The SmarK Rant for AEW WrestleDream 2024 – 10.12.24

The SmarK Rant for AEW WrestleDream 2024 – 10.12.24

This was a show that I had missed the first time due to being at a work conference and the hole in my rant archives was kind of annoying me.

Live from Tacoma, WA

Your hosts are Excalbur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

Jay White v. Hangman Page

Hangman is still deep into his grumpy cowboy era after dealing with Swerve. I credit Bluesky with lightening him up a bit. They slug it out while the crowd is torn between “Fuck you Cowboy” and “Cowboy Shit”. Page beats White down in the corner, but misses a charge and Jay dropkicks the knee and starts working on it. To the floor and White slams him on the apron for two. Page backdrops him out again and clotheslines him to the floor while the crowd chants for Swerve’s house. TOO BAD IT BURNED DOWN, TACOMA! Back in the ring, Page beats White down and complains to the ref about being disrespected by the fans. He’s got a point, they’re being really distracting to him and they probably don’t even know that leaves is plants. Page with a sleeper and he spins White around and gets two off that. He puts White down with a forearm shot and sets up for the buckshot, but White moves to the corner like a COWARD to evade him. And then he lures Page into the corner for a suplex and makes a comeback with chops as the announcers accuse Page of ruining White’s shot at winning the World title earlier in the year. HANGMAN DID NOTHING WRONG. They fight for a suplex and slug it out, but White takes him down with a flatliner and a german suplex gets two. Page gets tied up in the corner and White gouges his eyes, but Page fights back and sets up for the buckshot again. But then White runs away from it AGAIN, further infuriating Page, who powerbombs White on the apron and then on the steps to teach him a lesson. They fight up to the ramp and White spits at Page to distract him, and then hits a kneecrusher onto the ramp in a real jerk move. Back to the ring and Hangman keeps pushing forward with a clothesline, but White counters with a dragon screw and keeps hitting Page with his own clotheslines and the uranage gets two. Page tries to go low and White counters him into a suplex, but Page gets the Deadeye and they’re both down because Page’s knee is still hurt. That’s gonna mess up his gardening game bigtime. Buckshot looks to finish, but White catches him on the way in and hits the Blade Runner to finish at 16:27. I don’t approve of White’s cowardly tactics there when Page was trying to be an honorable cowboy, but it was a good opener. ***1/2

AEW Women’s World title: Mariah May v. Willow Nightingale

The video package reminds us that even just 5 months ago, Harley Cameron was Saraya’s wacky sidekick, which shows how far she’s come in such a short time. Willow won a mutli-woman match deal to get the shot, because Dr. Britt Baker had some sort of illness and disappeared from the company after getting booked for the PPV. Perhaps jobber-itis? Willow with a pounce and she beats on May with chops in the corner, but May takes her down and slugs away on the mat. Nigel runs through his names for Mariah May, ending with “The runt that you love to hunt” and then wonders if he meant “runt” or not. Hopefully. May with a dropkick and she goes to a chinlock, but Willow bites the ear to escape from that and comes back with a powerbomb for two. Mariah with a german suplex for two. Willow hooks her in a leglock and Willow does a wacky spot where she rams Mariah’s head into her own knee, and then follows with a cannonball in the corner before missing a moonsault. Mariah with a missile dropkick and the Mayday gets two. Willow escapes the Storm Zero and tries a pounce, but May counters with a headbutt and Willow clotheslines her for a double down. Willow with a DVD and Mariah cradles for two, but Willow superkicks her and hits a running DVD into the corner for two. Willow goes up and May brings her down with a handstand into a rana, and Storm Zero finishes at 10:47 to retain. This was good TV match level stuff but not like a great match overall. Felt kinda basic. ***1/4

TNT title: Jack Perry v. Katsuyori Shibata

Jack Perry has certainly dropped off the face of the earth lately, not that I’m complaining. That Scapegoat gimmick was really tiresome after about the first two weeks, plus “stoic badass” doesn’t work very well if you’re the size of one of Luchasaurus’s legs. Perry as the embodiment of the favored son of management was exactly the kind of real life we didn’t need on a show that was supposed to be escapism. Perry trades takedowns with Shibata and then slugs him down on the mat and beats on him with kicks, which amuses Shibata. Jack with chops in the corner and Shibata laughs at that, so Jack gouges the eyes to put him down instead. So Shibata just unloads on him with chops, but Perry comes back with a clothesline and Shibata suplexes him for a double down. They fight to the floor and Shibata suplexes him onto the apron. Back in the ring, Perry tries the Snaretrap and Shibata quickly makes the ropes, so Jack drags him to the apron for a draping DDT to the floor, and back in for two. Knee strike misses and Shibata gets the death valley driver and goes for the sleeper, but Perry lays back and pins him at 9:20 to retain. Kind of shit finish there. **1/2.

Afterwards, Perry goes for the beatdown, but Daniel Garcia quickly saves to set up the next (and last) defense for Perry. But then MJF hits the ring as well and lays out Garcia with the help of Jack Perry, before revealing that he’s found the diamond ring at the pawn shop in Buffalo. But then Adam Cole makes HIS return and MJF runs away, which unfortunately set up one of the all time worst feuds in the company’s history. So lots to unpack here at least.

AEW International title: Will Ospreay v. Ricochet v. Konosuke Takeshita

Ospreay and Ric quickly double-team Takeshita and chase him to the floor, but then turn on each other and have an acrobatics battle that ends with Takeshita laying them both out. To the floor and Takeshita runs them into the railings to a big babyface reaction and sets up a table while Callis yells kill instructions from the commentary table. Back in the ring, Takeshita misses a blind charge on Ric and we get a SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP from Ricochet, but then Ospreay hits them both with, you guessed it, the SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP, which is OK because it’s a PPV. Back in with a springboard clothesline for two. Takeshita tries a DDT on Ospreay and Ricochet hits Takeshita with a neckbreaker instead, but Will gets DDT’d as a result. That gets two on Takeshita. Richochet tries to roll into a cutter, but Takeshita slugs him down with a forearm. Ospreay back in with a double handspring kick to put both guys down while Callis buries everyone on commentary in a funny run, and they all fight on the apron. This leads to Takeshita hitting a DVD on Ospreay out there, but Ricochet hits Takeshita with a meteora on the apron and everyone is down. Ricochet tries to put Takeshita through the table, but he walks into Ospreay’s Spanish fly and Will gets two. Stormbreaker is countered into a rana for two. Hidden Blade is countered into a backslide for two. Ricochet goes up and misses a 450 and Will powerbombs him into a Styles Clash for two. Takeshita hits Ospreay with the tombstone into the german suplex and then goes for a lariat, but Ricochet cuts him off, so Takeshita hits HIM with the Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Ric fights back and Takeshita just clubs him down with a forearm, so the babyfaces decide to team up again. Takeshita shakes them both off and beats them down with forearms and they do a crazy series of reversals until Ricochet hits Ospreay with a flying 450 splash out of nowhere for two. Takeshita and Ospreay team up with a Doomsday Device on Ricochet, but he lands on his feet and trades poison ranas with Ospreay, only for Takeshita to hit both guys with a german suplex at the same time. The faces bail and Takeshita hits them with a dive and brings Ricochet back in for a lariat that gets two. To the top, where Ospreay hits Ricochet with a rana, and he lands on Takeshita and hits another rana on HIM, for two. Execution wasn’t great on that one due to physics and all, but damn. Ric with a shooting star on Ospreay, but Takeshita swoops in with a knee strike and covers both guys for two. Takeshita wants a table bomb, but Ricochet fights back, until Takeshita hits him with the tombstone off the apron and through the table instead. But then he goes into the ring while celebrating and Ospreay hits him with a Hidden Blade for one. Another Hidden Blade gets two, but Callis takes out the ref and decides to settle the score himself with the screwdriver. Ospreay goes after him, but Kyle Fletcher hits the ring and turns on Will with the screwdriver, allowing Takeshita to hit the knee strike and pin Will to win the title at 20:40. And then Fletcher got launched into the stratosphere by this, suddenly becoming a gigantic star in some impressive return on investment. Incredible show stealing match here, which also had huge long term effect on everyone involved. *****

Meanwhile, Jerry Lynn encourages Orange Cassidy to step up and try to be the leader of AEW, but Orange still isn’t sure about it.

Swerve Strickland joins us after losing the title and having his house burned down and whatnot, but MVP interrupts and continues to pitch to recruit Swerve. Swerve concedes that it all happened under the watch of Prince Nana, but Nana is still family and he’s rejecting the offer to join. So that turns into a shoving match and MVP leaves, eventually setting up the Bobby Lashley debut. Man Swerve’s year sure hasn’t gotten any better since this. Kind of a nothing segment but they needed something to cool down the crowd after the International title match.

2 out of 3 falls: Hologram v. The Beast Mortos

This came from the reunited LFI managed by Jake Roberts on Dynamite, which ended up not really going anywhere. Hologram bounces off Mortos to start and dumps him to the floor, then follows with a tope. Back in the ring, Mortos hits him with a crucifix bomb and the samoan drop for two. To the top and Mortos tries the press slam, but Hologram reverses to a headscissors and hits the crucifix bomb for the pin at 3:48.

Second fall and Mortos smashes him to the floor and follows with his own dive and then hits Hologram with a press slam onto the stage, and back in the ring for two. Suplex into the corner as the crowd is pretty quiet for this one, since Hologram wasn’t exactly a TV staple outside of Collision. Mortos charges and lands on the floor and Hologram moonsaults him to the floor, and back in for a poison rana. Mortos comes back with a pair of backbreakers and a lariat for the second fall at 8:55.

Third fall and Mortos hits another lariat for two. He goes to the top and Hologram brings him down with a headscissors and sends him to the apron for a poison rana on the HARDEST PART OF THE RING and he follows with a ropewalk into a dive. Back in with a double stomp off the top and a 450, but Mortos gets the knees up and puts him down with a lariat for a double down. Mortos goes up and this time he does hit the press slam off the top, which gets two. Backbreaker into the powerbomb and lariat only gets two this time. Back to the top again and Hologram brings him down with a rana and hits another crucifix bomb for two this time. And the torture rack powerbomb finishes at 16:50. The 2/3 falls format kind of brought this one down a lot and would have been better served as a faster paced single fall match. Usual good match between them otherwise. ***

Darby Allin v. Brody King

Yeah I’m remembering now why I wasn’t going out of my way to watch this show at the time. Brody just tosses Darby to the floor right away and then smashes him into the railing like garbage, but Darby dives onto him with a sleeper and Brody continues throwing him around and smashing him. He puts the stairs on Darby’s midsection and walks on them, and then flips Darby up and drops him on the stairs for good measure. Back in the ring, King with a senton for two. Darby comes back and sends him to the floor for a dive, and follows with a coffin drop to the floor. Brody fights back to the apron, so Darby tries the sleeper out there and it goes badly for him. And then Brody shows him how it’s done and drops him on the apron before tossing him back into the ring again. Darby fights back and gets caught into another sleeper, but he falls into the ropes to escape. Brody suplexes him and then lets Darby bail to the apron and suplexes him back in AGAIN. Darby to the top, but Brody brings him down with another suplex. But then Darby manages to get Brody out to the floor and onto the stairs, and follows with the coffin drop onto Brody on the stairs and Brody barely beats the count. At which point Darby just hits him with another coffin drop and pins him at 12:34. Man he should have just taken the countout. Another one that’s like a good TV main event but didn’t really need to be on PPV. ***1/4

AEW World tag team title: The Young Bucks v. Private Party

We’re at the absolute peak of the Bucks’ trolling tag team title reign, setting up Private Party to be the conquering heroes, but in retrospect they probably shouldn’t have bothered given how badly the title reign turned out. Matt rightly points out that Private Party upset them 5 years before and then did nothing with the win, and they fight to the entrance tunnel, where Quen dives onto everyone. Into the ring for a crossbody from Zay on Nick that gets two. Nick with the springboard X-Factor, but Private Party regroups and Zay dives onto the Bucks outside. Back in, they use the Hardy playbook for two. Bucks with the double superkick on Quen and then Zay to take over. They double-team Quen with a double elbow, but Zay gets a tag and cleans house. Quebrada onto Nick outside and he follows with a DDT on Matt in the ring for two. Zay counters the double stomp on the ropes and hits Nick with a facebuster for two, but they try the Silly String and Matt breaks it up, allowing Nick to dive onto both guys outside. Into the crowd with Quen and they try a TK Driver on Zay, but he fights out and Quen comes back with a 450 off the railing onto Nick and everyone is down on the floor. Meanwhile the Top Flight group is all watching at ringside before that whole thing went south in a hurry. Back in the ring, they’re still having trouble getting the crowd into the match, and Zay slugs it out with Nick as they fight to the top. Nick brings him down with a cutter and that gets two. Quen breaks up the TK Driver and Zay cradles Matt for two. We get a car crash spot and everyone is out, but the Bucks come back with a double-team on Quen and stop to pump up the shoes. Even as a kid I never understood the point of pumping up the shoes. Just made them tighter. But that allows the Party to hit Gin & Juice for two on Nick. More Bang for Your Buck from Private Party gets two. Bucks regroup with a Doomsday Device on Zay and EVP Trigger, which gets two. You could feel the crowd groan at that sequence before Zay did a surprise kickout. Bucks take out Quen outside, but a second Trigger misses and Zay rolls up Matt for two. But then the TK Driver finishes Zay at 17:40 to retain. Private Party weren’t great challengers but it did set up the match where they put their career on the line to finally win the belts at least. Stokely Hathaway featured heavily at ringside watching the match for some reason but that was never followed up on. It was still an excellent match on a technical level but they never really got the crowd into it like you’d expect. ****

ROH World title: Mark Briscoe v. Chris Jericho

Another one where the TV rematch was far more memorable. Briscoe puts the boots to him in the corner, but Jericho hits a codebreaker for one. Mark clotheslines him to the floor and they fight out there, where Mark drops a Cactus elbow off the apron. But Mark gets some chairs ready and Big Bill goes after him and preps a table, which brings Orange Cassidy out to even the odds and chase Bill off. They fight on the apron and Jericho suplexes him off the apron and sends him into the stairs. Back in the ring, Jericho chokes him out and beats on him with chops, but Mark comes back with more kung fu but goes to the top and Jericho brings him down with a rana. Briscoe comes back with forearms, however, and beats on him in the corner, and a fisherman’s buster gets two. Jericho reverses the Jay Driller into the Walls, but Briscoe makes the ropes to escape. This allows Bryan Keith to sneak out and nail Briscoe from the floor, putting Jericho on top for two. But then Rocky Romero helps out and gets rid of him, and Mark comes back with a dive onto Jericho outside, putting them both through the table from earlier. I literally forgot that Rocky Romero in the Conglomeration was a thing for a while. That sure got dropped in a hurry. Back in the ring, Jericho counters the Froggy bow into a codebreaker, but that only gets two. Briscoe fights back again, but the Judas Effect puts him down and Jericho decides to use a Jay Driller on him. That only gets two. So now Mark is PISSED and he hulks up like Jerry Lawler in Memphis and beats on Jericho with kung fu. To the top for the Froggy bow and then he dedicates the Jay Driller to his brother and hits that to finish at 15:12 and retain the title. Unfortunately Mark didn’t get enough of those kind of clean wins over top guys in 2024 because he sure deserved a better run with that title. ***3/4. But then Jericho would get the final word a couple of weeks later as we’re still waiting for that ROH TV deal.

AEW World title: Bryan Danielson v. Jon Moxley

Bryan attacks on the floor before the song is even to the guitar solo, but Moxley chokes him out with the TV cable and Marina helps out. They finally head into the ring and Bryan dropkicks a chair in his face and hits him with chops in the corner to wake up the crowd, but Moxley grabs him for the choke. Danielson breaks out and hits the bu saiku knee for two, and Moxley bails to the floor. Danielson with a dive and they fight to the announce tables, where Danielson beats on him with kicks until Moxley thumbs him in the eye and hits him with a piledriver that fails to break the desk. Back in the ring, Moxley goes to work on the neck and beats on him with chops for two. Moxley with his own head stomps to annoy the crowd, and that gets two. Marina tears up the mats outside while Jon gets into a moral argument with some dude wearing a Ricky Martin shirt at ringside. “HE’S YOUR FUCKING BROTHER!” notes that guy. You tell ‘em, Ricky! They bump onto the concrete and head back in the ring for a fight to the top rope, where Danielson fights back and hangs Mox in the Tree of Woe before putting the boots to him. To the top again and Bryan brings him down with a german suplex and makes a comeback, but misses the diving headbutt and Moxley curb stomps him for two. Mox rolls him into the choke, but Danielson rolls out and into a piledriver for a double down. Bryan is up first and he makes the comeback to fire up the crowd again, but Marina keeps yelling at Mox to hit him harder and he actually does. But Bryan comes back with the clothesline and beats on Mox with the kicks, but Marina trips him up and Moxley hits the cutter. So she gets tossed and Danielson makes another comeback with the bu saiku knee for two, prompting the crowd to demand a head get kicked in. So Bryan obliges and hooks the Lebell Lock, but Moxley makes the ropes. But then Bryan makes an ill advised dive to the outside and Moxley catches him for a DDT on the concrete. Back in, that gets two as the crowd is silenced by that. Mox with the elbows and he moves into the choke, but Bryan slams out of it from the corner. Another Lebell Lock and he switches to a triangle choke, but Moxley reverses out of that. So Bryan hits another bu saiku knee for two. Moxley hits him with a pair of lariats for two, however. This sets up the Death Rider, but it only gets one as Danielson has one more comeback in him and spits in Moxley’s face. Mox with the Gotch piledriver and into the bulldog choke while Bryan tries to fight for the ropes, but then he passes out and Jon Moxley wins the title at 27:00 to horrify the crowd and end Bryan’s career. And that was the last time we saw the damn belt as of this writing! As usual, Bryan goes out on his back in a four star match. ****1/2. So they go for another smothering, but Darby and Yuta make the save, only for Yuta to reveral his true colors and turn to the Death Riders as well. And so we get our first heavy heat Death Riders ending of WAY TOO MANY, as they smother Bryan with a plastic bag and fight off all the babyfaces trying to save him. And then Pillmanize the neck for good measure, although to be fair you KNOW that Bryan wanted to go out this way and probably would have taken even more of a beating if he was allowed. And that’s how we end the show and the career of Bryan Daneilson, good night everyone!

And it’s not like this was setting up some big comeback for the heroes, as we’re five months later and still only at “Jon Moxley makes concerned faces in the crowd” as far as anyone getting anything over on the Death Riders on TV.

For me, a very mid show by AEW standards, although the main was great and the International title match was amazing. But there was just nothing to the midcard that’s worth going out of your way to watch, and the really misguided tonal change for the promotion hurt them for a long time afterwards. I didn’t dislike it as much as the “HEAT HEAT HEAT” finishes of Full Gear, but man I would have been bummed watching this live at the time and the ending was still a bummer today.

Thumbs in the middle.