The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.14.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.14.26

Live from Cleveland OH

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & WALKER STEWART!

Jon Moxley, Daniel Garcia & Gabe Kidd v. Wardlow, Mark Davis & Jake Doyle

Man the reaction for the Death Riders here shows how definitively they are now babyfaces. I still don’t get how Mark Davis pinning Gabe Kidd earns him a shot at Jon Moxley’s title. Garcia stands up to Davis and grinds on a headlock, but D&D plow him over and offer some poses. Doyle with a clothesline, but it’s over to Gabe Kidd and he wants Wardlow. Gabe fires away with chops but tries a shoulderblock and goes flying as a result. Garcia tries his headlock and he gets flattened as well. So Mox decides to deal with the situation himself and they throw down, but Wardlow puts him down as well. The DCF works on Mox in the corner, but Doyle misses a charge and Kidd gives it another try, hitting Doyle with a lariat. And then everyone starts throwing clotheslines until Garcia gets the Dragon Tamer on Wardlow and we take a break. Back with Doyle in control of Garcia and hitting him with clotheslines, but Daniel fights back with his own and it’s hot tag Moxley. Mox beats on him with headbutts and follows with a cutter before slugging away in the corner. Davis counters a piledriver with a gut wrench, but Mox switches to a choke, so Davis suplexes out of that. Mox dropkicks him off the apron and follows with a dive, triggering a brawl on the floor. Davis gets left alone in the ring with the Death Riders and they hit the corner clotheslines on him, including Marina, which sets up the Dragon Tamer from Garcia. And Mox adds a curb stomp for two. They all brawl again and Wardlow gets double-teamed now and sent to the floor, leaving Davis to piledrive and pin Moxley at 15:40. Well that’s the only finish they could do to set up the title match. Very fun MEAN GUY match. ***1/2

Clockwork Carnage Qualifier: Adam Copeland v. Josh Alexander

They trade headlocks and Cope dropkicks him to the floor, but Alexander grabs his ankle and rams it into the apron before dropping his knee on the stairs to take over. We take a break and return with Alexander clipping the knee, but Cope dropkicks him for a double down. They slug it out and that offends Copeland, so he fires up and clotheslines Josh to the floor before hitting a baseball slide. Speaking of baseball, someone on the hard cam side is REALLY OBSESSED with letting us know that the White Sox blew a 2-0 lead. Yeah well the Blue Jays went from 2 outs from winning the World Series to last place in the division, so life’s tough for everyone. They fight to another double down and Copeland tries a spear, but Alexander counters into the rolling german suplexes and Cope pulls off the turnbuckle pad in the process. Can we PLEASE stop with that spot? And indeed Copeland reverses him into the corner, but then he charges and hits the exposed steel himself. Alexander with a spear of his own for two off that. They fight to the apron and Copeland slingshots him into the ring for a cutter for a third double down. Copeland goes up and gets crotched onto the exposed steel, but he drops Josh on the steel and spears him for the pin at 11:15. Took a little bit to get going but it was a fine match in the end. **1/2. Afterwards, Cope does a promo about how Christian suffered a collapsed lung at All Out. So he’s done some soul searching, and he’s retiring at the end of 2027. So now he has to win the AEW World title.

But this brings out Don Callis and Brian Cage, and Don predicts that he’ll decide when Copeland retires, and that triggers an attack from the Family as they destroy him.

Clockwork Carnage Qualifier: Konosuke Takeshita v. Brian Cage

They slug it out and Takeshita takes him to the floor with a rana, but Cage recovers with a tope con hilo and runs him into the railing. Back in the ring, Cage catches him on a kneelift and slams him into the corner, and a spinebuster gets two. We take a break and return with Takeshita hitting a german suplex for two. Takeshita with a running boot in the corner, but he tries a rana and Cage powerbombs him. So Takeshita fires back with a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Another powerbomb gets two as they are big meaty men slapping meat here. They fight to the top rope and Cage hits him with a top rope rana for two. They slug it out again, but Takeshita charges and hits his knee on the corner, setting up a superplex from Cage. But Takeshita reverses into the Raging Fire on the landing. He comes back with lariats as Cage won’t go down until the third one, but then he pops up with his own lariat for two. I am loving this shit. Cage tries the Drillclaw, but Takeshita reverses into guillotine and dragon sleeper, hammerlocking the arm and tapping him out at 11:34. These guys were just beating the shit out of each other and throwing each other around the ring and it was AWESOME. ****1/4

Meanwhile, the Brawling Birds have now joined the United Empire, and Andrade only has one question to ask Samoa Joe and Ciampa. I’m sure you can figure it out.

FTR joins Tony and they want to know why they haven’t got a title match with the Young Bucks yet. So this brings out the Motor City Machine Guns, and they lay down a challenge for a best of 5 series. But of course, not tonight, at WrestleDream. The crowd wasn’t thrilled about that announcement.

Meanwhile, Hangman wants to know why Swerve is still so obsessed with him?

Clockwork Carnage Qualifier: Kazuchika Okada v. Myron Reed

Not liking Reed’s chances of making it to the PPV main event here. Just a hunch. Walker informs us that they already wrestled each other in AEW on the Edmonton show in April, although that must have been on the Collision portion because I don’t remember them on Dynamite. Okada beats on Reed in the corner and beats on him with forearms, but he goes up and Reed evades the flying elbow. So Okada calmly hits him with the neckbreaker and we take a break. Back with Reed getting a cradle for two and he makes the comeback with clotheslines and a DDT for two. Okada bails to the floor and Reed hits him with a dive, but misses a 450 in the ring and walks into the Okada Dropkick. Reed ducks the Rainmaker, but Okada piledrives him and Reed bails to the floor again. Reed manages to get a DDT out there and hits a 450 off the stairs. Back in the ring with another 450, but he lands on Okada’s knees and that gets two. Reed comes back again with a poison rana , but misses yet another 450, and Okada finally puts him away with the Rainmaker at 11:00. We know AEW doesn’t do upsets and Reed had no chance, and Okada gave him WAY too much here given we all knew the result going in. It was good but Reed didn’t need all the comebacks and 450 attempts. **3/4

Meanwhile, MJF wins the PWI 500 and we get a video package about him, from him, about how great he is.

Meanwhile, the New Level meets an alleged comedian named Mojo Brookzz, who I’ve never heard of before. Apparently he’s subbing for Swerve tonight and that feels like a big downgrade. So they do a promo on Brodido and Mojo makes “jokes” about how they’re ugly and this shit DIES. They somehow managed to make the New Level seem lame here, and that’s something you have to work at.

The Triangle of Madness v. Mercedes Mone, Lena Kross & Megan Bayne

Mone and Thekla trade takedowns and Thekla gets worked over in the corner. Over to Julia, but Megan chokes her out on the ropes and the heels take over as we take a break. Back with Skye trying to make a comeback with a rana, but Bayne powerbombs her in the corner to set up a double knees from Mercedes for two. Everyone brawls and Thekla gets a hot tag of sorts and she runs wild. Crossbody on Kross gets two. Thekla working babyface is…weird. Bayne hits her with a front suplex and knee strike for two, but Skye takes out Bayne with a destroyer. Thekla with a tornado DDT on Kross for two. Mone grabs the title belt, but Julia mists Kross and Thekla hits a curb stomp and pins her at 11:13. This was OK but the heel-heel dynamic didn’t work great and it was a little disjointed at times. **1/2

Will Ospreay & Andrade v. Samoa Joe & Tommaso Ciampa

Ciampa backs off from facing Andrade and lets Joe have a shot first. Joe sends him into the corner, but Andrade gets a bodypress for two. The heels work him over in the corner, but Will and Andrade regroup with a double-team on Ciampa and Ospreay moonsaults off Andrade’s back for two. Ospreay trades chops with Ciampa and hits him with a rana to set up Andrade. Ciampa bumps to the floor and Andrade hits him with a dive and stops for a selfie. We take a break and return with Andrade getting beat down by the heels, and Joe gets two from that. Joe with the enzuigiri for two. Ciampa cuts off the ring and beats on Andrade, but Andrade fights back with a flying forearm for a double down. Hot tag Ospreay and he hits Ciampa with a springboard forearm for two. Ospreay goes to the apron and Joe trips him up, allowing Ciampa to hit a knee on him. Back in the ring, Joe tries the Muscle Buster, but Will escapes, so Joe hits him with a senton for two. Joe tries the choke on Andrade, but Andrade reverses to a rollup for two, and then Joe drops him on the National title and finishes with the choke at 14:00. A good tag team main event but nothing mind-blowing. ***.

And that wraps up the Dynamite portion, so I take my leave for the evening and leave you to Niz to recap Collision.

To be honest, this didn’t really sell me on the Clockwork Carnage concept or make me feel like it’s some can’t-miss match. It just feels like a filler PPV with an unfocused World title match in the main event while they figure out Will’s next big challenger. This would definitely be a PPV I’d pass on if not for reviewing it.