The ROH Women’s World Championship will be defended on AEW Dark: Elevation.
Mercedes Martinez will put the title on the line against Hyan on the show. Hyan is from the Houston area and is a two-time holder of the Diamonds Division Championship in Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling promotion.
Other notable matches scheduled for the episode include The Varsity Blondes facing The Butcher and the Blade as well as Lee Moriarty going one-on-one with The Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds.
Monday’s edition of AEW Dark: Elevation was filmed on Wednesday, May 18 from the Fertitta Center in Houston, Texas. The full lineup for the show is as follows:
ROH Women’s World Champion Mercedes Martinez defends against Hyan
Lee Moriarty vs. Alex Reynolds
Ethan Page vs. J.D Griffey
Skye Blue & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Nyla Rose & Emi Sakura
The Butcher & The Blade w/ The Bunny vs. The Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.)
Matches for this week’s AEW Dark were taped at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Max Caster defeated Tyler Uriah
Caster took down Uriah with a deep armdrag after running the ropes for a few moments. After that, Caster slowly worked down Uriah with a series of strikes and takedowns. After Uriah failed to fight back, Caster finished him off with an impressive jumping double stomp.
Marina Shafir defeated Layna Lennox
Lennox fought out of Shafir’s tough offense early on and was even able to nail a float-over neckbreaker. Lennox had Shafir reeling until Shafir drove her head first into the middle turnbuckle.
Shafir finished Lennox shortly after with a pump handle slam, followed by a leg clutch submission that forced Lennox to submit.
Bear Country defeated The WorkHorsemen
This match was a lot of fun.
Bear Bronson and Anthony Henry started off with Henry delivering his signature kicks to the midsection as Bronson was asking for more. Bronson retaliated with a couple of strikes to Henry’s dome.
Bear Boulder and JD Drake came in after and began to tee off on each other. This didn’t last for long as Henry and Drake began to exchange tags in an effort to isolate Bronson. Drake delivered some impressive moves during this sequence including a senton.
The match began to come to a close when Henry and Drake were stacked in the corner, allowing Bear Country to deliver running cannonballs to their opponents. Shortly after, Boulder lifted Bronson on his shoulders and delivered the Bear Bomb on Henry to score the win.
Sakura trapped Macabre in the corner and delivered kicks to her face. Aside from a few moments where Macabre had a glimpse of offense, Sakura dominated until she began her chop spot in the corner while the crowd clapped along.
Shortly after, Sakura finished Macabre with a tiger driver for the victory.
Trent Beretta defeated Ryan Nemeth
Nemeth was on the attack early on, taking the fight to the outside and slamming Beretta’s face into the stage. Nemeth was pretty hyped about the good start and began showboating, but that would cost him as Beretta jumped up and nailed him with a running boot to the face for the quick victory.
After the bout, Peter Avalon hit the ring and tried to take out Trent, but it wasn’t successful as Rocky Romero came down and chased Nemeth and Avalon off.
Skye Blue defeated Amber Nova
Nova put her shirt in Blue’s face as the bell rang, allowing her to take advantage. Nova was very cocky after the fact which cost her as Blue regained position with a superkick and a flatliner which gave her the victory.
Tony Schiavone interviewed Blue after the match who expressed gratitude about growing in her role with the company during the past few months.
L.A Dojo (Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, Yuya Uemura & Kevin Knight) defeated The Factory (QT Marshall, Aaron Solo, Nick Comoroto, Brick Aldridge & Blake Li)
This was a lot of fun despite being messy at certain points.
Clarks and Li were supposed to start off, but all ten men involved got in the ring and began brawling. After the dust settled, Li and Knight were the legal men. Li gained an advantage and began working down Knight as he also recruited his Factory teammates to tag in and out to soften Knight up.
When Knight inevitably made the hot tag, Fredericks came in and cleared out The Factory’s side of the apron. Comoroto was the first guy back in, allowing him to nail Fredericks with a great combination of strikes. Coughlin came in and fared better against Comoroto as the two had a 30 second back and forth full of various strikes.
Coughlin delivered a delay suplex to Comoroto which got a great reaction from the crowd. The match broke down again at this point with guys coming in and out consistently. When Fredericks attempted a dive to the outside on nearly all of The Factory, he clipped the top rope and landed on the apron in a scary manner. Coughlin lifted up Aldridge shortly after and Knight came out of nowhere with a shotgun dropkick while Aldridge was in the air. Shortly after, Knight pinned him for the win.
ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta defeated Josh Woods to retain the title
This was pretty fantastic and the best match on the show by far. Woods is the former Pure Champion that Yuta beat to win the title at April’s Supercard of Honor.
Yuta and Woods shook hands before the bout.
Both guys struggled to gain the upper hand in the opening stages. Woods trapped Yuta in a headlock and forced him to use his first rope break. After the fact, Woods began to heavily target the hamstring of Yuta after kicking it while it was trapped in the ropes.
Yuta got so frustrated that he ended up using a closed fist strike for which he was given a warning by referee Paul Turner. Yuta then unleashed a series of palm strikes followed by an jumping kick to the head. After that, both guys rolled to the outside. Yuta got on the stage and jumped onto Woods. Right before the 20 count, both rolled back in the ring to save the match.
Both Woods and Yuta were out of it at this point. Woods tried to lock in his signature ankle lock, but Yuta used his second rope break. Woods motioned to lock the submission right back in, but Yuta used his third rope break. Woods applied the hold for a third time, prompting Yuta to crawl out of the ring with the submission applied.
The final stages of the match saw both guys exchange stack-up pins with Yuta coming out on top after locking his legs on top of Woods’ legs.
After the match, Yuta cut a promo citing that his work has just begun as ROH Pure Champion.
Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee defeated Chaos Project
Strickland and Luther started with the latter reluctant to do any real offense, so Serpentico came in. Serpentico went face-to-face with Lee and after attempting to chop him, he tagged out to Luther.
Lee bulldozed Luther with a shoulderblock. Luther wasn’t having any of it as he quickly tagged back out to Serpentico. Shortly after, Lee lifted up Serpentico on his shoulders, allowing Strickland to dive onto him with a double foot stomp for the victory.
This was the AEW debut for the former Impact Wrestling roster member.
Lethal jumped Something at the bell, giving him the early advantage. Something fought back valiantly and was able to regain control of the match when he speared Lethal into the corner.
Something looked for a superplex next, but Lethal fought back with a series of headbutts. Once Something hit the mat, Lethal delivered two consecutive elbow drops. Lethal finished Something with the Lethal Injection.
Alex Reynolds defeated Jake Manning
Manning was able to gain an upper hand on Reynolds early on after tossing his book at him and punching him. The match spilled to the outside where Manning beat down on the Dark Order member some more.
When action came back in the ring, Reynolds delivered a massive elbow to Manning to pick up the victory.
– Jora Johl cut a promo backstage about hoping Andrade realizes the talent he has and sees what Matt Hardy never could have saw.
Gunn Club (Austin & Colten Gunn) defeated Fly Def
Colten worked down Zach Mason to start before he was able to tag out to Warren J. who got a short burst of offense in before Austin finished the job with a Colt 45.
Shawn Dean defeated Serpentico (w/ Luther)
Dean and Serpentico traded counters early on. Luther got involved, which led to Serpentico taking control and working down Dean. This wouldn’t last for long as Dean fought back and eventually nailed Serpentico with a sliding clothesline.
Serpentico wasn’t done on the offensive side though, responding with a jumping flatliner which warranted a near fall. The finish came when Luther tried to get involved again but, this time, Serpentico accidentally nailed him with a kick. Dean responded with his signature suplex for the win.
Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson (w/ Arn Anderson) defeated Brick City Boyz
Johnson started off with Julio Cruz. After tangling for a few minutes, Anderson came in and delivered a back elbow to Chase as the Boyz were starting to heat up. Anderson finished things after giving Victor Chase a gourdbuster slam to get the win.
Abadon defeated Vicky Dreamboat
Dreamboat hit Abadon with a crossbody, but Abadon sat right back up. Abadon hit a lariat, followed by a few elbow strikes.
After hitting a senton, Abadon hit Dreamboat with the Black Dahlia for the victory.
Jora Johl (w/ Angelico) defeated Trip Jordy
Jordy celebrated with TikTok dance moves after nailing Johl with a clothesline. Johl was clearly frustrated and began to deliver multiple suplexes.
Johl finished Jordy with a lift-assisted cutter, followed by a running pump kick.
Kiera Hogan (w/ Red Velvet) defeated Skye Blue
Blue came out of the gates blazing early on which led to Hogan regrouping at ringside. Hogan regained her composure and baited Blue into chasing her around the ring, which allowed Velvet to cause a momentary distraction.
As the match went on, Hogan began to get frustrated with Blue, especially after she attempted a dive from the top rope, catching her with a superkick that Blue kicked out of. Moments later, Hogan nailed Blue with a roundhouse kick after another Velvet distraction for the victory.
The Factory (Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto) (w/ QT Marshall) defeated LA Dojo (Kevin Knight & The DKC)
Solo and The DKC started off the match. Knight and DKC worked together very well, tagging in and out and working down Solo. Solo wouldn’t take it lying down though as he would get into position to control Knight’s neck.
Comoroto came in and prevented Knight from making the tag by throwing him to the outside. After attempting to bulldoze Knight at ringside, Comoroto ran straight into the ring post.
This gave Knight time to roll back in and make the tag to DKC. Solo appeared back in the match, but was on the receiving end of about twenty DKC chops., Comoroto regained composure and made his way back in the match, but was heavily double-teamed by Knight and DKC.
The finish came when Comoroto took out DKC at ringside by slamming him into the barricade. Knight was then on the receiving end of a flying kick from Solo and a spear from Comoroto, which spelled his demise.
After the match, The Factory put The DKC through two tables. This led to the rest of the LA Dojo making the save and clearing house.
Rohit Raju defeated Adam Priest
Raju and Priest traded strikes early with Raju gaining the upper advantage. After slamming him into the ropes, Raju delivered a jumping knee to Priest. The former Impact X-Division Champion followed it up with a top rope stomp for the victory.
Dark Order (Evil Uno & 10) (w -1) defeated Cezar Bononi & Tiger Ruas
Ruas tried to take out Uno with a back kick as the bell rang. 10 came in and tied up with Ruas, but Bononi tagged himself in. Bononi and 10 squared off for a bit before Uno came back in the match.
Bononi was throwing around Uno like he was a cruiserweight at this point. Ruas came in and helped him tire down Uno with a flurry of body strikes.
10 eventually came in off a hot tag and delivered a few pump kicks to both Bononi and Ruas. Uno and 10 began exchanging regular tags, which would be to their detriment as the match began to turn back in the favor of Bononi and Ruas.
Things worked out for Dark Order in the end after 10 nailed Ruas with a discus lariat. Shortly after, Ruas submitted to a full nelson.
Jake Something will make his AEW debut on Tuesday’s edition of Dark.
The former Impact wrestler will face Jay Lethal on the show. The episode was taped on May 1 from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
The rivalry between NJPW’s LA Dojo and QT Marshall’s Factory will continue on Dark as well when Nick Comoroto & Aaron Solo take on Kevin Knight & The DKC. Other notable matches include Kiera Hogan facing Skye Blue and The Dark Order taking on Tiger Ruas & Cezar Bononi.
Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark will air at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The full lineup is as follows:
The Gunn Club (Austin & Colten Gunn) vs. Fly Def (Warren Johnson & Zack Mason
Jay Lethal vs. Jake Something
Jora Johl vs. Trip Jordy
Kiera Hogan vs. Skye Blue
Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson vs. Brick City Boyz (JCruz & Victor Chase)
Rohit Raju vs. Adam Priest
Capt. Shawn Dean vs. Serpentico
Nick Comoroto & Aaron Solo vs. Kevin Knight & The DKC
This week’s AEW Dark matches were taped this past Sunday at Orlando’s Universal Studios.
John Silver (w/ -1) defeated Ryan Nemeth (w/ Peter Avalon)
Silver started off with a series of hot and fast moves until Nemeth slowed the match down. Nemeth made a good attempt to work on Silver’s neck, but the match returned to Johnny Hungie’s favor after a sleek-looking power bomb.
Silver nailed a few more power moves that led to near falls. Nemeth’s last gasp was a DDT that looked very good, but Silver hit his rotating power bomb shortly after for the victory.
Varsity Blonds (w/ Julia Hart) defeated The WorkHorsemen (Anthony Henry & J.D. Drake)
Griff Garrison is one of the people that has benefited the most from the Dark experience.
Brian Pillman Jr. didn’t get off to a hot start as he fell victim to multiple double teams at the hands of Henry and Drake. Henry even took liberties in giving Pillman a leg lariat over the barricade on the outside of the ring.
Garrison eventually got a hot tag which would spell the end for The WorkHorsemen. After a few double team moves, Pillman and Garrison pinned Henry following a dropkick/power bomb combination.
After the match, Pillman cut a promo on the House Of Black, telling them that if they wanted Julia Hart, they should come get her.
Shawn Spears defeated Lord Crewe
Spears hesitated to attack early on, which led to Crewe delivering a flurry of strikes. Spears didn’t let Crewe’s momentum last long as he delivered a backdrop on the apron. Spears followed that up with strikes in the corner, which ultimately led to a C-4 for the successful pinfall.
Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Terry Yaki & Jay Lucas
Despite virtually being a squash, this was a great display of swagger from Hobbs/ and tarks. Terry Yaki is also one of the greatest names in wrestling today.
However, he was overwhelmed by Starks early on as “Absolute” rained down a constant slew of strikes. Starks shared the pie evenly, tagging out to Hobbs and allowing him to chuck Yaki across the ring.
Lucas got the hot tag and attempted to dropkick Hobbs, but failed to take the big man down. Hobbs would keep Lucas down consistently before raising him up and holding him in place for a Starks spear. Shortly after, Starks successfully pinned Lucas.
Love tried to fight back against Hart’s early dominance, but she proved to be no match. Hart would go on to submit Love very quickly with a headscissors submission.
– QT Marshall cut a promo hyping up the Factory’s match next week with the NJPW LA Dojo.
Tony Nese defeated Leon Ruffin
This was the AEW debut for the former Leon Ruff in WWE NXT.
Ruffin dodged a lot of Nese’s early attempts at offense with his impressive speed. Nese would eventually center Ruffin and begin to tire him down despite the crowd’s attempt to will him back into the match.
Ruffin attempted a sunset flip pin in the midst of Nese’s offense, but Nese responded with a fantastic kick to the head. Shortly after, Nese finished Ruffin with a running kick followed by a pinfall.
Angelico defeated Yuya Uemura
This was the AEW debut for NJPW’s Uemura.
Uemura and Angelico traded wristlocks to start the match. Those would eventually turn into submissions that were traded on the mat with nobody really gaining an advantage.
Angelico tricked Uemura into a handshake mid-match, allowing him to turn it into a headlock. Uemura responded with a massive chop that caved in the chest of Angelico.
The match began to drag at this point with Angelico’s offense beginning to get repetitive. Uemura fired up and delivered a few elbows to the jaw, followed by a great backdrop for a near fall.
Angelico was seemingly down and out when he suddenly trapped Uemura in his Navarro Death Roll. After hesitating for a few moments, Uemura eventually submitted.
Dante Martin defeated Invictus Khash
Khash refused to work the breakneck pace of Martin’s usual encounters at first, but that didn’t work out for him in the end. Martin would have a few moments where it seemed like he was in trouble, but he finally got back in the match with a great diving crossbody.
Martin followed it up with an elbow suicida and a springboard moonsault for the win
Martin cut a promo after the match, citing his excitement for his upcoming Owen Hart Tournament qualifying match on Dynamite against Rey Fenix.
Toni Storm defeated Diamante
Storm was great in this role.
Storm applied a headlock early on, but Diamante snaked out of it. Diamante transitioned her focus to working on Storm’s neck and back, even going as far as to hold Storm in the corner with a boot to the face until the referee forced a break.
Diamante began to taunt Storm, which prompted the match to turn around completely. Storm launched Diamante over her head with a german suplex, which resulted in a near fall. After a exchange of pinning combinations between both women, the match felt like it had settled back to a stalemate.
Storm planted Diamante with a DDT on the outside before following that up with a fisherman’s suplex for another near fall. Storm finally pulled out her best trick and hit a Storm Zero to pick up the victory.
This week’s show was taped Sunday, May 1 from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
NJPW young lion Yuya Uemura and former NXT North American Champion, Leon Ruffin (FKA Leon Ruff) will both make their AEW debuts on the show. Uemura will face Angelico and Ruffin will take on Tony Nese.
Other notable matches scheduled to air include Toni Storm vs. Diamante and Ryan Nemeth vs. John Silver.
Dante Martin, Julia Hart, Team Taz, and the Varsity Blondes will all be in action as well.
Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark will air at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The full lineup for the show is as follows:
Angelico vs. Yuya Uemura
Dante Martin vs. Invictus Khash
Julia Hart vs. Jacey Love
Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Terry Yaki & Jay Lucas
Ryan Nemeth vs. John Silver
Shawn Spears vs. Lord Crewe
Toni Storm vs. Diamante
Tony Nese w/ “Smart” Mark Sterling vs. Leon Ruffin
The Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison & Brian Pillman Jr.) w/ Julia Hart vs. The Workhorsemen (Anthony Henry & JD Drake)
Something, who recently left Impact Wrestling, lost to Jay Lethal. Leon Ruff lost to Tony Nese. Additionally, NJPW LA Dojo talent The DKC, Yuya Uemura, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, Alex Coughlin, and Kevin Knight appeared throughout the tapings, feuding with QT Marshall and members of his stable The Factory that eventually led to a ten-man tag team match on the tapings.
It was reported back in March that Something had finished with Impact following the company’s Sacrifice event, where he lost an X-Division title match against then-champion Trey Miguel. Ruff, who was signed with WWE and briefly held the NXT North American Championship in 2020, was released from the company in August of last year.
QT Marshall is scheduled to face Karl Fredericks at NJPW Strong’s tapings in Philadelphia on May 15. Something is also scheduled to appear on that card, facing Brody King.
Tonight’s AEW Dark was taped on Friday, April 15th in Garland, Texas, as part of the Rampage and Battle of the Belts II tapings.
Red Velvet defeated Dulce Tormenta
Tormenta had some quick offense in the beginning of the match, but it didn’t mount to anything that would keep Velvet down. Velvet fought back and eventually hit a spinning roundhouse kick to pick up the pinfall victory.
Lee Moriarty defeated Serpentico
Serpentico jumped Moriarty at the bell, but that didn’t prevent Moriarty from taking back control quickly. After a few shoulder tackles, Moriarty won after hitting an elevated DDT.
Anna Jay & Skye Blue defeated The Bunny & Raychell Rose
Jay nailed Bunny with a overhead suplex to start the match, but Bunny would retaliate with a clothesline shortly after. Jay fought out of a rest hold attempt, but was met with a knee to the face.
Rose came in the match in an attempt to isolate Jay, but Blue came in off a hot tag and nailed Rose with a nice superkick. Jay came back in shortly after and locked in the Queenslayer submission to pick up the victory for her team.
Marshall tried to outsmart Oscuro early on, but nothing ever came of it. Oscuro had a good series of offense that was leading to him snapping Marshall’s arm, but Solo got involved and stopped that from happening. With the referee distracted, Comoroto hit the ring and speared Oscuro before quickly rolling out of the ring.
Marshall got a near fall and attempted a moonsault, but Penta caught him with a kick in mid-air. Oscuro followed up the kick with the arm snap, followed by a successful pinfall.
Abadon defeated Charlette Renegade
Abadon finished Renegade in about twenty seconds after hitting a senton and a leg draping DDT.
The Hardys, Top Flight and Frankie Kazarian defeated AFO (Private Party, Angelico & The Blade) and Max Caster
This was basically the only match from the show that had time to stand out. This was obviously taped before the recent news of Darius’ injury.
Angelico and Kazarian started out. After exchanging a series of leg sweeps, Angelico tagged out to Blade. Darius Martin came in and made an impact quickly, nailing Blade with a great standing dropkick.
Tags came more frequently from AFO. Blade cut off the ring for Jeff Hardy, Angelico came back in and worked him over with a leg submission and Isiah Kassidy would come in next and help isolate Hardy as well.
Jeff eventually got the the hot tag, letting Kazarian back in the match. He took out Private Party, Angelico and Blade. Dante Martin became legal after Kazarian cleared house. Caster came in and didn’t last long as Marq Quen tagged himself in. Martin hit a double dropkick before tagging out to Matt Hardy who hit a Twist of Fate before tagging in Jeff, who hit the swanton bomb for the victory.
The Hardys and Top Flight will team with Frankie Kazarian to face members of the Andrade Family Office on AEW Dark.
Matches for Tuesday’s edition of the show were filmed on Friday April 15 from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. Top Flight’s Darius Martin has since been reported to have suffered a leg injury and will be out of action for an extended period.
Other notable matches booked for the show include Penta Oscura taking on the Factory’s QT Marshall. Red Velvet, now a member of Jade Cargill’s Baddie Section, will also face Dulce Tormenta.
The full lineup for Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark is as follows:
Frankie Kazarian, Top Flight (Darius & Dante Martin), and The Hardys (Jeff & Matt Hardy) vs. Max Caster, Angelico, The Blade, and Private Party (Marq Quen & Isiah Kassidy)
Abadon vs. Charlette Renegade
Anna Jay & Skye Blue vs. The Bunny & Raychell Rose
Lee Moriarty w/ Matt Sydal vs. Serpentico
Red Velvet vs. Dulce Tormenta
Penta Oscura w/ Alex Abrahantes vs. QT Marshall w/ Aaron Solo
AEW will be back at Universal Studios for Dark tapings this weekend.
It was announced today that AEW Dark tapings will be held at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, May 1. There will be two sessions of tapings that day.
The first session will take place from 2-5 p.m. Eastern time, with the second session being held from 7-10 p.m. Eastern.
TBS Champion Jade Cargill, Powerhouse Hobbs, Wardlow, Orange Cassidy, Max Caster, Toni Storm, Eddie Kingston, Wheeler Yuta, Kris Statlander, Jay Lethal, Anna Jay, Angelo Parker, and Matt Menard are advertised for the tapings.
PWTorch reports that the Dark tapings were originally scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 30. The tapings being moved to May 1 led to AEW talent being pulled from indie shows they were scheduled for, including PWG’s Delivering the Goods event.
AEW has announced six matches for Tuesday’s edition of Dark.
The matches for this week’s show were taped on Friday, April 15 from the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.
Notable matches scheduled to air include Team Taz’s Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs facing The Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Stu Grayson. Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee will team up to take on The Factory’s Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto as well.
Marina Shafir will also be in action on Dark ahead of her TBS title match against Jade Cargill on Friday’s edition of Rampage. She’ll take on Alejandra Lion on the show.
The full lineup for Tuesday’s edition of AEW Dark is as follows:
Toni Storm vs. Gigi Rey
Marina Shafir vs. Alejandra Lion
Danielle Kamela vs. Rache Chanel
Tony Nese vs. JD Griffey
Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee vs. The Factory’s Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto
Team Taz’s Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. The Dark Order’s Evil Uno & Stu Grayson
The following are spoilers for both Saturday’s AEW Battle of the Belts II and Dark, taped Friday in Garland, Texas, before and after Rampage.
Dark (taped prior to Rampage):
Red Velvet defeated Dulce Tormenta
Lee Moriarty defeated Serpentico
Anna Jay & Skye Blue defeated The Bunny & Raychell Rose
Dark matches taped between Rampage and Battle of the Belts:
Toni Storm defeated Gigi Rey. Jamie Hayter was on commentary.
Danielle Kamela defeated Rache Chanel
Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Dark Order’s Stu Grayson & Evil Uno
Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling) defeated JD Griffey
Marina Shafir defeated Alejandra Lion. TBS Champion Jade Cargill came out afterward and stood on the ramp. She had a staredown with Shafir, building to their match on Rampage next Friday.
Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee defeated The Factory’s Nick Comoroto & Aaron Solo (w/ QT Marshall & Anthony Ogogo)
Battle of the Belts II:
Sammy Guevara defeated Scorpio Sky to win the AEW TNT Championship
Guevara and Tay Conti were heavily booed while Sky got a lot of cheers. There were dueling ‘Let’s Go Sammy’/’Sammy sucks’ chants but the ‘Sammy sucks’ chants were louder. It was probably 70/30 boos/chants and Sky was getting cheered doing heel tactics.
Guevara was doing some subtle heel stuff, but not fully leaning into it. There was a countout spot where he got in right before 10 and the crowd booed that. Sky got loud chants as the match went on. Ethan Page got involved at one point and was cheered and Guevara was booed after doing a move on him. Paige VanZant ended up coming out near the end and had a brawl with Conti. Guevara and Conti made out after the match to heavy boos and teased going back through the heel tunnel until going through the face tunnel.
ROH World Champion Jonathan Gresham defeated Dalton Castle to retain
Castle did his full entrance like he usually goes, completed with The Boys doing their normal schtick during the match. Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh came out afterward. Singh took out The Boys and Castle. Lethal hit the Lethal Injection on Gresham. Lee Moriarty ran in, but Singh took him out. Lethal attacked Matt Sydal afterward and beat him down until Samoa Joe came out with a pipe, running the heels off.
AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa defeated Nyla Rose to retain the title. Rosa was super over with the crowd as expected.
Dark matches taped after Battle of the Belts:
Penta Oscuro (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated QT Marshall (w/ Aaron Solo). Nick Comoroto interfered and speared Penta in a near fall spot.
Abadon defeated Charlette Renegade.
The Hardys, Top Flight & Frankie Kazarian defeated Private Party, The Blade, Angelico & Max Caster.
During downtime, they recorded the crowd doing chants for the AEW video game. The crowd was hot all night.
This week’s AEW Dark matches were from a mid-January taping at Universal Studios in Orlando.
Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Axton Ray
Hobbs charged Ray in the corner and delivered a elbow to the skull. Shortly after, Ray was on the receiving end of a Hobbs clothesline. The finish would follow quickly after with Hobbs submitting Ray with a torture rack. He moves on to Wednesday when he teams with Ricky Starks against Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee.
Max Caster defeated Mike Reed
Caster hit a pump handle slam to start the match. To capitalize, Caster then hit a shotgun dropkick from the second rope before attempting a pinfall. Reed reversed a few moves as the match went on, but would eventually fall victim to a Mic Drop after Caster nailed him with a kick to the groin.
Diamante defeated Mylo
Diamante dropped Mylo on her head with a german suplex only seconds after the bell rang. She followed that up with a series of clotheslines before transitioning into a half straight jacket submission for her ninth straight win.
Jora Johl defeated Teddy Goodz
Johl delivered a underhook backbreaker to Goodz as he took early control of the match. Shortly after, Johl finished the match with a running pump kick.
Sakura threw Renegade around the ring by her hair before positioning her in the corner. Sakura then started chopping Renegade which eventually opened a window for Sakura to poke her in the eye and roll her up for the three count.
Shawn Dean defeated Rohit Raju
Dean and Raju locked up to a stalemate. The former Impact X-Division Champion attempted to target Dean’s lower leg, but was met with resilience. Dean was flashy in dodging a good majority of Raju’s offense, but would eventually get caught with a running kick that resulted in a great near fall. Dean picked up the win moments later with a headlock driver. He faces MJF on Dynamite Wednesday.
Matches for this week’s AEW Dark were taped on January 15th from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Ryan Nemeth defeated Chandler Hopkins
Hopkins got in some offense early, but Nemeth reversed the tide pretty quickly. The “Hollywood Hunk” caught his opponent in the ring apron after a baseball slide dropkick attempt and then hammered him with strikes.
Nemeth then spent some time working on his opponent’s back and ribs. Hopkins fought back after reversing the “Hunk of Love” neckbreaker, hitting a falcon arrow for a two count. Hopkins then missed a shooting star press, giving his opponent an opportunity to take advantage. Nemeth then hit the neckbreaker he couldn’t hit earlier for the three count.
Sonny Kiss defeated JP Harlow
The opening moments saw Harlow get in some offense. Kiss fired back with a discus forearm, however, and he took control of the match from then on. He hit two overhead throws and draped Harlow across the middle rope in the corner, gave him an axe kick to the midsection and got the three count.
Abadon defeated Hyena Hera
Hera hit her opponent with a few kicks as the match began. Abadon then hit a back heel trip and screamed for awhile. Hera then started screaming quite a bit as well. Both of them were screaming until Abadon hit a back elbow followed by a senton. She then hit the Black Dahlia and got the pin. Frightening.
Tiger Ruas & Cezar Bononi defeated Luke Sampson & Guillermo Rosas
Ruas and Bononi looked good as a team here. It was just the second time they’ve been put together in AEW and they haven’t been back together since. Ruas has only wrestled once in the promotion since this match was taped, so it’s not really clear if they will be continuing as a team or not.
Ruas and Bononi hit a backbreaker/running knee combo early in the match. They used a lot of double team combos throughout. They also hit a pair of tandem suplexes on their opponents. Ruas pinned Rosas after Bononi gave him a pump handle suplex. They continued the attack after the match with Bononi giving Rosas another pump handle suplex.
Lance Archer defeated Dean Alexander
This was a quick squash win for Archer.
Alexander tried to attack Archer before the bell, but his strikes had little impact. Archer hit a crossbody, a short-arm clothesline and repeated elbows in the corner early. He then hit Alexander with his Hell Coaster, followed by the Blackout and the EBD Claw for the win.
Dark Order (Alan “5” Angels & 10) (w/ Negative One) defeated The Factory’s Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto (w/ QT Marshall)
This match was all about Negative One pantsing QT Marshall and that’s not a bad thing.
Dark Order came out and Angels wasted no time diving off the stage onto Solo. He and 10 then tossed Comoroto into the steel steps. With the match back in the ring, Angels hit a side belly-to-belly suplex but only got a one count. Ten then came in and gave Solo a slingshot German suplex. Comoroto then tagged in and we had the two big guys legal for each team.
Marshall pulled Ten off the ring apron and Angels went to the outside to chase after Marshall. As he was doing so, however, Solo kicked him from the apron, allowing the Factory to go on offense. It would be far from the last time that Marshall’s interference played a factor. Solo and Comoroto then worked on Angels with quick tags.
Angels eventually made a hot tag to Ten, who came in and cleaned house. He hit a series of pump kicks on both opponents before locking in the full nelson on Solo. Comoroto came in and broke up the hold shortly after.
Marshall got involved again, striking Angels from the outside. Comoroto then hit Angels with a spear but he kicked out at two. A big “QT sucks!” chant rang out throughout the venue.
Marshall was back up on the ring apron when the absolute best thing in the whole show happened. Negative One grabbed ahold of Marshall’s pants and pulled them down as the crowd cheered on. Marshall then comically chased after Negative One with his pants still wrapped around his ankles. Ten eventually speared the pantsless Marshall as the fans chanted for Negative One.
Back in the ring, Ten locked Solo in the full nelson and got the submission.
Final Thoughts:
Negative One pantsing Marshall made up for this show being a collection of matches from a taping held nearly three months ago. Nothing on the show built to matches we will see on Dynamite this week or played into any active storylines at all. For two weeks in a row, Dark has been matches from tapings held months ago that never aired. Perhaps we will get a few of these before they announce the next set of tapings.
This week’s AEW Dark was taped in late-December at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Factory (QT Marshall, Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto) defeated Adam Priest, Invictus Khash & Gus De La Vega
The Factory tagged in and out and took turns beating down whoever happened to be in the ring at the moment. After Priest took some damage, De La Vega got a small amount of offense in before being cut off by Solo. Marshall would go on to hit a trifecta of diamond cutters on the opposing team before Solo came off the top rope with a double foot stomp on Khash for the victory.
Emi Sakura defeated Leila Grey
Sakura just toyed with Grey for the duration of this match. After firing up the crowd with her signature stomp and clap, Sakura hit a double underhook backbreaker followed by a Vader Bomb for the victory.
Diamante defeated Kelsey Heather
Heather was busted open from her nose at some point during this short bout. Diamante quickly moved to submit her with a half straight jacket submission afterward.
Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & Alan “5” Angels) defeated Jay Marte, Richard King and Alexander Zane
Grayson and Uno hit a series of double team maneuvers on King as the match began. Angels came in and hit a sliced bread on Zane. After a few more multi-man maneuvers from multiple combinations of the Dark Order, Angels hit a frog splash on Marte to pick up the victory.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Kaun
The two started with a strong lockup. The lockup maintained momentum for a bit with both guys getting a chance to overpower the other. Kazarian came off the middle turnbuckle with a crossbody that sent Kaun reeling. After some hesitation, Kazarian tapped out Kaun with a chicken wing submission.
Tay Conti (w/ Anna Jay & -1) defeated Shalonce Royal
Conti tried to start the match with a sunset flip pin, but Royal caught it and turned it into her own pin attempt for a near fall. After hitting a series of running kicks in the corner, Conti hit a piledriver on Royal for the win.
Dark Order (10, John Silver & Alex Reynolds) defeated Jameson Ryan, Brandon Bullock and Foxx Vinyer
Reynolds started off the match. Vinyer came in but got beat down by all three Dark Order members followed by a flexing spot. Bullock was hoisted up and ran through by Silver which gave Dark Order their second win of the night.
This match, despite being maybe four minutes, was the most competitive of the night.
Rose took the match to the outside and began tossing Hogan into the barricade and ring posts. After a failed pin attempt, Rose motioned to reign down a few strikes on her. Hogan took advantage of a missed knee drop and hit a leg drop for a near fall.
Rose regained composure after the near fall and hit a chokeslam, followed by a spear and a Beast Bomb for the victory.
