. Back in for another one, but he overshoots and recovers with a DDT instead, for two. Swerve hits him with a House Call kick out of the corner and follows with the Swerve Stomp, but Perry manages to catch him and counter with the Snare Trap. Swerve escapes that, so Jack gets a rana for two. But then Swerve hits him with Big Pressure and gets the pin at 11:33. Well that was certainly a match that happened. It was fine. ***
And there’s not even an overrun tonight, as they do a quick video package for Omega and Ospreay and wrap it up.
Well that show was a huge disappointment as far as go-home shows. We already knew what the CCC finals were gonna be from the moment they announced the field, and the main event tonight had nothing to do with the PPV. This was definitely one you could skip, as all the heavy lifting was done last week and this week was just a couple of Collision-level trios matches and some promos.