The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.02.24

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.02.24

“Fifth Anniversary”

Man now that they’ve got so much money, Tony can finally give me the raise I’ve been asking for!

The Blackpool Combat Club does a cold open promo with their scary music in the background, and Jon Moxley promises Bryan Danielson a warrior’s end at WrestleDream, going out on his shield in his hometown, and that’s the best deal fate is gonna offer him.

Live from Pittsburgh, PA

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

AEW International title: Will Ospreay v. Ricochet

They immediately do a gymnastic exhibition and battle to a stalemate with dueling superhero landings, but Ric sends him to the floor and follows with a tope suicida. Will tries to springboard off the railing and Ricochet pops up with a rana to bring him down, and back in with a senton. Ricochet gets annoyed by the crowd reaction, so he beats on Ospreay with chops, but Will fires back with the handspring kick and a springboard elbow gets two. Ricochet with a lariat for two. They trade powerbomb attempts and flip out of each other’s attempt, and Ospreay gets a Spanish fly for two. Ricochet blocks the Ozcutter and they fight to the apron, where Will hits the Ozcutter on THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING as we take a break. Back with Ric hitting the rana off the top, but Will lands on his feet, so Ric hits his own Ozcutter for two. Ricochet continues getting more frustrated and blocks a Hidden Blade with a backslide bomb and piledriver for two. They trade suplexes and Ospreay gets a stunner, and then rolls him into a Styles Clash for two. Ozcutter gets two. Ricochet ducks the Hidden Blade and goes up with a shooting star press, which gets two. He tries Vertigo and Ospreay counters into a poison rana, but Ricochet hits his own, and they both collapse on top of each other for a double pin at 16:10. So it’s a draw, but they want FIVE MORE MINUTES and we actually get it. So they slug it out and Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade, at which point Takeshita runs in for the immediate DQ and beats both guys down, to presumably set up a three-way at the PPV. Match was great, but the finish of course wasn’t great. ****

Meanwhile, Mercedes Mone gets a big business offer from MVP.

Meanwhile, the Gunns are doing a wacky promo, but Hangman Page just bursts in and kills them both.

TV Time with Chris Jericho. Chris takes credit for the new TV deal and announces it’s time for a new era of Jericho: The ROH World title era, done again. So he challenges Mark Briscoe for Wrestledream, and Mark comes out and he’s not making excuses even though he lost last week on Collision. But Mark’s word of the day is CONSEQUENTIAL and the consequence is going to be putting Jericho’s head on his wall. Jericho goes way low, pointing out that Jay Briscoe could have beat him, but Mark will never be as good as Jay. So Mark knocks him on his ass and accepts the challenge.

Meanwhile, Darby Allin relates a story about hanging out in a bus station while some punks were spitting on his head, which naturally led to a fight because he doesn’t ever want to back down from bullies. So he’s gonna be at the PPV with an open challenge.

Hangman Page v. Juice Robinson

I have to wonder if Hangman’s cowboy gear is giving Juice some PTSD given Toni Storm’s recently revealed affair with Stan Hansen in Japan. Juice immediately finds a strap at the entrance and whips Hangman, but Page gets rid of it and tries to piledrive him through a table. Juice escapes that and they fight into the crowd, where Juice throws a beer at him and accessorizes it with a bucket of popcorn. They finally make it into the ring and start the match, where Juice chokes him out with a belt, but Page puts the boots to him in the corner and we take a break. Back with Juice hitting a superplex and slugging away in the corner while Nigel clarifies that he wasn’t saying “thank you” to Bryan Danielson last week, but rather to Tony Khan, because he would never say “thank you” to someone trying to break his arm. Back to the floor after Juice misses the cannonball in the corner, where Juice hits a second attempt at a cannonball, putting Page through the railing this time. Back in the ring, Juice hits a crossbody, but Hangman rolls through and slams him into the corner, but Juice comes back with a powerbomb for two. But then Page goes low behind the ref’s back, and hits the Buckshot Lariat to finish to 9:56. Well at least it wasn’t the same lariat that Stan Hansen hit on Toni Storm, the one that allegedly wasn’t with his arm. Page goes to hang Juice with his belt, living up to his name, but Jay White makes a very unlikely babyface save and chases Page off into the crowd before paying off Chekhov’s Table by spearing Page through it. A very fun brawl. ***1/4

Meanwhile, Shibata interrupts a Jack Perry interview and challenges him for WrestleDream.

Meanwhile, Bryan Danielson has been preoccupied with Jon Moxley lately, but tonight he’s taking a break from that to defend against Okada and get some revenge for having his eye broken last time.

Dr. Britt Baker DMD v. Serena Deebs on hi

Britt immediately takes Deeb down and rolls into a Lockjaw attempt, but Deeb escapes as we find Mariah May watching at ringside. Deeb takes Britt down with a half-crab and Britt makes the ropes. Deeb clips the knee and we take a break. Back with Britt coming back with clotheslines and a neckbreaker for two. She goes for the glove and Deeb cuts her off with a powerbomb and horse collar submission. Britt reverses into a cradle for two, but Deeb suplexes her and puts her down with a lariat. Britt reverses the Deebtox into an Air Raid Crash for two, and tries for the Lockjaw, but Deeb reverses out. They fight to the top and Britt brings her down with an Air Raid Crash off the top, for two. And the Lockjaw finishes at 11:12. This one felt a bit long and kind of dragged for me. **1/4. And then Deeb goes for the attack on Baker, but Queen Aminata makes the save. Well they’re certainly trying to do something with Aminata but I don’t know how well it’s clicking.

Meanwhile, Hook is coming after the mysterious assailants who took out his father off-screen before the show.

Meanwhile, Mariah May accuses Willow of being SHADY and failing upwards, which prompts a brawl.

Private Party v. The Iron Savages

Private Party quickly sends Boulder to the floor for a dive and back in for Gin & Juice on Bronson to finish at 1:07. Zay promises that they’re going to be the next AEW tag champions, which doesn’t do much for me but at least it’s something different. So they call out the Bucks, who decide to take them up on a challenge right now, but then change their minds because they have “super limited dates” and don’t want to waste one on Pittsburgh. But then Jack Perry hits the ring and attacks, so Shibata makes the save and Christopher Daniels makes a six-man for Collision.

Meanwhile, Prince Nana has words for MVP, but MVP directs him to the complaints department, which turns out to be Shelton Benjamin.

AEW World title: Bryan Danielson v. Kazuchika Okada

Continental title is only on the line for 20 minutes but this match is screaming for a BCC run-in finish anyway. They trade takedowns to start and we take a break early. Back with Okada beating Bryan down in the corner, but Bryan fights back and walks into a flapjack. Okada beats on him with elbows, but Bryan bails to the apron and fights his way to the top and tries a diving headbutt, which misses by a lot. Okada with a chinlock and Bryan fights out of that, so Okada hits him with a DDT for two. He tries a tombstone but Bryan counters out of that and goes to the top, so Okada dropkicks him to the floor and then boots him into the front row. Back in the ring, Bryan hits him with a missile dropkick and then puts him on the floor for a tope suicida. Back in, Bryan with the kicks and he gets a pair of cradles for two, trying to win the Continental title with time running out on that stip. They trade hard shots and Okada hits the dropkick and goes up with the flying elbow, but Bryan counters the Rainmaker into a triangle, but Okada makes the ropes. So Bryan hits the bu saiku knee, but Okada bails to the floor and the 20 minutes expires. So Bryan hits him with a dive, but Okada gets a tombstone on the floor and we take a break. Back with a double down in the ring, but they trade suplexes and Bryan throws kicks until walking into the dropkick. Okada with the Rainmaker, but it only gets two. They slug it out and Bryan hits his own lariat and pounds him with elbows. Okada comes back with the neckbreaker, but the BCC surrounds the ring while Danielson reverses the Rainmaker into a backslide for the pin to retain at 30:00. Hitting the 20:00 mark kind of sucked the life out of the crowd for a while and I found this one to be disappointing compared to their Forbidden Door match last year. I mean, still great for a TV match, but Okada was in low gear for most of the match as part of the storyline. ***1/2. So Jon Moxley continues teasing a mysterious person behind his attacks, forcing his hand. But then Wheeler Yuta makes the save with a hammer, which sets up a tag match next week against Pac & Claudio.

Well this show was certainly as long as advertised. I don’t think they’re doing a particularly effective job of building towards WrestleDream next week, as a lot of stuff feels very thrown together and “Hey you want a fight?” type of matchmaking. We already had multiple examples on this episode alone. The BCC v. Danielson program feels hot, but not much else does at the moment.