The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.27.24

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 11.27.24

We get a little NOVEMBER RAIN to kick off the show, complete with a recap of the Rizzler making his PPV debut in a sentence I never though I would type. Nice touch of the week: “Nothing lasts forever and we both know hearts can change” while Mariah turns on Mina.

Live from Chicago, IL

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

Continental Classic Blue League: Shelton Benjamin v. Mark Briscoe

But first, MVP reminds us that Swerve is an idiot for turning down the business card, and shows us highlights of Lashley destroying him to prove his point. He also does a great heel promo, laying out the mission statement of winning titles so they can make more money, and hurt more people. See, now that’s an easy motivation to understand. As usual, it’s 20:00 time limit, 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and everyone is banned. We get a show of respect to start and Mark boots Shelton to the floor and follows with a dropkick through the ropes, but Shelton hits him with an overhead suplex out there to take over. Briscoe runs him into the post and follows with a tope, however. Back in, Mark goes up and Shelton hits him with a pop up superplex and we take a break. Back with Shelton putting him down with a knee to the gut for two and he throws forearms in the corner, but Mark comes back with REDNECK KUNG FU and fires back. Sliding lariat and he goes up with the Froggy Bow, but he hurts himself in the process. Shelton with another suplex, but Mark tries the Jay Driller and Shelton escapes that and hits him with a running knee in the corner and superkick for two. But then the exploder powerslam finishes at 11:48 to give Shelton the first 3 points. Man I hope it’s not another run for Briscoe like last year’s was, but this was a good hard-hitting opener to the tournament. ***

Mercedes Mone joins us to celebrate her win over Kris Statlander, but Kamille has finally had enough of listening to her and quits.

Meanwhile, AJ The Costco Guy brings the BOOM to QT Marshall.

ROH World title: Chris Jericho v. Tomohiro Ishii

We get the expected chop battle to start and Ishii hits him with a german suplex, but Jericho hits his own, and they trade clotheslines until Jericho goes down. Big Bill spewing philosophy on commentary is pretty great. Apparently “a tree that is taller than the forest gets blown down by the wind”, so they’re all the same height, metaphorically speaking. Jericho with a DDT on the apron, THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING, and runs him into the announce desk, thus threatening the health of Tony’s new sapling. More wisdom from Bill as they trade strikes in the ring and Ishii smacks the shit out of him as we take a break. Back with Ishii busting Jericho’s mouth open with slaps, which Bill notes is a lesson in never giving up. I think we all wish Jericho WOULD just give it up. Jericho with a superplex, but Ishii just gets up like a Terminator and keeps absorbing the blows. So they trade again and Jericho hits him with a german suplex, and it’s a double down off that. Jericho with the Lionsault for two and a codebreaker, but it only gets one and Ishii is up again. So Jericho takes him down for the Walls, but Ishii powers out and just smashes him with headbutts and a spear for two. Ishii with his own codebreaker and a lariat for two. Enzuigiri sets up another lariat, but Jericho hits him with a Judas Effect on the way down and falls on top for the pin at 13:17 to retain. Well this was exactly what I was expecting and wanting out of it. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Swerve discusses rebuilding after Full Gear, but Max Caster stops by to snicker at him and brings up house fires, which earns him an ass-kicking.

Hangman Page joins us and reveals that he struck a bargain with Christian Cage to win the AEW World title and then give him the first shot at it, but Jay White interrupts and reminds us of all the times that he beat Page, thus making him the real choice for the next title shot. But then the Death Riders come out of the crowd and destroy everyone, with White almost hitting the Blade Runner on Marina before Mox saves her and then allows Marina to choke him out before delivering a gang beating and leaving him laying. Where’s the Bang Bang Gang?! He literally has three guys as backup and no one came out to help? YOU LET ME DOWN, GUNNS!

Continental Classic Gold League: Claudio Castagnoli v. Ricochet

Ricochet flies around the ring and sends Claudio to the floor, but teases a dive and poses instead. But then he tries a dive and gets caught and dropped on the railing and Claudio takes over. Ricochet with a springboard dropkick and tope as the crowd is really distracted by something else. Claudio blasts him with a running forearm for two as we take a break. Back with Ricochet hitting a dive on the floor, but Claudio catches him on the way back into the ring and hits him with a backbreaker and a big boot for two. Claudio goes to finish him off, but Ric bounces off his shoulders and takes him to the floor with a headscissors before following with another dive. Back in with a springboard clothesline and quebrada for two. Ricochet with a superkick, but he springboards right into an uppercut that gets two. Ric escapes the Giant Swing, but Claudio stomps on his head and puts him in a Sharpshooter instead. He switches to a crossface and Ricochet fights out of that, so Claudio hits him with an uppercut for two. Ricola Bomb is reversed into a rollup for two. Claudio tosses him and runs him into the railing, but Ric beats the count. So Claudio hits him with a lariat and gets the surprise pin at 13:06. The crowd was distracted and so were the guys as a result, but they were trying their best to tweet through it. ***1/4

Meanwhile, Don Callis and Kyle Fletcher celebrate their destruction of Will Ospreay at Full Gear.

Adam Cole and his new (old) friends the Kingdom join us, and Adam is no longer a weird orange color! Adam still really wants to fight MJF, but Kyle O’Reilly interrupts and he wants to fight MJF instead. But Max pops up on the screen and he’s too focused on the Dynamite Dozen battle royale next week, so he’s not interested in either one of them. So Adam and Kyle both enter the match. THIS WHOLE STORYLINE SUCKS. How many TV shows do these assholes have to kill dead before someone pulls the plug on it? MJF has literally been phoning in his part of the feud for months now. And apparently we’re supposed to buy Matt Taven as a BABYFACE. Just end it already.

Jamie Hayter v. Queen Aminata

This is part of a mini tournament for the ladies, with the eventual winner going to Wrestle Dynasty in January. They do a power battle to start and then trade chops in the corner, until Hayter suplexes her into the corner and we take a break. Back with another slugfest and they trade elbows on the ropes before Aminata gets a snap suplex for two. Aminata with a running kick on the ropes, which gets two. Jamie tries the lariat and gets powerbombed as a result. But Aminata goes up and Hayter hits her with a backbreaker to counter and Aminata cradles for two. Hayter with her own cradle for two and she turns it into a rear naked choke, but Aminata rolls it over for two. Jamie with a big boot for two, although Hayter just kind of got up at two without an actual kickout. And then the Hayterade finishes at 10:00. This was real good and Aminata is rapidly improving. ***1/4. And then we get a spooky spotlight from Julia Hart, but she doesn’t appear yet.

Meanwhile, Mina Shirakawa wants Mariah May, and Mariah attacks her to accept the challenge in two weeks.

Continental Classic Gold League: Brody King v. Darby Allin

Darby slaps Brody in the face for some reason, and Brody hits him with a senton for two. Brody with a corner splash and he tosses Darby around like a ragdoll and then smashes him to the floor as we take a break. Back with both guys down out there and Darby in pain as usual, with the commentary gone silent. Back in the ring, they fight to the top and Darby brings him down with a Code Red for two. They fight to the floor again and Darby hits him with a Coffin Drop to the floor for another double down. Back in the ring, Darby tries another one and lands in a choke this time, but he turns it into the Ganso Bomb for the pin at 9:40. Darby’s doing a lot of jobs for the savior of the company as of late. This was OK but Darby getting shellacked can only provide so much entertainment value. **1/2

This was a fun and easy to watch episode that flew by, although a lot of the same issues plaguing the show are still there. But hey, the Continental Classic certainly fired up the product last year and can do so again this year.