The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynasty 2025 – 04.06.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynasty 2025 – 04.06.25

Live from Philly

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz

I caught the pre-show but didn’t feel like reviewing it. I’d give the six-man **** and I liked Bowens as the opponent for Max and he looked really good.

Owen Hart tournament quarterfinals: Will Ospreay v. Kevin Knight

Taz offers some advice to young wrestlers, which is that you should get trained by “someone who’s been to the dance or at least has won a belt somewhere.” Pretty ironic considering that Stu Hart was never a big star or a major champion in his time but ended up being one of the greatest trainers of all time. Knight hits him with forearms, but Will drops him on the top rope and puts him on the floor for a dive. Back in, Knight with an inverted splash for two. Will with the corkscrew kick for two. Ospreay with a Spanish fly and he beats on Knight with chops while retaining wrist control like he’s Okada, and they slug it out with the chops. Knight wins that battle and they trade high dropkicks, but Ospreay goes up and Knight pops up with a rana to put Will on the floor. Knight with a slingshot crossbody over the post and back in for another dive attempt, but Ospreay manages to catch him on the way down and tries for a Styles Clash on the floor, which Knight turns into a DDT on the ramp instead. Ospreay threatens to beat the count, so Knight hits him with another gigantic dive, and back in for another DDT that gets two. They do another incredible reversal that ends with Knight reversing a Styles Clash into a snap rana for two. Ospreay with the Ozcutter, but Knight counters him with a dropkick and goes up with a frog splash for two. Knight with a springboard, but Will counters with the Ozcutter, and Knight gets a backslide for two. Styles Clash gets two. Ozcutter gets two. Hidden Blade finishes at 13:52 and Ospreay advances in a crazy opener. ****1/4. OK now they gotta stop beating Kevin Knight and let him start getting big wins.

AEW World tag team title: The Hurt Syndicate v. Big Bill & Bryan Keith

Taz is “raging like a pack of hemorrhoids” over Tony comparing New York to Philly as everyone cracks up. We start with the MEAT as Big Bill wants Bobby, and he clears the ring by himself to back up his bravado. Back in the ring, the champs double-team Bill and Bobby works him over in the corner. Over to Keith, but Shelton backdrops him as MVP notes that the Learning Tree can’t teach height to Bryan Keith. So you’re saying that YOU CAN’T TEACH THAT? Taz of course is very offended by that comment. To the floor and Shelton assaults Bryan and tosses him into the railing as Philly informs us that they also hurt people. Back in the ring, Bobby gets a delayed suplex, so delayed they should call the Switch 2 pre-sale, but Keith rolls him up for two. Shelton cuts off the tag, but Keith fights him off and brings Bill in to run wild. Big boot on Shelton, but he stops to pose and Shelton hits him with a german suplex for two. Bill makes a comeback with the Black Hole Slam for two as I’m not really clear on who’s supposed to be the babyfaces here, and he puts Shelton down with another big boot. Back to Bryan, but Lashley quickly destroys them both,only for Bill to hit Bobby with a Snake Eyes and a clothesline to the floor. But out of the crowd comes MJF to help out the Hurt Syndicate, allowing Bobby to spear Bill on the floor. So the Hurts aren’t happy about that, but Shelton decides to wipe out Keith anyway, and Lashley spears him and pins him to retain at 10:23. This was kind of all over the place and didn’t really have a strong story or heat segment. **1/4

Owen Hart tournament quarterfinal: Mercedes Mone v. Julia Hart

Taz’s beef with THIS match: Mone shouldn’t be wearing orange in Philly. But he’ll have a talk with her later. Good to know. “Maybe she’s a Flyers fan” notes Excalibur. That’s stupid, no one likes the Flyers. Julia charges and gets taken into the corner, and Mone chokes her out while Harley & Mini Mone watch from the back. Mone tries a tombstone and Julia reverses to a cradle for two and a backslide for two. Mone tries the ropewalk and slips, which draws jeers from the Philly crowd, and then Julia does her own ropewalk and follows with a lariat. Mone takes her to the floor and follows with the double knees from the apron. Back in for another double knee for two. Mercedes with the chinlock and a dropkick for two. Mone with the Three Amigos, but Julia escapes that, only to hit knees on a splash. Mone gets two off that. Mone with a mocking tribute to the House of Black, but she misses a charge and lands on the floor, allowing Julia to hit her with a crossbody. Back in, Julia with a DDT for two. Mone with a lungblower and they do another rough sequence as they reverse some cradles and get nowhere. Julia catches her with a Tarnantula in the corner and spins into the Octopus hold, but Mercedes drops her into the corner and gets two. Julia comes back and tries the moonsault, but Mone gets the boots up and hits the backstabber. Julia fights back again with a crucifix for two and it’s a double down, but Mone rolls her into the Bank Statement. Julia reverses into Hartless, but Mone rolls her over for two and back into the Bank Statement. Julia crawls for the ropes, but Mone cuts her off, so Hart rolls her over for two, and then Mone reverses that for the pin at 13:00 to advance. This was mostly really sloppy and questionable, but the last couple of minutes were awesome and almost saved the match. ***

World Trios title: The Death Riders v. Rated FTR

Despite his hometown status, the crowd still chants “fuck you Yuta” because they’re classy. Pac sweeps the leg on Dax and rolls him up for two, but Dax gets his own rollup for two. Pac tries the Brutalizer and Dax quickly gets to the ropes to break, and it’s over to COPE. FTR works Yuta over in the corner and Claudio comes in and gets triple-teamed, setting up a Cash powerslam off the middle rope for two. Claudio bails and Cash hits him with a tope. Back in, the Riders work on Cash in the heel corner and Yuta goes to the chinlock, but Cash escapes with a powerslam and dives for the hot tag, which Dax intercepts to keep COPE out. Dax runs wild and backslides Claudio for two. We get a Sharpshooter battle between Claudio and Dax and they exchange slaps as it’s the BATTLE OF THE BALD and then Claudio just wrecks everyone. Back to Yuta for the Giant Swing into the dropkick, which gets two. Riders hit Dax with elbows in the corner, setting up a Pac tombstone into the Fastball Special, times two, which gets two. Claudio charges and misses and COPE finally gets his hot tag and cleans house with an Impaler on Pac for two. Triple Powerplex gets two. Yuta hits COPE with a missile dropkick, and Pac cradles Dax for two and rolls him into the Brutalizer while the Death Riders cut off any save. Wheeler finally fights off Wheeler and makes the save. Yuta comes in legally, but immediately takes the Shatter Machine for two as Claudio saves. Pac and Cash suplex each other to the floor and COPE spears Claudio on the floor, leaving us with Dax and Yuta in the ring. But COPE tries to spear Yuta, and misses, allowing Yuta to hit Dax with the bu saiku knee for the pin to retain at 14:52. This was like Collision main event level good, but not a great PPV match. ***1/4. Afterwards, the babyfaces all mend fences, but then Dax turns on COPE and piledrives him, before grabbing a pair of chairs and demanding a conchairto from Cash. Cash teases dissention, but then decides blood is thicker than Canada and turns on COPE as well before hitting a Shatter Machine and spike piledriver on the chair. And then TWO conchairtos for good measure. And then FTR steals the neck brace from the EMTs and dumps over the stretcher as well. Now THAT’S a heel turn. Obvious what this is leading up to, but it’s just a matter of how we get there.

AEW Women’s title: Toni Storm v. Megan Bayne

Toni has morphed into Rocky for this one, with Luther as Mickey, although as a reminder it didn’t work out very well for Rocky in the first movie. Bayne overpowers her, but Toni gets a bodypress out of the corner. Bayne catches her with a slam and sends her to the floor for a dive, but Toni hits her with a DDT off Luther’s back and back in with a crossbody for two. Penelope interferes and that allows Bayne to hit Toni with a pump kick and work her over in the corner with shoulders and a butterfly suplex to set up some posing. She does love to do that. Bayne with boot rakes on the ropes and Ford gets her licks in, allowing Bayne to hit a pair of overhead suplexes. That gets two. Bayne and Ford with more choking on the ropes until Luther can finally take no more and kidnaps Ford to the back, allowing Storm to make the comeback. Storm slugs away off a Thesz Press and follows with a DDT, setting up an STF. Bayne makes the ropes and dumps Toni to the apron before suplexing her back in. Bayne goes up and Toni brings her down with a superplex for a double down, and Bayne couldn’t quite rotate fast enough and dropped on her neck. They slug it out and Toni hits her with a german suplex, but Bayne gets her own german suplex and follows with a falcon arrow for two. Toni fights back with a german suplex and hip attack in the corner, but Bayne no-sells it, so Toni headbutts her to put her down again for another attack. Bayne won’t go down, so Toni hits another pair of hip attacks and Storm Zero gets ONE. She tries it again and Megan powers up and makes her own comeback with a flying clothesline, and the powerbomb sets up the F5, but Toni cradles in desperation for the pin at 15:22 to retain. Holy shit, they had me believing they were gonna switch the title there at the end. This way overdelivered. ****

Owen Hart tournament quarterfinal: Kyle Fletcher v. Mark Briscoe

Fletcher hits him with a dive before the bell and then tears off his pants, but Briscoe fights back with redneck kung fu, although Callis it “illegal judo chop” and sadly Taz isn’t around to rage about THAT. Briscoe brings in a chair and the ref steals it, so Mark demands that Philly BOO THIS MAN and they do so. So Briscoe takes Kyle to the floor and drops an elbow off the railing instead while Callis complains about “doing time in Philly” in the 90s in a funny bit. Back in the ring, Briscoe is hoist by his own petard as Fletcher suplexes him into his chair. Live by the chair and all that. Fletcher beats on him in the corner, but Briscoe slugs back, so Fletcher superkicks him down again. Briscoe fights up, so Kyle hits him with a high boot in the corner and Briscoe bumps to the floor off that. Kyle with a pair of apron powerbombs, and then a powerbomb onto the railing in a sick bump. Back in the ring, Kyle takes him to the top, but Briscoe fights him off and hits him with a missile dropkick. They trade chops and Kyle beats on him with knees, but Briscoe comes back with a clothesline for a double down. Briscoe fights back with a corner clothesline and fisherman’s buster for two. Fletcher lawn darts him into the corner. They fight to the apron, where Fletcher hits a brainbuster on there, and into the ring for another brainbuster that gets two. They fight to the top and Briscoe brings him down with a Razor’s Edge for two and follows with a sliding lariat, and the froggy bow gets two. Jay Driller is reversed to a cradle by Kyle, but Briscoe hits him with the Burning Hammer and Fletcher rolls to the floor to escape. So Briscoe follows with a flying elbow to the outside and back in for another one, but Fletcher gets his feet up to block and puts Mark on the top rope for the brainbuster to finish at 16:10 and advance to the semis. Brutal match in the best way. ****1/2

ROH Title v. Mask: Chris Jericho v. Bandido

I just watched Tombstone for the millionth time to celebrate Val Kilmer, so I feel like that’s a sign that Bandido needs to win the damn title here. Jericho immediately hits a codebreaker for two and beats on him with chops, and a Lionsault gets two. Bandido flips away from Jericho and sends him to the floor before hitting a pair of dives. Back in the ring with a crossbody for two. Bandido with a delayed suplex, with one arm, for an incredible count of SIXTY NINE (nice), which gets two. Bandido is still loopy and he retreats to the apron, but Bandido tries a rana and Jericho puts him down with a powerbomb to the floor. Jericho steals a camera and mocks the family at ringside, and Bandido beats the count. Jericho with a back suplex and ARROGANT COVER for two. They slug it out and a big boot gets two for Jericho. Bandido with a DDT and he makes the comeback with a spinkick, but Jericho puts him down again and yells at the family. This allows Bandido to powerbomb him out of the corner, for two. Jericho slugs away in the corner and hit a rana off the top, but Bandido catches him with the press slam and goes up with a frog splash for two. He goes up for a crossbody, but Jericho catches him in a codebreaker for two. So we get the showdown spot, but Jericho runs him into the corner and cradles for two. HI SPOT gets two. Bandido comes back with a GTS to set up the 21Plex, but Jericho rolls him into the cradle for two like on Collision. Jericho with the Walls, but Bandido makes the ropes and superkicks him. This brings Bryan Keith out to take the ref, but Gravity attacks him, allowing Jericho to grab the bat and waffle Bandido for the pin at 15:41. BUT WAIT! Aubrey Edwards speaks Spanish and she gets the report from the family, who stooge out the location of the baseball bat in the stairs, so THIS MATCH MUST CONTINUE. So Jericho goes after Bandido’s sister, which results in the GTS and 21Plex, and THANK GOD, Bandido wins the ROH title with a well-timed Dusty finish. The match was OK but never took off and never hooked the crowd like the Collision match did, and honestly that show was probably the right time to switch the belt. Also I don’t really like the referee restart finishes for AEW, which has basically avoided them completely up until now. ***

TNT title: Daniel Garcia v. Adam Cole

No time limit, no DQ here. They slug it out and trade chops in the corner, and Daniel throws the punches until Cole dumps him to the apron. He follows with a Panama to the floor, but misses and injures himself, allowing Garcia to go to work on the leg. Back in the ring, Garcia dropkicks the knee in the corner and gives us some dancing before double stomping the hamstrings as Nigel puts over the greatest TNT champion of all time, Chris-ti-an Cage. Garcia with a dragon screw and the triple neckbreakers, but Cole hits him with an ushigoroshi to come back. Panama Sunrise is rolled through by Garcia, but Cole cradles for two, so Danny hits him with a lariat. Garcia with the Gotch piledriver for two. Garcia with a backdrop driver, but Cole superkicks him, and Garcia falls on top for two. Cole rolls him over for two. Garcia takes him down with the anklelock, but Cole gets the ropes and bails to the floor to escape. They slug it out on the stairs and Cole kind of suplexes him into the post and off the stairs in an ugly bump. Cole with the Panama Sunrise on the floor to follow, but can’t get the Boom in the ring. Garcia cradles for two and Cole’s knee gives out again, so Garcia hits his own Panama Sunrise and follows with his own Boom for two. They head to the top and Garcia teases a piledriver off the top rope, but Cole fights him off and hits the Panama Sunrise, twice, and the Boom gets the pin and the title at 15:46. I mean, it was fine, totally well worked and technically good. but they didn’t make use of the “no time limit, no DQ” stip in any way and it was never any more interesting than the two TV matches they already had. ***1/4. I’m glad Cole was able to rehabilitate himself a bit after the disaster that was the last year but this feud never felt particularly interesting to me.

International title: Kenny Omega v. Ricochet v. Speedball Mike Bailey

Kenny and Bailey fight for the lockup while Ricochet waits outside anxiously, and Omega rolls up Bailey for two. Bailey sends him to the floor and Ricochet goes after Bailey, but Kenny comes back in with a crossbody on Bailey. Omega with a rana on Bailey, but Ricochet attacks Kenny, so Kenny takes him down with a cross armbreaker and Ric has to make the ropes. Bailey hits Omega with the kick combo and takes him to the floor for a rana out there, and then the babyfaces team up to smack Ricochet down. Speedball proves that you CAN escape and takes Kenny to the railing, but Ricochet hits Bailey with a DVD onto Kenny, on the railing. Back in the ring, Ricochet chokes Bailey out to take over. Ricochet with a backbreaker on Bailey and the Northern Lights to follow, but Kenny breaks it up and Ricochet manages to hit them both with a neckbreaker at the same time. Ricochet hits them both with a dive, but Speedball stops him from doing commentary with a superkick, and back in with a missile dropkick.

Bailey with the kicks, but a shooting star misses. Everyone misses moonsaults and Bailey backslides Kenny for two and then Ricochet holds them both down for two. Bailey gets a double crucifix on the other two for two. Kenny with a double backslide for two and everyone is out. Ricochet gets tossed and Omega slugs it out with Bailey and chops him down, but Bailey gets fired up again and fires back with kicks before hitting Ricochet with a moonsault to the floor. Omega takes them both out with the Terminator Dive and back in, Ricochet recovers and hits his own dive onto the other two. And then Bailey hits HIS own dive, and back in with a rana on Omega for two. Ricochet tries a sunset flip and stacks onto Omega, so Speedball hits them both with a moonsault stomp and then kicks Omega down for two. Ricochet saves that, so Bailey attacks him on the floor and takes him to the apron before missing a moonsault kneedrop and taking himself out. Ricochet clips the knee and takes out the ref in the process. Back in the ring, Ric takes Kenny to the top, but Bailey returns and destroys Ricochet with a poison rana off the top. And Kenny is still there, so Bailey goes after him as well as Taz notes that you don’t have to beat Kenny, so why take the chance? Indeed he’s right, as Kenny comes back with the snapdragon on Bailey and one for Ricochet, and we get an incredibly wacky double snapdragon for fun. Figures Kenny would invent a Double Dragon suplex.

V-Triggers for both guys and Ric escapes the One Winged Angel, but Kenny hits him with a german suplex for two. Bailey returns and runs them together before backsliding Kenny, but Ricochet sneaks in with his wacky pin again for two. Ricochet talks some trash on Kenny, but gets backdropped to the floor, allowing Speedball to hit Kenny with the spinning kick. But the shooting star knee misses and Kenny takes him down with a kneebar, only for Ricochet to break it up with a 450 for two. Bailey cradles Ricochet for two, but Ric sweeps his leg and hits the Vertigo for two. This sets up the Spirit Gun, but Kenny takes out Ricochet, and Bailey rolls up Kenny for two. Speedball with another spinning kick on Kenny and he goes up, but Ric trips him up and hits Kenny with his own shooting star press for two. Ricochet up again with a shooting star on Bailey, but Mike gets the knees up and cradles for two. Bailey’s knee is still shot and he can’t walk, but he hits Ricochet with one more kick combo anyway, until Ricochet takes out the knee to stop him. So Bailey threatens the CRANE KICK and knocks Ricochet on his ASS in an awesome spot, and then goes up with the shooting star kneedrop for two. Kenny saves with a V-Trigger, however, and tries the One Winged Angel, but Ric saves and gets the poison rana on Kenny. They all battle to the top and Kenny brings Ricochet down with the One Winged Angel off the top, while Bailey gets caught in the Tree of Woe and can’t save, and that finally finishes at 31:00 as Kenny retains the title. I wasn’t big on the buildup but the match absolutely delivered and then some, stealing the show with one of the all time greatest three-way matches ever, with creative spot after creative spot and all kinds of heart-stopping near falls even though we all knew Omega was winning from the start. *****

Afterwards, Okada makes a cameo to issue a challenge to Omega, giving us our likely unification match for All In Texas.

AEW World title: Jon Moxley v. Swerve Strickland

They take it to the mat to start, surprisingly, and Mox goes for the arm, but Swerve makes the ropes. Swerve takes him down to the mat again and goes up with the uppercut. They do the test of strength and Swerve takes him down with a headscissors and sends him to the floor for the brawl out there. Back in the ring, Swerve goes up and Mox slugs him down to the floor and runs him into the stairs, and back in for some headbutts to beat him down. Mox tosses him into the announcers (Taz: “Here we go, shit!”) and beats on him out there, setting up the stairs after busting Swerve open. Mox drops him with the DDT onto the stairs, and back in for a piledriver that gets two. Mox rips at the cut and puts Swerve down with a PK, and drops him with a suplex. Swerve fights back and slugs away, but Mox takes him down with a kimura and Swerve has to power out of that. Mox switches to a triangle, but Swerve powerbombs out of it. Swerve comes back with a hiptoss into a vertical suplex, and that gets two. Mox catches him with the choke, but Swerve rolls him over for two and into a backbreaker. Moxley catches him with the cutter and drags him down for the bulldog choke, but Swerve escapes that and hits him with the flatliner. House call kick gets two. Another one follows, but Moxley hits him with the lariat, only for Swerve to pop up with another House call for the double down. So that brings Marina into the ring, and she takes out Nana with the briefcase, but Moxley accidentally hits her with the cutter, and Swerve gives Moxley a Paradigm Shift for two. They kinda took forever to set up that spot but it got a big pop. Swerve goes up and Moxley shoves him off to the floor and retrieves a ladder from under the ring. The tables under there make sense but why is there a LADDER? Regardless, they climb the ladder as Mox teases a superplex through the Spanish announce table, but Swerve fights him off and hits him with a Swerve Stomp through the table off the top of the ladder. Back in the ring, they slug it out, but Moxley kicks him in the knee and gets a chair from Marina, which results in the ref getting wiped out. Swerve with the Vertebreaker, but Hangman Page comes out, trying to decide who to buckshot, but the Death Riders beat him down. But then Page fights them off and makes his choice, hitting Mox with the Deadeye, and the Opps make their promised appearance and take care of the Death Riders. One more chair to the face for Mox and Swerve goes up with the Swerve Stomp. But then the lights go out and the Young Bucks return and take out Swerve with the EVP Trigger and Moxley retains at 31:31. Oh my god, they screwed us again. I thought the match was slow and disappointing to start, built up well and seemed to hit a peak with the run-ins, and then sucked all the air out of the crowd with the finish. So it ended up another average Moxley main event, really. ***

I get the feeling this one isn’t going to have the positive feelings that last month’s show did, because although there was an incredible International title match, there wasn’t really the string of unbelievable bangers to back it up and make it into a must-see show. In fact it was mostly another case of a show that really could have stood to have an hour chopped off it, by moving the tag title and ROH title matches to TV at the very least. There was enough great wrestling here for a thumbs up, but I can absolutely see how the main event would leave a bad taste after all the buildup for Swerve, and I don’t begrudge anyone who feels like this show was a miss as a result.