The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.11.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.11.26

A quick note before we get started:

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Thanks for sticking around and continuing to make this ridiculous hobby of mine worthwhile.

Anyway, enough begging. Let’s watch some wrestling.

Live from Salt Lake City, UT

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

Last week:  Blood and Guts (mostly blood) was spilled!  https://www.blogofdoom.com/rant/the-smark-rant-for-aew-dynamite-11-04-26/

Meanwhile, after the Blood and Guts loss last week, Will Ospreay tries to give everyone a pep talk, but Cope tells him that he doesn’t want to see the younger guys going through the hell of neck injuries that he went through.

Kyle Fletcher joins us to start for a face to face with Ospreay, and he reminds us about shaving his head two years ago, IN THIS VERY BUILDING.  And given the opportunity, he would stab Will in the head with a screwdriver all over again.  And he’s offended that Will went for spinal surgery and then went after MOXLEY for retribution, when Kyle was the one who broke his neck and deserves credit for it.  Fair.  So Will points out that he was working with one arm for months, and even with a broken neck he smoked Fletcher twice, bruv.  So we get the clip of Will running into Kyle at All In, and Ospreay accuses him of being jealous in that moment.  And Kyle snaps and admits that YES, he was jealous, because Will was living HIS dream, but that didn’t last long.  Because he realized he would be the guy to take Will’s title and ruin his crowning achievement.  But Will thinks that Kyle still loves him, but Kyle knows that he’s actually a manipulator and soon Alex Windsor will realize it and leave him.  So that’s enough for Ospreay, who promises that he’ll pull the trigger on Kyle in the same way he pulled it on Kenny and Mox.  Great stuff.

The New Level v. Brodido

Everyone brawls on the floor and goes flying all over the place with crazy bumps.  Then the match starts for real and Creed hits Brody with a dive, followed by Bandido and then Kofi for good measure.  We take a break and return with Bandido trading big moves with Kofi before Creed rolls Bandido into a brainbuster and it’s a double down.  Brody hits the Level with a tope and they run him into the stairs, but then Bandido comes flying off the stairs with a dive and they’re all counted out at 6:50.  Man you NEVER see double countout finishes in AEW.  They were working a million miles an hour and this was a pretty effective advertisement for Texas Death on Saturday, though.

Meanwhile, we get a Veteran’s Day celebration of AEW military.

Meanwhile, the Birds and Wrathlander bicker after Blood and Guts.

Orange Cassidy v. David Finlay

Finlay attacks and Orange rolls him up for two and gets a crucifix for two.  Orange decides to head outside a few times to regroup, frustrating Finlay, and they play chicken with the countout until Orange comes in for a dive but gets slammed as we take a break.  Back with Orange going to the pockets, but Finlay knocks him down with an elbow.  Finlay with a suplex, but Ornage goes dead weight on him and reverses to his own.  They head to the apron and Orange tries a slingshot into a DDT, but Finlay catches him, and Orange reverses to the stunner and then a DDT.  They fight to the top and trade bites, but David heads out and throws a chair in to distract the idiot ref, and then hits Orange with the Whacking Stick and pins him at 9:30.  I wish they wouldn’t use Orange to do so many setup jobs but he’s pretty much bulletproof anyway.  ***.  Afterwards, the Cut (ugh) guys take out Orange again despite the Conglomeration trying to save.  They desperately need a third attempt at a better name.

Meanwhile, Andrade talks about his disappointment with losing the National title to Ciampa last week, but he’s ready to be the first Latino AEW World champion.

Meanwhile, Big Stoke points out that FTR can’t buy nice things based on respect, so they’re gonna cheat and win the tag team title shot.

Persephone v. Gypsy Mac

Persephone accepts a handshake and takes Gypsy down before dropkicking her in the face and beating her down.  Razor’s Edge finishes at 1:35.

Meanwhile, Hangman shows up to reflect on his relationship with Swerve and how he’s forced to now engage with TEXAS DEATH against his better judgment and wishes.

Best of Five finale:  FTR v. The Motor City Machine Guns

Dax and Shelley trade takedowns to start and Alex goes to work on the arm, but then it turns into a brawl and they all slug it out on the floor. We take a break and return with FTR working on Shelley in the corner, but Cash misses a charge and it’s hot tag Sabin.  He runs wild with clotheslines and armdrags and hits Cash with a tornado DDT for two.  Cash cuts him off and takes Shelley to the top, but the Guns try a double-team powerbomb and Cash fights out of that.  Dax tries a jackknife cradle on Sabin and Sabin blocks it for two.  Cash grabs the bell while Sabin hits Dax with a bodypress for two, and Cash hits Sabin with the bell and Dax gets two off that.  We take another break and return with FTR hitting the Powerplex on Shelley.  But Sabin hits a missile dropkick on Dax, and Shelley clotheslines Cash to the floor.  Dax with a backslide on Shelley for two and they trade chops.  Guns double-team Dax with the necksnap and dropkick combo, and Sabin hits Stoke with a knee strike on the floor to get rid of him for a bit.  Back in for the double-team neckbreaker, which gets two on Dax as Cash makes a desperate diving save.  Sabin and Cash bump to the floor off a suplex and Stoke trips up Shelley to put Dax on top for two as we run through all the finishes of the other matches.  Shatter Machine gets two on Shelley but this time Sabin makes a desperate save.  Stokely takes the ref and Sabin takes him out, but that allows FTR to hit him with a stuff piledriver, and then one for Shelley that gets two.  FTR goes for the piledriver again with time running out as the crowd senses a draw, but they can’t get it set up in time and Shelley rolls up Cash for the pin at 19:50 to win the series. Another heckin’ good match to close out the series, complete with a tease of a draw and then rug pull.  ****1/4

AEW National title:  Tomasso Ciampa v. Mike Bailey

They slug it out to start and Bailey misses a charge and ends up eating a knee on the apron before regrouping with a springboard moonsault to the floor.  Ciampa catches him with the DDT on the way into the ring, however, and follows with a knee strike into the stairs and stops to high five Nigel while Speedball bleeds.  We take a break and return with Ciampa hitting a german suplex, but Bailey goes to the top and fights off an Air Raid Crash before taking another one on the apron anyway.  Back in for Project Ciampa and that gets two.  Bailey goes dead weight and Ciampa can’t piledrive him as a result, and then Bailey fires back with a spinkick to put him down.  Ciampa blocks a rollup for two, but Bailey gets a C4 for two.  Bailey with a PK and moonsault kneedrop, and then Caimpa retreats to the apron and Bailey SWEEPS THE LEG out there and hits another moonsault kneedrop on the apron.  Bailey goes up and Ciampa chops him down.  Speedball puts Ciampa in the Tree of Woe, but Ciampa BITES THE TOES to make it weird.  But Bailey hits him with the Ultima Weapon kneedrop anyway and that gets two.  Bailey sets up for the final kick and puts Ciampa on top to finish him, but Ciampa bites him again and blocks a rana.  That turns into Project Ciampa off the top, and that gets two.  Bailey won’t stay down, so Ciampa hits him with the naked knee and that also gets two.  Bailey still won’t stay down, so Ciampa loads up another knee and finally puts him away at 15:34.  Some big balls on Bailey here and this was a hell of a match.  ****

Afterwards, Ilja Dragunov interrupts the celebration and reveals that they’ll be facing off for the National title at Full Gear.

Jay White & Mercedes Mone v. Jon Moxley & Marina Shafir

This one doesn’t even start until 10 minutes after the hour and we haven’t switch over to Collision yet.  White evades Moxley to start and it’s over to the women, although Marina is happy to throw hands with Jay first.  So they fight to the floor and back in for some more abuse on White from Marina, but Mone cuts her off with a backstabber and Jay gets a backbreaker for two.  We take a break (REALLY?!?) and return 20 minutes into an overrun with White slugging away on Shafir, but Mox gets a hot tag and rolls up White for two. Mox with a tope , but Mercedes dives onto HIM, and back in for a piledriver from Mox that gets two.  Mox with the bulldog choke, but Mone breaks that up and frog splashes Mox for two.  Hot tag Shafir and we get a wacky double submission with the women trying to submit the men, but White hits Shafir with the Blade Runner.  And then Mone goes low on Mox, so he hits her with the cutter and everyone is down and out.  Mone with the Moneymaker on Shafir, but Marina reverses her into the Brutalizer and taps her out at 14:45.  This was a fun match, but I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the men-on-woman stuff that TK has been flirting with.  It’s definitely not as bad as Lucha Underground used to do but there’s a slippery slope with it.  ***1/4

Afterwards, the Cut hits the ring for the heel beatdown, but Orange Cassidy returns and runs wild and the Conglomeration gets some revenge and clears the ring to end the Dynamite portion of the show, I think?  My DVR finally cut out at 2:30 into this one so I dunno if TSN finally cut it off and switched over to Collision or what.  I gotta work in the morning anyway.  This show was TOO LONG is what I’m saying.

There was a couple of really great matches in the second hour but it just kept going and going after that and didn’t need to be three hours for what wasn’t a particularly special episode.