Category: AEW News

Excalibur and Taz were joined by Veda Scott on commentary for this week’s 11-match edition of Dark.

Brandi Rhodes (w/ Dustin Rhodes) defeated Red Velvet

Brandi came out with her new action figure. There was a comedy spot at the beginning where Brandi kept saying that the much smaller Velvet looked just like Brandy’s action figure which Velvet responded to with a dropkick.

After some sloppy wrestling, Anna Jay came out on the entrance ramp. The announcers had earlier discussed her ongoing issues with Brandi. The distraction allowed Velvet to drop Brandi with a DDT. She went for a lariat, but Brandi cut her off with a spear and locked on a sleeper hold for the submission victory. Brandi still showed no signs of becoming a serviceable pro wrestler.

The Butcher & The Blade (w/ Eddie Kingston) defeated Daniel Garcia & Kevin Blackwood

This was Garcia and Blackwood’s first AEW appearances after teaming together frequently in Beyond Wrestling. Garcia is in his early 20s and has great talent, and Blackwood looked good here as well.

The two came out firing strikes, but their offense was cut off when Butcher and Blade countered stereo planchas. They isolated Garcia with frequent tags and power moves as Kingston coached from the outside. Taz and Scott spent the entire heat segment arguing about nothing on commentary.

Eventually, Garcia reached Blackwood for the hot tag, but Garcia got overconfident and blind tagged himself in where he was met with the Full Death for the pin.

Penelope Ford (w/ Kip Sabian) defeated Dani Jordyn

Jordyn has been impressive in her Dark opportunities. She comes out with a “burn book” which is a binder full of bullying material as her gimmick is that she’s a high school mean girl. The two wrestled back and forth as Taz openly mentioned that he can’t tell who is supposed to be the heel in this match and got called “awfully misogynistic” by Excalibur in two separate instances.

The double-knee gutbuster got two for Ford before Sabian showed Ford her page in Jordyn’s binder. Ford got livid and tore the page up even though we didn’t see what the page said. She bulldogged Jordyn into the corner and hit a missile dropkick and a bridging fisherman’s suplex for the pinfall.

FTW Champion Brian Cage defeated Megabyte Ronnie

Ricky Starks joined on commentary and did a nice job putting over Cage as well as showing charisma. This was also Ronnie’s debut match. He’s got a good look with a sculpted physique and plenty of size to go along with an interesting gimmick as a legitimate competitive eater. Cage came out with his FTW championship.

Cage hit some power moves before Ronnie eventually fought back with a spinebuster. Ronnie pulled out a hot dog and took a bite as he dropped an elbow which just made Cage mad. He hit a powerbomb, a tiger feint kick, and the Drill Claw for the quick win.

Santana & Ortiz defeated Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison

Santana & Ortiz are the fifth-ranked tag team in AEW and have a big match with Best Friends coming up on this week’s Dynamite. Santana started off against Pillman, who hit a slap early on which Santana responded to with a much harder slap. Garrison made a blind tag, but was chopped hard in the corner and dropped with a thrust kick. Ortiz tagged in, but there was a bit of miscommunication before he hit a gutwrench suplex to maintain his team’s advantage.

Garrison attempted a couple stop-and-start hot tags, but was cut off every time. Eventually, he hit a rolling elbow which bought enough time for the tag. Pillman hit a springboard clothesline as Santana hit a tope to Garrison on the outside. Ortiz fought out of a suplex and the two hit their powerbomb/knee strike combination finisher for the three count.

Will Hobbs defeated Jessy Sorenson

Sorenson is a former Impact and WWE developmental wrestler while Hobbs was coming off a a strong performance in the All Out Casino Battle Royale and his first win on last week’s Dark. Sorenson threw strikes at the bell, but Hobbs hit a spinebuster and the Oklahoma Stampede for the squash victory that went about a minute.

Diamanté & Ivelisse defeated Skyler Moore & Raché Chanel

Ivelisse & Diamanté won the the Deadly Draw women’s tag tournament, and the former challenges Thunder Rosa for the NWA Women’s title on this week’s Dynamite. Chanel was also a participant in that tournament. She and Diamanté wrestled really awkwardly at the bell, and I don’t think it was Diamanté’s fault.

Ivelisse tagged in and wore down Chanel with strikes and holds. At one point, Ivelisse attempted a simple butterfly suplex and Chanel just barely made it all the way over. Diamanté tagged in and hit a nasty corner dropkick and a clothesline for two. 

Chanel eventually escaped and made the tag to Moore, who hit a hurricanrana and a front slam before Diamanté broke up the pin. Chanel was knocked off the apron, and Ivelisse hit a kick to the face to get her team the win. This was really rough at times. 

Colt Cabana (w/ Dark Order) defeated QT Marshall (w/ Allie)

Cabana was joined by just Evil Uno at first, but the rest of the Dark Order came out and spectated from the ramp to ensure that Cabana knew that he needed to win this match.

He and Marshall chain wrestled before Cabana sent Marshall to the outside with a tijeras. Grayson stormed to the ring to berate Cabana for not showing aggressiveness, and Marshall took advantage with an uppercut.

Marshall climbed to the top rope, but Five and Ten distracted him which allowed Cabana to regain the advantage. Cabana applied a nerve hold, which Marshall punched his way out of, but Cabana cut him off with a drop toehold. Marshall eventually fought back with a shoulderblock, an atomic drop, and a diving forearm. 

Marshall went for the Diamond Cutter, but hit a backbreaker/flatliner combination instead. Cabana hit the Boom Boom elbow strike and attempted the Flying Apple, but Marshall caught him in the corner. Uno distracted the referee and Grayson hit Marshall with a knee, followed by Cabana hitting a discus clothesline (Mr. Brodie Lee’s finisher) for the win.

Brandon Cutler vs. Peter Avalon (w/ Leva Bates) went to a double countout

These two are the former tag team called the Initiative, and neither has ever won a match in AEW. This was a rare Dark grudge match with Avalon playing the heel. They couldn’t contain their hatred and attacked each other before the bell. There was fast-paced action at the start as Cutler hit a springboard forearm and a tope suicida and they brawled outside.

Avalon was rolled inside but hit a tope of his own right away, followed by a springboard crossbody and a uranage. Avalon went outside and took Bates’ book, but Bates grabbed it back and Cutler took advantage of the distraction with an Emerald Frosion. Avalon fought back with a Tiger Driver and split-legged moonsault, both of which got two. 

As Avalon argued with the official, Cutler hit a springboard elbow drop for a near fall. He forced Avalon to the top rope, but both men spilled to the floor after a striking battle. They continued to fight on the outside as the official counted. Once the referee hit the eight count, they both fought to beat the count, but neither made it in and both remain winless.

This match was really exciting and one of the better Dark matches in a long time. I figured that we wouldn’t get a winner as they continue to tease that neither has ever won, but even with the lack of a winner, the action was quick and it felt like there were real stakes — a rarity on Dark.

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent?) defeated Maxx Stardom & Dontae Smiley

This was both Stardom and Smiley’s AEW debut. The match itself was very one-sided as Chuckie and Trent showed lots of aggression ahead of their match with Santana & Ortiz. Stardom made a comeback with a cazadora bulldog, but Best Friends cut them off with a spear on the outside. Back in, they hit a Soul Food/half-and-half suplex combination followed by two straight piledrivers for the quick win.

Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, & John Silver) defeated Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy) & The Gunn Club (Billy & Austin Gunn)

Billy and Reynolds started off. After some quick combination offense from Private Party and the Gunns, Reynolds fought his way to his corner where the Dark Order isolated Austin. Austin eventually did the same and tagged in Quen, but Evil Uno cut him off by grabbing his leg as he attempted a dive. 

Dark Order continued to beat down Quen in a long heat segment. Quen attempted a comeback with a double hurricanrana on Silver and Reynolds, but he couldn’t make it back for the tag. He eventually flipped out of a suplex and made it to Billy for the hot tag. Billy hit a cobra clutch slam for two, but Uno got in the way of the Fameasser. We then got a parade of moves, capped off by Billy hitting the Fameasser.

Before Billy could make a cover, Uno came in with a pump kick. Austin tagged in and hit a lariat, but was overwhelmed by the Dark Order’s numbers advantage. Grayson and Uno hit the Fatality to finish him off. With the extended heat segment and the parade of moves, this felt like a house show main event.

Final Thoughts:

After a couple breezy, compact episodes of Dark, AEW disappointingly returned to the long, drawn out format from previous weeks. Many of the matches were poorly worked and/or had no engaging story behind them. The commentary was back to being awful as well; Scott is a legitimately excellent wrestling commentator but she is just completely overwhelmed by Taz’s overbearing “is he playing a character or is he shooting?” presence. 

If you see one thing from this show, make it Cutler vs. Avalon. The one overarching storyline that Dark has is an enjoyable one, and it led to a very good back-and-forth match while setting the stage for a rematch down the line.