The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.27.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 08.27.25

Originally written 08.29.25

Yeah happy birthday to me, whatever. I’m not celebrating any more of them. NO MORE.

So I took a couple of days off and went to Edmonton for some back to school shopping with my daughter since I’m on vacation for a couple of weeks, and I made the conscious decision to NOT review any wrestling while we were there, which was really nice and refreshing to be honest. I know not everyone loves the reposts but it actually gives me a lot of leeway to not have to panic about posting stuff 365 days a year. Only 360. Anyway, tonight I catch up on Dynamite and then tomorrow the 83 Omni show that was just posted and we’re back in the groove again!

Live from the 2300 Arena in Philly. I’m sure any of the old school ECW guys visiting for the show were shocked to paid on time for it. Really cool setup given the limited space, as it looks completely different but it’s brightly lit and has a lot of same camera setups as the ECW shows.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Taz & Ian Riccaboni

FTR joins us to start, and Dax complains about the illegal man getting the pin to win the tag team titles at the PPV. So he blames the ref and wants an apology and reversal of the decision. That’s not happening, so Stokely calls him a NINCOMPOOP and goads him into a shoving match, at which point COPE makes the save, along with new/old best frenemy Christian. And that triggers the C&C v. FTR brawl we’ve been waiting for them to finally get to forever. So it’s for All Out in Toronto and Christian makes fun of their fathers to seal the deal.

Jon Moxley v. Daniel Garcia

Garcia takes him down and rides him to start while the crowd gives Yuta his usual warm welcome. Garcia throws elbows but Moxley puts him down with an elbow and slugs away in the corner. They head to the apron and Garcia takes him down with a dragon screw out there and follows with a running kicks into the railing. Daddy Magic comes out to help and Garcia continues going after the leg as we take a break. Back with Garcia hitting a superplex, but Moxley gets fired up and throws strikes until Daniel hits him with a rebound lariat for two. Mox tries the DDT and Garcia grabs the ropes to block and takes him down with a single leg crab, with Mox quickly making the ropes. But they head to the floor and Moxley gets the DDT on the stairs to put him down. Garcia beats the count with help from someone at ringside, but Moxley takes him down with the armbreaker and Garcia rolls him into the Dragon Tamer to reverse out. But Mox grabs the choke, so Garcia piledrives him for two. Another try at the Tamer, but Moxley cradles him for the pin at 14:00 by the skin of his teeth. But apparently the answer for Darby Allin is still no. ***1/4

Wheeler Yuta is still hanging around the ring and annoying the fans, now claiming to have slayed the American Dragon and replaced him. But the lights go out and Hook makes his return and kicks Yuta’s ass for old time’s sake.

Meanwhile, MJF is not happy that the magic contracts now need a week’s notice to be cashed in from now on. That is way better.

Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford v. Kris Statlander & Harley Cameron

Statlander puts Ford down with a kick and the faces double-team her in the corner, with Stat slamming Harley onto Ford for two. Over to Bayne, who has a weird mismatch with her underneath tights up too far on her hips tonight, and she throws Harley around and Ford comes in with a dropkick on the ropes for two. We take a break and return with Stat getting a hot tag and running wild with a Michinoku Driver on Ford for two. Bayne tosses Ford onto Statlander, however, and hits Stat with a german suplex for two. The heels go up and miss stereo moonsaults, allowing Statlander to hit a double-team powerbomb on Bayne for two. They all throw clotheslines and everyone is down. Ford goes up with a bodypress on Statlander, but Kris catches her and takes her down with a Koji clutch to finish at 10:45. This was very very messy but pretty fun. **1/2. Afterwards, Willow hits the ring to confront Statlander again, but Harley makes peace and they leave it there for now.

Mercedes Mone joins us to celebrate winning her ninth belt last week. We need to get the DDT Heavy Metalweight title on her next. But then Renee brings up Alex Windsor, and Mercedes doesn’t want to her about her and just wants to do the CEO dance.

Meanwhile, Mark Briscoe does a remote interview introducing his latest baby and then threatening MJF and Kyle Fletcher.

All Star 8 Man: Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander & Hechicero & Kazuchika Okada v. Jet Speed & Bro-Dido

Putting Jet Speed in one of these things is certainly stretching the definition of “All Star” but I guess they need someone to do the job. Bandido and Hechicero trade rollups while Don Callis puts over his own “flawless Spanish”, which allows him to communicate so effectively. Brody manages to take on Alexander & Takeshita by himself and hits them both with a senton, and JetSpeed double-teams Josh with dropkicks . But Bailey gets caught by a forearm from Alexander, and we get tension between Okada and Takeshita over who tagged in first. So Brody sends them both to the floor and hits them with a cannonball from the apron, and then we get triple drives from the other three babyfaces as we take a break. Back with the heels working Knight over in the corner, but Brody gets a hot tag and runs wild, triggering the big series of moves until Hechicero collides with King for a double down. Bailey kicks Takeshita down, but he shrugs it off and pops up for a powerbomb, which Bailey reverses into his moonsault kneedrop for two. But then Takeshita messes with Okada again and we get another moment between them, but Brody clears the ring again. We get another dive on the outside and Bailey escapes a Rainmaker and takes Alexander to the top for a rana, but misses a shooting star and Alexander rolls him up for the pin at 12:00. Man Jet Speed are such geeks but Takeshita v. Okada is gonna be HUGE. And this was clearly a PARTY MATCH, although the heels won so I can’t 100% justify that description, but it was pretty good regardless. ***1/2

Hangman Page joins us and he’s ready whenever MJF wants to cash in his stupid contract, but Don Callis interrupts ahd he wants a shot at the title for his family next. So they all hit the ring and attack, with Jet Speed trying to save and getting laid out as usual. But luckily Kenny Omega’s roided up older brother is there to save for real, and it’s TIME TO PLAY THE (VIDEO) GAME! Save some HGH for the rest of us, Kenny.

Meanwhile, Toni Storm endorses her good friend Mina Shirakawa before her title match against Athena that’s happening as I write this! I don’t like Mina’s chances.

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

Shibata and Kaun exchange chops, but the heels take him to the floor and lay him out as we take a break. Back with the heels working Shibata over in the corner, but it’s over to Hobbs and he gets into a Meat Match with Toa and they trade clothesline until Joe comes in and powerslams Ricochet for two. Everyone is in and PANDEMONIUM IS BREAKING LOOSE and Richochet hits Joe with the shooting star for two. Shibata takes Toa to the apron in a sleeper while Ricochet goes up to finish, but MVP heads out and hits Ric with the cane, allowing Joe to sink in the choke for the submission at 10:11. I’m not 100% following this Hurt Syndicate deal as they flip flop between heel and babyface, to be honest. **1/2

Falls Count Anywhere: Darby Allin v. Claudio Castagnoli

Claudio immediately runs Darby into a wall backstage and slams him on an LED TV to break it in half. Geez, haven’t they heard of CAPACITORS? That’s actually super dangerous. Down to ringside and Claudio swings him into the railing for two. But then Darby climbs up one of the poles like a complete maniac and hits him with a coffin drop to the floor for two. Into the ring, where Claudio presses him and sends him out of the ring and destroys the announce table with his body. Yikes. We take a break after that and return with Claudio setting up tables and beating on Darby with a chair, but Darby sends him through a table and goes to the top. Claudio brings him down with the power of chairshots and then hits a top rope gut wrench onto a pile of chairs for two. Powerbomb through the table gets two. Darby comes back with a victory roll for two and sends Claudio into an exposed turnbuckle for two. Coffin Drop finishes at 13:25. Darby Allin flying around the ring with no fear + Claudio as the world’s greatest base = a great match. ****. Afterwards, we get a Death Rider attack, but Darby breaks free and runs away.

Man this show FLEW by for me and was incredibly efficient in setting up a bunch of big matches for the next PPV. C&C v. FTR, Darby v. Moxley, Briscoe v. Fletcher, Mone v. Windsor all seem likely already. Granted they only have three weeks so they have to get going quickly. I’m assuming we do Hangman v. MJF II as the main event as well.

A very fun show this week.