The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.05.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.05.25

Live from Angelica Houston, TX

Your hosts are Excalibur & Bryan Danielson & Tony Schiavone

LAST WEEK: Hangman Page dresses up as Tony Schiavone and kicks some ass!

The Opps interrupt the real Tony, who is busy announcing YET ANOTHER TITLE in AEW, and Joe is understandably upset about getting fooled last week. So Tony tries to apologize for the deception, but Joe promises CONSEQUENCES, prompting security to run out and provide a human shield. But then Hangman Page, Eddie Kingston and Hook all come out and chase off the heels, and that’s apparently our main event tonight. And Hook even convinces the champions to put the belts on the line.

Orange Cassidy v. Claudio Castagnoli

Orange hits him with a pair of dives on the floor, but Claudio catches him and presses him into the ring. Orange sends him out and dives again, but Claudio catches him in a delayed suplex out there and walks him around the ring before dropping him on the railing, and then back into the ring with another suplex. Orange tries a sleeper and Claudio uses SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION to escape, before hitting him with the Giant Swing to put him on the floor as we take a break. Back with Orange trying a comeback, but Claudio suplexes him a few times and beats on him in the corner. Orange comes back with a rana and dropkick, and a backslide gets two. PK puts Claudio on the floor and he follows with a swinging DDT off the apron, and back in with a diving DDT for two. Claudio blocks a sunset flip with a powerbomb for two and goes into the crossface. Orange reverses another powerbomb into a Code Red for two, but Claudio hits him with the uppercut for two. Claudio beats on him in the ropes, but Orange fights back with the stunner . But then Claudio counters the Orange Punch with the uppercut and pins him at 12:27. As usual, Claudio is the world’s greatest base for someone to bounce off. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Mark Briscoe stops by a Kyle Fletcher interview segment and asks for a TNT title rematch at Full Gear in a no DQ match, so he can teach Kyle to be a real man. But Don wants some more stakes, so Mark offers up his career. But Don doesn’t want his career, he wants Mark to join the Don Callis Family if he loses.

Meanwhile, the Young Bucks now have a $1,000,000 match at Full Gear against the Jurassic Express & Kenny Omega. And Don Callis is pretty convinced they’re with him now.

Mercedes Mone & Athena v. Harley Cameron & Willow Nightingale

Harley as the smiling babyface kind of ruins the character, as the somewhat evil edge she had as a chaos goblin was a lot of the charm. The heels attack at the bell and double-team Harley, but Harley gets a suplex on Mercedes and makes a hot tag to Willow. Willow cleans house and splashes them in the corner before adding a double missile dropkick. Willow splashes Harley onto Mercedes for two, but Athena makes the save and slams Mone onto Harley for two. We take a break and return with Harley taking them both down with a crucifix, setting up Willow for another comeback. Spinebuster on Athena gets two. It’s BREAKING LOOSE IN TULSA and Mercedes gets the Bank statement on Harley, but Willow breaks it up by pouncing Athena onto them. Willow and Athena slug it out, but Willow misses the cannonball and Harley gets a blind tag. Athena hits them both with a fallaway slam in an amazing spot and gets two on Harley. So Athena summons Billie Starkz to interfere, but Kris Statlander blocks it and Harley ROLLS THE DICE on Athena to finish at 13:30. I gotta say, this tournament is not at all going the way I predicted. This was all over the place and pretty sloppy, but it had good heat and it was a lot of fun. **1/2

Tony Schiavone joins us again and announces a Casino Gauntlet match to crown the first AEW National champion. We absolutely do not need yet another midcard title on this show. Especially after they just unified two midcard titles not very long ago AND introduced Women’s tag team titles a couple of weeks ago. It’s way too much. So the Hurt Syndicate are the first two entrants, as MVP immediately messes up and calls it the “International title” before naming some 80s guys who held it. But then Ricochet and the GOA interrupt because THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE FOREVER AND EVER and they also want the title. And then even Excalibur calls it the International title by mistake! This is like all the stuff wrong with AEW in one segment.

Darby Allin v. Daniel Garcia

This is the second match in the best of three series to determine who gets the advantage at Blood & Guts next week. I miss FLIPPING A COIN. This is needless complication for a simple concept. I mean, yeah, it gives the show some minor stakes, but it didn’t really need more. They fight to the apron right away and Darby goes to work on Daniel’s arm and hits him with a dive to the floor. So Garcia wraps him up in the apron and dropkicks him into the apron to take over as we take a break. Back with Daniel working a sleeper, but Darby absorbs a superplex and hits a Scorpion Deathdrop for a double down. Back to the floor, Garcia dropkicks the stairs into Darby’s head, busting him open. But then Pac comes out of the audience and takes out Darby again, before Darby barely beats the count. Garcia puts him down with chops to set up the Dragon Tamer, but Darby fights out and reverse to his own, tapping out Garcia at 13:32 to even up the series. ***1/4 So this means Moxley v. Roddy is the rubber match at Collision, although wouldn’t a better booking be Moxley v. Kyle O’Reilly, since they’ve had those matches lately? So this sets up a big Conglomeration v. Death Riders brawl, which goes badly for the babyfaces until Roddy regroups and chases them off.

FTR joins us to slag Brodido, but they ask for a handshake in the ring and it turns out that Brodido are locked in the dressing room and unable to escape. So FTR heads over to meet Bandido’s family at ringside, and Dax makes fun of Grandma Bandido until Gravity has had enough and attacks. So we cut to the back, where Brody King punches his way out of the dressing room, terrifying Stokely, and Brodido makes the save and chases FTR off. Good segment that went exactly how you’d expect.

Mina Shirakawa v. Megan Bayne

This is another one of the Advantage Battles for Blood & Guts. Mina beats on Bayne with kicks to start and sends her to the floor for a dive. I have to say, kudos to Penelope Ford for getting fully geared up for her appearance here after getting Tommy John surgery. Megan with a fallaway slam to take over as we take a break. Back with them fighting on the apron and Mina gets a suplex out there. Bayne brings her in with a suplex, but Mina gets a sling blade for two. This allows Marina Shafir to sneak up and choke out Toni Storm at the announce desk, and Bayne finishes Mina with a running powerbomb at 9:34. And then all the women run in and brawl to set up Blood & Guts next week. **1/4. Just a paint by numbers build.

World Trios title: The Opps v. Hangman Page, Hook & Eddie Kingston

Hangman and Shibata slug it out with elbows to start and Page gets a lariat for two. Over to Hook for a northern lights suplex that gets two. Hobbs comes in with a backbreaker, but Hook suplexes him out of the corner and we take a break. Back with Hook apparently injured on the floor and clutching his back while the doctor checks on him, and Joe works a nerve hold on Eddie. Hot tag Hangman and he dives onto Hobbs and then moonsaults him back in the ring, for two. It’s BONZO GONZO and Hook appears to be back in action as they all brawl, but Hobbs wrecks everyone outside and Shibata hits Eddie with a german suplex. So Hangman and Hobbs fight up the stage and slug it out, leading to Hobbs powerslamming him off the ramp and through a table. So that leaves Eddie to fight for himself, but Hook tags himself in and quickly submits to a torture rack from Hobbs at 11:50. This was fine, and the Hobbs v. Hangman portion was really intriguing. **1/2. And then next week it turns out they’re gonna cram a falls count anywhere match between Hangman & Hobbs between the Blood & Guts matches? I guess it’s gonna be another super sized episode to fit everything.

Not a bad show this week and the crowd was good and all the matches were good. But for those who make the same silly bad faith argument about “NO STORIES!” over and over, I’d say it’s becoming actually the complete opposite. It’s way too much stuff happening at the same time, with multiple new titles being launched and qualifying matches for Blood & Guts, and the Blood & Guts matches themselves which feature guys who are also feuding with other factions at the same time. It’s kind of exhausting to try to follow everything right now. I feel like TK needs to calm the hell down a bit and focus strongly on one or two big feuds for a while.