The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.29.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 10.29.25

“Fright Night”

Live from Edinburg, TX

Your hosts are Excalibur & Bryan Danielson

Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin v. Wheeler Yuta & Daniel Garcia

Wheeler Yuta thinks that they should eliminate intentional walks in the World Series even though he’s only watched 4 games of baseball. We are tornado rules and they all brawl to start, but the Death Riders choke out the babyfaces with pieces of clothing to take over. Wheeler goes under the ring and only produces a middle finger, so Darby hits him with a chair to teach him not to tease the fans and then dives onto him for good measure. Lesson learned I hope. Garcia whips Orange into the crowd and he goes for the pockets to troll Garcia, but Yuta attacks from behind like the world’s lamest horror movie villain and the Riders double-team him. But then Darby comes off the balcony with a coffin drop to save. Yuta and Orange retreat into the crowd to continue the fight, while Darby dropkicks Garcia off the railing as we take a break. Back with the heels double-teaming Darby in the corner, but Orange returns to fight them off and hits Garcia with a tornado DDT. But the Riders put him on a table outside and Yuta splashes him to break it, so Darby decides to fight alone and hits Garcia with a Code Red for two. Yuta breaks up the coffin drop and stomps on his crotch for a bit, but Darby gives him a ballshot in return and hits the coffin drop for two. Orange gets rid of Garcia with the Orange Punch and Darby taps out Yuta with the Scorpion Death Lock at 11:28. Awesome opener. ****

Meanwhile, Hook shows up and he’s pretty sure he’s not doing the job in the main event tonight. Yeah good luck with that one buddy.

Meanwhile, Don Callis promises that the Family has never been stronger, and makes another pitch to the Young Bucks, and instructs “the production jobber” to give them a special entrance as a present.

The Young Bucks v. FTR v. Jurassic Express v. Jet Speed

As promised, Don gives them an over the top introduction (“Friends of that rat bastard Kenny Omega!”). Dax slugs on Speedball to start and gets kicked to oblivion as a result. Over to Jack Perry, and he trades armdrag takedowns with Speedball, but Knight comes in for the double team. But we get a four way kip up and everyone brawls. Everyone charges Knight in the corner and FTR teams up with the Bucks to double-team him, but Perry gets a tag and cleans house on the heels. Everyone gets tossed to the floor and Bailey knocks them all down, and then Dax superplexes Knight onto the pile in another crazy spot as we take a break. Back with Luchasaurus smashing all the heels and running wild. He chokeslams the Bucks onto each other and moonsaults Matt for two while Jack takes out Nick with a destroyer. Knight dropkicks Perry onto the pile outside in another crazy spot, and then Bailey moonsaults everyone while Knight splashes Luchasaurus for two. Bucks regroup with a SUPERKICK PARTY on the Jurassics, but Speedball hits his own. Bucks with the BTE Trigger on Knight for two out of all that. So they try the TK Driver, but Luchasaurus breaks it up and Bailey continues moonsaulting people outside, but Knight walks into a Shatter Machine and gets pinned at 13:42, giving FTR the title shot at Full Gear. This was completely insane start to finish. ****1/4

Don Callis Family Summit:

We’ve got two tables with luminaries from the Family, although Takeshita couldn’t make it due to travel issues. So they unveil Don’s newest painting, which is just as amazing as the other ones, complete with photorealistic Don Callis pose. But then Takeshita interrupts and Don has to play peacemaker by asserting dominance and orders him to shake Okada’s hand. But this time Okada refuses, so Callis makes them team up on Collision to prove they can work together.

Meanwhile, Mercedes will defend the CMLL title against Olympia on Collision in advance of challenging for the World title at Full Gear.

Jon Moxley v. Kyle O’Reilly

Kyle goes after the leg, but Mox dumps him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Moxley running Kyle into the stairs, but he misses a charge in the corner and Kyle goes for the knee again. Moxley with a piledriver for two and he switches to the armbar and crossface and Kyle makes the ropes. He puts Moxley down with kicks and slugs away in the mount before trying for the anklelock and then hitting him with a running knee to the back for two. Moxley with the elbows and they trade knee strikes, but Mox tries another piledriver and Kyle reverses him into a triangle. Mox won’t tap, so Kyle hits him with a knee, but Moxley fires back with a lariat and boots him down. But then Kyle picks the ankle again and gets another anklelock, but Mox makes the ropes this time. He bails to the floor, but Kyle takes him down for an armbar on the floor. Finally Marina steps in to slow him down, and Kyle guillotines him on the floor until they’re both counted out at 12:33. So we get the Death Rider beatdown on Kyle and Roddy, but the Conglomeration makes the save, and Darby issues the challenge for BLOOD AND GUTS. I liked last week’s match better but the slow descent of Jon Moxley is an interesting storyline for him. ***

Meanwhile, Mercedes and Statlander are brawling in the back, but Athena joins in to help Mone and Willow makes the save, setting up the tag title tournament match next week.

Meanwhile, we get a wholesome video of Bandido’s grandmother watching him at ringside for the first time last week.

Women’s World tag team title tournament round one: Skye Blue & Julia Hart v. Queen Aminata & Jamie Hayter

Aminata gives Skye the chocolate kisses right away and the babyfaces double-team Skye off that and do some quick tagging. Double suplex puts the heels on the floor and Jamie hits another suplex on Skye for two, but the heels double-team Hayter for two as we take a break. Back with Hart doing the ropewalk, but Hayter suplexes them both and makes the hot tag to Aminata. Running boot gets two. Hayter with a lariat for two on Skye and they all collide with lariats for a double down. Everyone brawls and Thekla appears from under the ring to take out Hayter, leaving Aminata alone to get pinned at 10:00 and send the heels into the second round. Kind of a surprising result. Match was mostly messy but fine. **

Meanwhile, we learn that Penelope Ford has a torn arm muscle and she’s out for a long time. So Marina volunteers.

Fight Night Four Way Fight: Samoa Joe v. Hook v. Bobby Lashley v. Ricochet

Winner gets the title shot at Full Gear, which is kind of a backwards way to book it since Page already challenged Joe last week. Joe brawls with Lashley on the floor while Ricochet talks big to Hook, and ends up getting suplexes out of his boots as a result. Hook with a northern lights for two, but Bobby breaks it up and chokeslams Hook on the apron to calm him down a bit. Joe with the suicide dive on everyone as we take a break. Back with Joe powerslamming Hook to cut off a comeback, and that gets two. Ricochet dives in and Joe walks away. EVERY. TIME! Joe and Bobby slug it out, but Lashley chokeslams him and hits Ricochet with a Dominator for two. Ricochet clears the ring and hits Joe with the SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP before coming back in with a shooting star press on Hook, which gets two. Hook counters the Spirit Gun into the Redrum, but Joe breaks that up with a senton. But then Lashley spears Joe for two, and Ricochet saves with a 450 out of nowhere for a quadruple down. Hook cradles Ricochet for two and everyone hits the floor, but Ricochet nails Bobby with a chairshot to distract him, leaving Joe to tap out Hook at 11:28 and win the title shot. Match was a foregone conclusion but Ricochet was determined to make it a great one by himself if needed. ***1/2.

Afterwards, Tony chats with the Opps as they celebrate, but Tony brings out the wacky inflatable costume crew to sign the contract right now. Joe of course sees right this subterfuge and has Hobbs take out the geeks to make sure none of them are Hangman Page. And indeed this time the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is someone else. So Joe signs the contract while Bryan mourns the poor chicken who had a rough night. But then Tony offers them a toast before revealing that “Tony” was Hangman Page all along! That was right out of Scooby Doo in the most awesome way possible.

Hang on, has “Tony Schiavone” just been Hangman Page wearing a mask for the past six years?!? Is there even a real Tony? MY MIND IS BLOWN!

Anyway, this episode ruled thanks to the insane first hour and the great angle to end it.

Oh and GO BLUE JAYS.