The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.23.22

The SmarK Rant for AEW Dynamite – 02.23.22

Live from Bridgeport, CT

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Jim Ross

Tag team battle royale:

Reynolds and the Blade get tossed out at 1:00, and the Gunns slug it out with Santana and Ortiz, resulting in Austin going over the top at 1:47. Colten is broken up about it, so Santana pops up behind his back with a thumbs up and throws him out at 2:00. reDRagon double-teams the Butcher and that goes badly for them. Trent heads to the apron and slugs it out with Butcher, and a well-timed hug from Chuck Taylor saves him before Butcher gets tossed at 3:40. Chuck ends up on the apron and Fish boots him out at 4:18. Private Party both get thrown out in front of Matt, but Matt catches them and then Kassidy gets superkicked out at 4:51 anyway. And Big Money Matt walks out on his team yet again. 2.0 gets tossed out at the same time by Santana at 5:22, but the Bucks dump Ortiz at 5:33. reDRagon saves the Bucks from a showdown with FTR and then we get the usual kicking and punching for a bit as it slows down a lot. Nick Jackson saves Kyle from getting pressed out by FTR, but he pays the price and gets thrown out at 7:57. That’s not gonna help the relationship between the Bucks and reDRagon. Trent gets thrown out but lands on Orange Cassidy’s shoulders and he’s still alive and back in. Trent runs wild for a bit and clotheslines Fish out at 8:58 and we take a break. Back with Silver putting Cash out at 12:19 and we’ve got all singles left in the match. Silver runs wild on Matt Jackson with a german suplex and backstabber, but Kyle takes out Silver with kicks. And then Dax takes out Kyle, and we’re left with a Trent-Santana showdown as they slug it out and Trent snaps off a suplex, only for Santana to hit him with a lariat. Trent gets booted to the apron, but he pulls Santana out there with him and both guys get shoved out at 14:34. So we’ve got a Final Four of John Silver, Uncle Dax, Matt Jackson and Kyle O’Reilly. Kyle takes Dax to the apron with a guillotine, but Dax clings to the ropes and they slug it out on the apron. But then Fish returns and SWEEPS THE LEG on Dax, taking him out at 16:55. Back in the ring, Silver manages to suplex both Matt and Kyle, making the big comeback with the Spin Doctor, but he walks into a superkick. And Kyle double-teams Silver with Matt’s help to take him out, but then turns on Matt and wins the battle royale at 18:41. This was a pretty average battle royale for the most part but got excellent after the break.

Afterwards, the Bucks and reDRagon get into a quarrel, but Hangman Page heads out and decides to get some revenge on them, as they all back off like cowards. This is a setup for Adam Cole to attack, but Page kicks his ass as well and the Bucks save him from the Buckshot. So John Silver tosses Kyle O’Reilly into the ring and Page gets his lariat on him instead. And then it’s Story Time with Adam Page as he does a great babyface promo to set up the PPV match.

Meanwhile, Daniel Bryan chats with Tony about his match against Daniel Garcia later tonight, and later tonight he’ll have an answer for Moxley.

MJF joins us, and he just wants an opportunity to talk about CM Punk. So he relates a story about being a “jew boy” in New York and getting bullied at school, so he idolized CM Punk and played football, saving up the quarters that people were throwing at him in order to meet his hero. And then it was “just another Friday” for Punk, but it changed his career. An MJF plays it totally straight, as Punk comes out and doesn’t seem to know how to take it, either.

Meanwhile, 2point0 is pretty sure that Bryan Danielson isn’t just gonna swoop in and mentor their Daniel Garcia.

Malakai Black & Brody King v. Pac & Penta Oscuro

So Penta has turned into a mad gravedigger now and taken Alex with him, and we probably shouldn’t have been surprised. They all slug it out to start and Penta sends them to the floor and hit a dive. A DARK dive. Back in, Pac with a 450 on Black for two. They double-team Black in the corner, but Brody comes in and levels Pac with a lariat for two. We take a break and return with a bizarre spot where he puts Pac on Penta’s shoulders and then chops Pac so hard that he takes Penta down with a rana. And the faces bail to the floor, so King dives onto them before Black hits a german suplex on Pac for two. Black accidentally knees King and Penta hits a flying bodypress, and everyone is out for a quadruple down. The Kings set up Penta to finish, but Pac saves and hits King with a german suplex into a superkick from Penta. Black comes in and tries to mist Penta, but Penta blocks it with his hand and rolls up Black for the pin at 8:08. Clever finish. Match had some crazy spots but didn’t have much heat overall. ** I dunno, the new legally distinct version of Pentagon Dark didn’t come off as a hot new character or anything. Afterwards, Black gets the shovel and goes to take out Penta’s throat, but the lights go out and Buddy Matthews debuts and then turns on the Death Triangle to join the House of Black as rumored. And he delivers a curb stomp onto a chair as his rite of passage, which only gets him over as a babyface. But then the lights go out AGAIN and they’re gone. Segment felt a bit long and draggy after Buddy’s debut.

Meanwhile, Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Thunder Rosa have words leading up to the PPV.

Eddie Kingston joins us for a face to face confrontation with Chris Jericho. They get some cracks about what’s down the street in Connecticut, where all the “sports entertainment” was, and Jericho tells a story about getting Kingston confused with Eddie Edwards. And then he realized that Eddie looks like a jobber. But then he saw the match against “whatshisname” and heard the promo and realized that Eddie was indeed special and would be a huge babyface someday. “What’s a babyface?” And now he’s finally made it to the bigtime at age 38, although he still doesn’t give a shit about Eddie’s sob story. So he can only conclude that Kingston is jealous of him. Eddie does his retort, because he doesn’t suck up to the promoters and does things his own way, and now he wants a fight with Jericho at the PPV. Jericho goes to the family stuff and talks about how Eddie’s family were all failures, causing Eddie to be afraid of winning the big one. Eddie wants the Chris Jericho that pissed off “his good friend Levesque” and Jericho is happy to oblige, and calls him a loser one last on the way out. Now that was a money promo.

Face of the Revolution qualifier: Ricky Starks v. 10

They trade shoulderblocks and Starks wins that battle, but he poses and 10 takes him to the corner for mounted punches. Starks tries a DDT and 10 reverses to a delayed suplex as we take a break. Back with 10 trying the full nelson, but Starks fights him off and 10 puts him down with a lariat. Another full nelson, but Starks tears the mask this time to break and spears him for the pin at 6:00. Not much to this one. *1/2

Meanwhile, the Bucks accuse reDRagon of double-crossing them, but now they’re got more motivation for their second chance next week.

TBS title: Jade Cargill v. The Bunny

Thankfully Smart Mark Sterling’s neck injury appears to be healed. Bunny gets no entrance here, and Jade quickly overpowers her and wrenches the arm while doing pushups. Bunny necks her on the ropes and sends her to the floor to come back as we take a break. Back with Jade hitting a running elbow in the corner, but Bunny makes a comeback with a running knee before walking into a spinebuster. Matt takes the ref and tosses knuckles to Bunny, but Sterling tosses the belt to Jade, and that wins the battle. Both managers get ejected and Bunny cradles for two and comes back with superkicks, but Jade finishes her with Jaded at 6:53. A much better smoke and mirrors showing for Jade, as 5-6 minutes looks like the sweet spot for her. **1/2 Also it appears that her muscles are softening a bit and she’s a lot less body-builder stiff in the ring lately. Hopefully the AQA thing was an aberration and she continues to improve. Jade wants another challenge, so Tay Conti answers and gets beat up before Anna Jay makes the save.

Meanwhile, Team Taz doesn’t care about where Keith Lee comes from or what he’s done, but there’s gonna be trouble.

And then Excalibur YELLS OUT A MILLION UPCOMING MATCHES IN THE SPAN OF 30 SECONDS AT A MILLION MILES AN HOUR.

Daniel Garcia v. Bryan Danielson

Bryan demands to see some violence, so Garcia gives him a chop and Danielson is unimpressed and takes him down in a leglock. Suplex into an armbar attempt, but Garcia rolls into the ropes and Bryan rolls him back into the Lebell Lock. Garcia makes the ropes and we take a break. Back with them fighting on the apron, where Danielson suplexes him to the floor and follows with a running knee off the apron. Back in with a missile dropkick before taking him down with a leglock. Garcia counters with his own heel hook, but Danielson just beats on him with forearms until he breaks. Bryan with CATTLE MUTILATION, but Garcia powers out and reverses to an anklelock, but Bryan fights up. They trade forearms in the middle and Garcia tries a dragon screw, but Bryan blocks and KICKS HIS FUCKING HEAD IN and finishes with the flexing triangle at 10:00. Bryan is just an unstoppable mat wrestling machine who does nothing but produce **** matches. And this was one of them. **** Bryan demands more violence, but 2point0 attacks, and Moxley makes the save to set up an awkward meeting with Bryan while the crowd chants “This is awesome”. And Bryan agrees to the match at Revolution, because he doesn’t need a chair to make people bleed. Now that’s a badass line.

This one was kind of up and down for me, but the Kingston promo was a home run and the main event and final angle were some great pro wrestling awesomeness so it’s a thumbs up overall this week.