AEW Dark Megathread

[NotJayTabb]

Agree with Matt D about Soho's finisher, it felt like a really flat ending in the Kruel match (probably not helped by her hitting it to Kruel's left arm rather than anywhere near her head). I felt the same when it was the Riott Kick in WWE, she ends the match on her weakest looking move.

[Matt D]

Spoiler

Tay Conti/Anna Jay vs Erica Leigh/Williow Nightingale: Would have liked to see something out of Willow but she ate all of Tay's stuff well. I thought Anna's opening kicks looked good (might be on Leigh leaning into them). The stereo finishers were fun, at least. Hopefully they let Willow do something more interesting next time but I can see why they would want Tay to have a dominant exchange and win after the PPV.

Nese vs Laroux: This was pretty good. I'm not sure Nese should be doing that double jump moonsault as it's Dante's finish (even if that's a press). He gets a little cutesy with the matrix and the combo strikes but everything looked good here at least. His finish with the German into the corner and the knee is nice. A lot of moves into the corner or ropes this year though; feels like a zeitgeist thing. Kingston on commentary in general was funny as he spent the whole first half of his time trying not to step on anyone (and failing because he had too many good lines) and then the back half getting yelled at anyway. I liked how the crowd really got behind Laroux right when he was coming back. That doesn't usually get time well like that in AEW. I'm going to call it a coincidence though.

Starks/Hobbs vs Chase/Legend: I liked this well enough. It sort of went all over the place but always came back to Hobbs killing people dead, and it's hard to complain too much about that. Chase had a fun little moment of shine towards the end. The simultaneous finish of the torture rack and Stark's finish was nice. You'd almost want Hobbs to pancake the guy at the same time though. It's just fan to watch Hobbs crash through people.

Emi/Ford/Bunny vs Ryo/Hirsch/Statlander: Some things, like Ryo crashing through people and Bunny doing everything she could early on to avoid Statlander and Hirsch playing face in peril, sort of, worked. I though the transition with interference from the apron and THEN from the floor from Mei worked. I wish they had leaned more into Bunny refusing to face Statlander. Good idea but it was anticlimactic. There was one wildly missed kick (Statlander on Bunny maybe?). Like the announcers, I too wish that Hirsch had gotten to do a bit more of her grappling stuff. After about five weeks of these matches twice a week I'm getting a little tired of them all falling apart but that's the house style. It's tag team wrestling in the 2010s-on style. I have a whole theory about this if anyone wants to hear it. Anyway, I think the usefulness of these six-person tags with Emi and friends vs Ryo and friends is probably nearing its end. Soho on commentary was something different at least.

Kazarian vs Keys: I liked the backslide into the chicken wing finish. That's all I've got. Sorry.

Dark Order vs Black, Davis, Jones: I keep looking for something in Reynolds that stands out and can't find it. He's a solid FIP. He hits his stuff well. You just need something more than that in a group like this. The crowd badly wanted Silver and generally he delivered playing into the size differential. I thought the balance on the one was pretty good as it ended quickly after things broke down with the Dark Order's sequenced offense looking good. Silver's German on Jones was honestly one of the coolest visual spots/moves of the entire year. Just awesome stuff.

Riho vs Adora: Good enhancement performance for Adora. Since it wasn't a tag, she got to do a bit more. Henry marked out big for her strength on the deadlift suplex and then the hard shots in the corner. She really jumped into Riho's cross body and took all of her stuff well. I'm higher on Wight than some people but when he's just reading off a piece of paper, it's not great. There are things I can speak to and things I can't in a match like this. I can't tell you if those shots were as stiff as they were supposed to be or stiffer or if they even hurt at all and I can't tell you how things were called or certain positioning bits, but from a spectator watching and critiquing as someone who watches a lot of wrestling, this, unsurprisingly, was the sort of performance that would get Adora another look.
 
Serpentico vs Yuta: I have a ton of time for Serpentico still. He's literally at the bottom of the card, the lowest regular heel, and it's ok for him to be mostly act. I love his commitment to the act at that spot of the card. Everything he does is on, while still hitting things well. I'm all for him having imaginary Luther drop him on people and bumping himself. Guy's a maniac. This is also the smoothest Yuta match I've seen in AEW. Nothing looked blown or off to me and it's not generally easy stuff. The dropkick was great. I liked Serpentico's interactions with the Best Friends. I do need less Monsoonian complaining about not hooking the leg after the first move from Wight though.

Dark Elevation 11/22/21

[Matt D]

Dark 11/23/21

Spoiler

 

Silver/Reynolds vs Dean/Bravo: I think I've seen about what I'm going to see in Reynolds at this point. He's solid, but he's the straight man of the ground who hits his stuff soundly and plays face-in-peril and makes everyone else stand out. It's fine, but I think there's still room for him to have some more unique aspects if he wanted and he could make some money off that. Maybe an eyepatch. Danielson can take his eye out. That'd be good. Infantry have kind of frustrating tandem offense. It's not tricked out enough to stand out but it's not so simple that they can really hone making it look straightforward and crisp. That "deal" move which is sort of a twisting full nelson leg sweep facebuster thing is dumb and even just a Stroke or full nelson Russian leg sweep would be better. What Reynolds does very well is hit the tandem stuff with Silver, which is how this ended.

Riho vs Dean: I don't know Dean's deal but she came off like a 80s Moolah trainee to me, with that sort of pushing around, hairpull offense and that's not a bad way to stand out a bit in 2021. Everything looked pretty good here but I think Riho should use the Northern Lights as her finish instead of as a set up (after a kick out) for the stomp.

2.0/Garcia vs Soriano and... two other guys: Love, love, love the double tags. Just a constant rhythm that makes sense and follows rules. The violence flows. Really present tag team wrestling in how they work it back into their own corner. I like how the tap happened before Garcia even sat back. Nice to get over that the Scorpion is dangerous even without that.

Hogan vs Mimi: I get why they don't have more for Hogan but it's a shame as she shows solid babyface skills. Both of them here worked the crowd well. I liked the clapping up out of the chinlock and how that was timed and the mat slapping that followed. Taz's joke about Bobby Fish throwing off Excalibur was pretty good. Nothing wrong here.

Bear Country vs Lennex/Carter: Awesome squash. The pile driver (Thunder fire driver? Rikishi driver?) onto the other guy was amazing in theory. I've never seen that but it's such a cool idea. It didn't look 100% in execution but you get the idea it hurt everyone involved that wasn't a bear, so you're cool with it. Then the pile up slam and the electric chair bear splash and just good times all along so long as you're not a wimpy.

Greene vs Ryan: Got to heat Greene up for Cole. Not a lot too this but he got to hit three big moves and have an ok counter or two. The belly to back was nasty. The body press was Karagious-esque but I think it's supposed to be. The crucifix driver looked a lot better in the slow mo, so maybe they need to figure out how to shoot it. Real sense of TBS studio days of a winded post match promo. Ok showcase.

Janela vs Clayton: Eh, this was fun. I had fun with this. Feints, distraction, antics, bs. Janela should lean into things even more. It's not so great that he teases the coast to coast only to do a run across the apron chinlock to screw the fans but then uses a top rope elbow drop as his finisher. Clayton came off like a Power Plant guy to me, and some of the quick cuts from production meant I didn't get a sense of his offense as much as I'd like.

Emi Sakura vs Valentina Rossi: One last match with Lulu. It was great how the crowd immediately started chanting Valentina only for Emi to charge across the ring and scream at them, making them stop. She hasn't done the Romero Special (Freddy Mercury version) in this run yet, and the studio crowd sort of went for it, so that was nice. Rossi's scream and then charge in fit the match but I wouldn't suggest her doing it against other opponents. Emi really should only do the stomp/clap/sing once before her corner splash instead of twice. Just saying. For 2022, I kind of hope we get an Anna Jay vs Emi Sakura mini feud. Queen vs Queenslayer. It writes itself.

Hardy vs Aldridge: Hardy probably gave him a bit too much here, especially after how timid Aldridge was in the pre-match mic bit. Would have been fine to dodge the headbutt off the top instead of the splash that came later. Johl is a guy who needs some spotlight matches to justify his existence there so at least he got to do things. Knox is not the greatest at positioning himself in a way to miss interference. That was an issue with the Janela match too, even though Joey was doing his best to help.

Acclaimed vs Anderson/Johnson: This was ok. Anderson is getting more comfortable in the ring every week even if there are positioning and timing issues that are blatant and show how much we take for granted with more seasoned wrestlers. That bit where he got in and out was pretty bad. Bowens and Johnson had a really nice exchange and the kip up bit with Johnson and Caster later on was cute. I like Bowens' pacing and how they controlled the ring in general. Anderson will get there.

Wardlow vs Crash Test Dummy Perez: I've seen Wardlow refuse to give more powerbombs when the fans have been chanting "one more time" before, because he is a heel, but here, there was just no helping it. Perez needed to be power bombed. It was his destiny. Someday, they're going to have Wardlow turn face on MJF and it'll be pretty glorious and he'll be the most over guy in the company and I really hope they have a plan for what's next for him then.

Comoroto vs Moriarty: Full worldwide point. Really good match. I love how hard Moriarty had to work for that arm. It was like a puzzle box where he might have to try a couple of different moves to get another shot at it. Comoroto was great with the escalating chipped away selling. I like how he tossed Moriarty out for Solo because that plays at your perceptions. He's so big and strong and dominant that he shouldn't have to do that. Comoroto's strength cutoffs on the armwork were all good. The finish worked because it showed Comoroto's power and arrogance and was a banana peel finish that protected the heel but still got over the face.

 

 

[Stiva]

Wardlow almost throwing that jobber out of the ring with the F10 was total highlight package stuff. He needs to do that to someone on Dynamite or Rampage

[Matt D]

Elevation 11/29

Spoiler

Nyla/Emi/Bunny/Diamante vs Julia Hart/Ryo/Skye Blue/Hirsch: Chaos but controlled chaos for the brunt of it. I like how they'd have big multi-person spots but then it'd go back to the heat on Leyla. I liked how everyone was targeting Skye so that when she came in, the (hometown) crowd was all the more behind her. I like the cohesion from both sides since a lot of these wrestlers have been teaming with each other for weeks and weeks now, though it was nice to see a few people not usually in the mix like Skye and Julia. I'm not sure I'd want this level of chaos in a match with more stakes but for a fun webshow match where they kept honing it back in, it was fine. Julia didn't underscore her name on the entrance but she did, foolishly, before the dive that Nyla cut off. Emi setting up her splash in the corner with syncopated chops works way better than just hanging out in the middle of the ring indefinitely while her opponent has to just stand there

TayJay vs Missa Kate/Crowley: Total mauling. Jay's little rolling kick in the corner was funny. The Bull Pain reference was appreciated. Conti jamming her leg weirdly wasn't great but everyone recovered well, including with the biggest kick to the face. Not always smooth but they keep getting the reps in while killing poor victims.

Santana/Ortiz vs Lee/Moore: Structured better than usual for these: two solid exchanges with a bit of teamwork in the middle and a lot at the end. They made it a little competitive which made winning those exchanges matter more. I'm not saying they can't do the pure noise approach sometimes, but it's good to balance it out like this.

Nese vs Capri: Solid, straightforward. Nese's moonsault, which again, is probably too close to Dante's finisher for him to be doing, looked a little shaky. Capri fed well and had some good shots back. Finisher was smooth and they should have captured the through the leg bits on the replay too. That's a much better finish for him than the corner strike he was doing, but I'm not sure he can hit everyone on the roster with it.

HFO (Kassidy/Blade/Hardy) vs Dark Order (Angels/Uno/Stu): Pretty solid one here. Lots of shine (Even for a FIP) for Angels as he got to hit a nice poetry in motion reversal that I'm sure I've seen before but not often where he ran out of the corner and uses Matt as a stepstool before Kassidy could. Then later he basically had Matt beat with the twist of fate. So he looked like he could hang heading into the oncoming train that is Danielson. Stu hit some forearms and hit a dive and looked fine. Kassidy is fun doing the Hardy Boyz spots but he stands out most in just reacting to things. Blade hit people and it looked painful so that tracked. This was ok. I'm fairly high on Angels as someone with a lot of potential. I almost liked him wrestling in the sweatshirt actually. He needs something if he won't be wearing the mask.

Lethal vs Storm: I liked Storm's rushing eye rake out of the corner. Otherwise, he took Lethal's stuff well. Haven't seen Lethal in ten years probably, but it's obvious he knows how to pop the crowd and work from underneath. Wasted motion in general but fairly effective in practice. Probably going to get old quick though. Also, do we really need another cutter in AEW though?

Pillman/Garrison/Silver/Reynolds vs Caster/Bowens/Serpentico/Luther: Good pop for Silver. Good rap by Caster. It's funny people don't sing along with Bowens. I guess the heel heat garnering works. I would have liked to see the teams interact a little more between one another, but that's what I always want. Pillman and Luther, at times, seemed a little sluggish in there. Otherwise, everyone looked good. Bowens' clubbering game gets better every week. Silver destroying everyone popped the crowd and I would have bought (and maybe even suggested) him beating Serpentico with the cross body. I liked that he entered the whirlybird out of his usual German Suplex set up just to switch things up. This was ok but suffered from too many 6-8 person tags on the show.

 

[Matt D]

Dark 11/30/21 (including annoying Adam Cole comments; sorry)

Spoiler

Bear Country vs Wardlow/Spears: This one was going to give me the strength to make it through. I enjoyed the proper test of strength and Wardlow scooping legs out because he's a heel. Bear Country made a pretty good face unit here. There's no reason they couldn't have been Heavy Machinery in another world, basically. Wardlow constantly scooping low to get pick ups worked bigtime. It fell apart too much at the end to the point where you got the sense no one knew who the legal man was, which is just a bridge too far in these matches. Up until then it was good though and the finish was beautiful.

KiLynn King vs Renee Michelle: Michelle certainly made her presence known vocally. She didn't have a lot else going for her as King made short work of her. I'd say that King's finish would work better with a sit out, but I imagine someone else on the huge roster does it that way as it's a peak 2001 indy move. (EDIT: Griff does it later for a two count; not the guy I was expecting).

Santana/Ortiz vs Gore/De La Vega: I begrudgingly like Ortiz and Santana having a bunch of different structures to their squashes. This had a little more ducking out and under and switching around. It's when they just hit one double team after the other that it gets frustrating.

Skye Blue vs La Rosa Negra: Lots of spin kicks from about half the women's roster. Some things seemed maybe a half step off, like that body press, but if things being a little off make them seem more impactful, why not, right? On the other hand, maybe Skye Blue should never try to actually pick up her opponent?

Reed vs Angels: I continue to like Angels. Wearing the mask to the ring and then taking it off is a good compromise. He has snap, hits stuff well, is a sympathetic seller. The finisher is goofy, but this shined him up well to get eaten alive by Danielson. Reed had some fun rope assisted stuff.

Ryo Mizunami vs Dani Jordyn: The burn book is a really good piece of business for an enhancement talent. Lanny Poffo good. And she used it well for the cheapshot, but then Ryo just steamrolled her. She's just really fun to watch. I imagine she's a lot of fun to watch live. There aren't too many AEW wrestlers I regret that I can't see live, but Ryo's up there. Just electric.

Butcher vs Martinez: Excalibur no selling Taz saying he was 6'5" was funny. Butcher dismantling Martinez was not funny. More grisly. Butcher is one of those guys I think should be winning matches in a minute when possible. You know what he's capable of. You only need to see a little of it.

Julia Hart vs Nikita Knight: I'm glad we didn't lose the camera angle on Hart getting planted. It's pro wrestling. We're supposed to see this stuff. She was super stiff after that too, especially the shot in the corner. At some point all the split offense gets a little silly because it's hard to suspend disbelief on why it'd make something more and not less impactful. I'm sure there's some perfect split-enhanced move out there waiting to be discovered but it's not the bulldog.

Ray Jaz vs Infinito: If Fuego 2's more like a Tinieblas Jr then Infinitio felt more Dos Caras-esque. Very generic 1980s luchador. He kept it very simple but everything was smooth. Nothing fancy. Fun though. I was expecting some more tricked out Hechicero stuff for some reason though. So far, I like the Fuego 2 act more, but I do appreciate the commitment and restraint.    

Leyla Hirsch vs Sahara Seven: I want to see Hirsch vs Deeb. Do you guys want to see Hirsch vs Deeb? In some of her matches, she really doesn't get to show off on the mat and she got to do so more here. She's maybe the best trash talker on the roster too. Almost everything was set up by her saying something. She portrays well the ability to back it up too.

Varsity Blonds vs Comoroto/Solo: AEW Dark Purgatory would be a feud between Solo and Reynolds. I like Griff a lot and Comoroto is basically my favorite guy in the company. While I like the idea of the Blonds as a tag team with 1990 offense and the idea of Pillman in general, man do you ever see the strings with him. I don't know when it's going to click, if it will ever click, so that he can let go and just be instead of trying so hard, but I do hope it happens for him. My guess is that he's a more natural heel and that's how it's going to work out for him, at first at least. Hot tag wasn't so hot but I did like the tag later on back to Pillman. Comoroto's spear was amazing. Let's just focus on that.

Nese vs James: A few small things that Nese did here that I liked. He had a good cut off punch early. I liked the slingshot splash instead of the moonsault. It still gets over his skill/slickness without being such a babyface move. He killed time between moves pretty well and I'm all for a chinlock to get a babyface some hope in 2021 since it's not in 1/5th of matches, let alone every match like thirty years ago. I liked his Elevation finisher better than the knee but it's a trickier move to set up and maybe less warranted. The roster's so big that I'm not sure what to even do with a guy like Nese. I could see him as a minion for Danielson though.

Hardy/Johl vs Black/Agballah: Poor Johl. On the AEW podcast, they had Hardy do word association for every member of HFO and he missed Johl completely. I don't know if it was laid out that way on purpose but he ate an early exploder which might have been a kayfabe inexperience thing. Who knows? If so, I appreciate it. The fireman's carry facebuster thing he did was ghastly. Good reactions from Johl to Hardy's antics in the last minute. Agballah's spinning, kneeling lariat looked like it had a great wind up, but the camera cut makes me think the impact wasn't quite there.

Fuego vs Page: Fun TV match. I liked the early transitions on the outside, with Page taking too long to jaw with the crowd and Fuego going for the Tornado DDT too early. Nice cutoffs and hope spots after that, playing into the familiarity as both guys went for their finish and just couldn't get it. It felt a little anti-climactic in the end, which is weird given that it was a reversed top rope move into a big slam that set it up. Maybe I'm just used to one more twist around the finish. That's a 2021 expectation problem, not an overall match layout problem.

Cole vs Greene: Can we talk a minute about the t-shirt? The fans badly want Cole to love them. They want to feel like they're part of whatever he's doing. They sing along with the catch phrase. They feel like he's cool and they want the validation of being cool too. So he teases the t-shirt and then doesn't give it to them, shattering the illusion. Sort of, as they still chant along with him the four more times he does the catch phrase early which comes off as co-dependent and a little sad since he's obviously spurning them. So then Greene knocks him out of the ring, teases the T-shirt and gives it to the fans (he may have overshot the throw but that's not intentional). So in the end, he's giving them what Cole wouldn't give them, but it's not as if he's giving them something of his own, but instead they're getting Cole's shirt, which they earnestly want... but what they really wanted was Cole to give it to them. They didn't start booing him. They didn't stop chanting along with him. If they had turned on him and then got the shirt, it would have been one thing, but they never turned. They never stopped wanting his love. In giving the fans the shirt but not Cole's love, they're provided a tainted object, something that will only poison them for having it and Greene, in providing it to them instead of giving them something more worthwhile, healthy, and validating, did them harm despite his good, babyface intentions. Maybe they think that deep down, the character of Adam Cole really wanted them to have the shirt, but his arrogance and pride and associations in life wouldn't let him give it to them, and that's why he allowed Green to do it, but that would be a harmful lie. Of course, the greater self-aware notion is that they're aware that Austin Jenkins, who plays Adam Cole, is really a very nice guy and he wanted them to have the shirt, but because they're aware of this, the illusion is all messed up and the sort of heat that he's trying to generate for his character is disrupted and the whole thing is a hot mess. But that's just wrestling in 2021 for you. He should probably either be a face or find some way to not mix his messages for the crowd. I sort of tuned out the match after the shirt thing. Sorry.

 

[Matt D]

Elevation 12/6/21:

Spoiler

Riho vs Risk: The set up for the running hip attack was too long for something that's going to work. If I'm frustrated by Emi doing it, I'm going to be triple frustrated with Risk doing it. Good trash talk by Risk though. I liked the fight for the Northern Lights Suplex and this time I was ok with it not finishing it since the knees to the face looked great and popped the announcers.

Dustin/Johnson/Anderson vs Avalon/Cesar/JD Drake: This was good stuff. Full Armstrongs vs State Patrol Worldwide point (though one of the Armstrongs was Brian). The opening with Avalon feeding for Johnson made me want to see a 14 minute Punk vs Avalon Dynamite match. Why the hell not at this point? Once Brock came in, he was a solid face-in-peril just getting beaten around the ring in a nice, logical fashion. Drake always looks good. Made me look to see if Dustin ever faced a post-turn Ray Traylor in WCW. Answer is no, which is sad. The punch fake/DDT by Anderson is cute and you think it's too early in his career for him to be doing that but then you also think he'd be watching his dad's stuff, so maybe not. Finishing stretch was hot with Dustin crushing everyone, Lee doing an amazing almost double clothesline tope, Anderson leaping off the apron so that the camera barely caught it and then almost getting Drake around with the spinebuster and Dustin's super sharp finisher. Fun stuff. Bring on Avalon vs Punk.

Pillman vs Serpentico: I will always be amused by how Julia puts herself over in the entrance with the two time thing even when she's just seconding Pillman. This was fun but needed more antics. The Vader Attack to start with hilarious and yeah, he got slammed by Luther to set up the finish, but it needed more goofiness. Loved his twisting flip sell on a clothesline. Pillman as a wrestler, can be summed up by his three point stance corner charge where he made it in, realized that he was coming in too hot, slowed himself down, and then kind of gingerly hit the corner clothesline. Very unfortunate. Very typical of him.

Factory vs Black, Hoodrich, Vincita, Munoz: Not particularly coherent other than the opening bits with Comoroto and Solo. I've never seen Ogogo before and he no sold a move, showed some attitude, and hit that punch, so I can't tell you anything about him as a wrestler yet. I like the ham and egger that QT gave the diamond cutter too. Quality jobber look there.

Emi/Bunny vs Ryo/Abadon: No way, no how should Abadon come out of the babyface side. She should go through the middle, Cody's gimmick be damned. Not a person, a force of nature. I've never heard Ryo's music before but it was funny to see Abadon come out to it. Ryo's first reaction to seeing Abadon was gold as was her hesitant clapping post match. Bunny starting out fearless and getting scared as nothing she was doing worked was good stuff. I don't think Allie gets enough credit for how she takes offense.
The corner moment with Abadon after the We Will Rock You body press (and Bunny hyping it up from the corner too) is the sort of thing that makes watching all of these random women's tags worth watching week in and week out.

Luchasaurus/Jungle Boy vs Tate Brothers: I don't actually get to see these guys that often. Tate Brothers were just happy to be there but hit some fun tandem stuff and at least bumped huge on the big double clothesline from out of the corner (loved Jungle Boy's reaction to that too). Jungle Boy has a way of doing silly bounding but then recoiling back to hit hard, and so long as that's the case, I don't really mind it. I was informed that Luchasaurus wasn't great at working to his size but he seems better about that lately maybe? Less dumb kicks and more tossing people around and crashing into them? That finisher was amazing, one of the best new ones I've seen in years (but I'd believe you if you told me that the Christopher Street Connection were doing it to Special K in 2002 or something). I went batch and watched the thing three times.

Acclaimed vs Bravo/Dean: Got to feel bad that even on the webshow, they don't show Dean/Bravo's entrance. Not Caster's best rap. Dean had some weird motions in there between the overshooting splash off the top and that nasty bump when Caster took him out during the 10 count punch. I want to see Bowens vs Kingston just to see what Eddie would do with his flurry. Caster kissing the hand during the three count was pretty funny.

 

[Matt D]

Dark 12/7/21
 

Spoiler

 

Moriarty vs Misterioso: This didn't click for me. Moriarty needs the right dance partner and Misterioso wasn't the guy. There's a world where some of the stilted, awkward entrances into moves could have made things seem chippier or more competitive but it wasn't this world unfortunately. It felt more like two guys getting their stuff in maybe? That said, Misterioso had a few little flourishes that I liked, whether it was the face palm to get out of a pin or the kick out of the leg (though we actually saw Risk do that later to Brandi).

Rush vs Rayo: This on the other hand, was a lot tighter and smoother and slicker. Even just the differences in clotheslines from the previous match was huge. Not to mention the speed of everything. Where Misterioso was meandering around the ring, Rayo seemed to want to cut the distance and get right to the attack at every point. Rush has impressed so far. The other day I heard Taz talk about how he didn't love his Aces and Eights run at TNA since he was a full heel announcer and had to cut guys down instead of build them up. That he was doing that to Rush here makes me think he might be winning the battle royal, or at least overcoming Team Taz in there and ending up with MJF as the final two. We'll see. They may want to keep stories clean and separate.

Brandi vs Risk: So I don't watch these to tear anyone down. I want every match to get the full worldwide point and to see fun squashes and enhancement matches and even undercard match-ups. Let me therefore say three nice things about Brandi: First, I do appreciate she comes out of the babyface side and not the center; she'd be warranted to do so if she wanted, but it protects Cody that she doesn't. Second, she wasn't afraid to take all of Risk's offense; they even did the AEW house style takes-two-tries on the hip attack which was giving of her. Third, it was fortitutious timing that after getting out of the belabored submission quickly, the fans reached their crescendo of their clapping when she got a big shot in? Ok, that last one was tough. Let's give her a few matches to shake off the ring rust.

Ryo vs Emi: It's funny. As it was happening, I was thinking that there was a definitive lack of purpose on this, that it was a good match for the sake of a good match just to keep both of them looking good to help shine up other people later. You get the sense that when Sakura works other people on the roster it's to help them get better but not necessarily with Ryo who meets her head on. But then we got the post match to set up Mei's in ring debut. Loved Ryo catching Emi in the corner and then because it's the house style, Emi got to hit the body press to knock her off the apron, which really catalyzed Mei's involvement. Ryo walks around the ring with such swagger and confidence and comfort. She's in the moment at all times. Anyway, this was a nice slugfest and I'm looking forward to the tag. Nitpick is that I would have played Riho's music after the save instead of Ryo's. Also Excalibur keeps calling La Casita wrong.

Ogogo vs Black: Speaking of Excalibur, as impressive as it is that the company, over multiple tapings, can set up a match like this by having Black show some defiance on Elevation in a multi-man, it really doesn't matter if Excalibur isn't going to reference it to pay it off. If anyone's going to know, it's him. When appropriate, reference Dark on Dynamite and reference Elevation on Dark. Get the value out of what you're doing. Honestly, if I was Khan (or even Marshall or whoever) and I was taking the extra effort to book these little flourishes and my announcers weren't even referencing them, I'd be furious. I'm going to lean into this even more. Excalibur does a good job in general but sometimes he misses the forest for the trees and equally the trees for the forest. By not referencing Elevation as a set up to this match and that there was an issue between these two, people had to be left wondering why Black was getting so much offense in and Ogogo looked worse accordingly. For specifics, while Excalibur mentioned Ogogo using more pro wrestling, he should have been aware that Ogogo used the Olympic Slam on Elevation and he and Taz should have made more of a deal out of the fact that Black countered it to set up his final flurry before getting cut off with the QT distraction/eyerake. Ogogo losing the offense by going to a finisher too early, or beacuse it drove Black into desperation in countering it, not only helps Black but it protects Ogogo in some ways too. In short, I'd rather Excalibur and Taz show deep knowledge about the wrestlers and scenarios they're discussing than wide knowledge about the entirety of wrestling. It feels especially important in protecting a guy who's just returning like Ogogo.

Wardlow (w/Spears) vs Victims: I liked that the second guy didn't just go for a headlock too. Very real moment of "oooh" when Wardlow jammed the flying headscissors. Spears talking Wardlow up before getting the pin was funny.

Fuego vs Luke Johnson: Johnson's look is amazing. Balding up top, long hair flowing down. A guy that you'd expect Sting to run through in 1989. Crusher Blackwell reference is appreciated, no matter what I said about announcing during the Ogogo match. This was a good one. Johnson used his size well, clubbering, cutting the distance, hitting one power move with that half nelson slam. When Fuego turned it on he was moving fast and hitting things clean. I really liked how he kicked away the arm to create distance to get out of a waistlock. The house style two attempts at the tornado DDT worked. They should bring Johnson back.

Team Taz vs JT Dunn and friends: No honeymoon period here as Starks tagged himself in on Dante immediately. He portrays competence well in that he can goof around and still mostly control things (until he can't). Dunn looked quite good making him pay for his arrogance and then Dante looked great taking on everyone. Post-match was interesting in alluding to the fact Starks may not be 100% healthy at least. I know it's an angle but Dante really does round out Team Taz. That's not a lie.

Rosa vs Castillo: Nice debut for Castillo here. Obviously she was going to get eaten up by Rosa but she took everything and had oomph behind her shots. Rosa's basically the only person in the company who can do a completely unnecessary roll and still make it work as a way to make her offense look even more impactful.

Silver vs Solo: I thought -1 worked the apron on the outside well.  He cares so it's easy for him to get others to care. Silver's early moving around the ring looked good. Solo gets credit for at least trying to work the crowd and he did have a nice transition in the ropes. I hate Silver's powerbomb counter to an inexplicable 'rana. Finish was ok but sort of anticlimactic.

 

 

[Matt D]

Elevation 12/13

Spoiler

Thunder Rosa vs Gabby Ortiz: Some hard shots by Ortiz. This ended pretty abruptly after that. One dropkick. One Fire Thunder Driver. Normally I'd wonder if Rosa got irked by things but it was probably cut short since she had the promo and Jade stuff after the match. I wouldn't have minded seeing it go longer.

Statlander/Velvet vs Duke/San Antonio: Pretty good chemistry between Statlander/Velvet. It works better if you picture Velvet as an earthling trying to explain our ways to an alien. Good tandem stirring and boops. The best part of this, even better than the pinballing kicks into the Big Bang Theory was Eddie losing it when Statlander accidentally poked Velvet in the face. The worst part was absolutely Velvet somehow forcing Duke and San Antonio to  give one another a Flatliner. They were ok, by the way, sort of a Glamour Girls style of trying to cut off the ring.

Gunn Club vs Zambrano, Tomlinson, Sweets: I liked the minute we saw of Tomilson at the beginning. He had a good plucky babyface vibe. This was the best Colton performance I've seen. He was really feeling it both in the ring and on the apron. The personality gap between him and Austin was far less noticeable than usual. Austin refusing to do anything, Billy refusing to hit the rocker dropper, and then Austin running in and doing it was a nice little bit of shtick.

Emi vs Mimi: Good use of Mei here. She makes for a better Sherri than Lulu, who just has too good a heart or some such. I don't think the announcers ever quite get the memo that Emi's gimmick and the whole Queen thing is attached to the band, but she exists sort of in her own world on these YouTube shows, even as she still somehow teams with every heel on the roster but Britt and her crew. Mimi had a good flurry in the middle but hit Emi in the face once and it didn't go so well for her after that.

Ogogo vs Valo: Valo being so excited to be on YouTube was good stuff. He knew what he was out to do and out to be, and he ran right into a couple of shots from Ogogo and that was that. At least they got over his finish better than the announce team did last week.

Santana/Ortiz vs Verna and Gangone: Eddie was excited to see Nana.  Funniest bit was Tony telling Kingston that Morton and Gibson were doing fine. Match was the usual Santana/Ortiz noise but Gangone really took the cutter well. Beautiful faceplant.

Reynolds vs Nese: Important match for both guys. Good for Nese for the attack from behind to immediately establish heel/face dynamics despite the hometown buzz. Reynolds vs Solo is AEW purgatory but ask me again in six months and it might be this. Eddie did a good job getting over how well these guys know each other and it did play out in the match and I'd say never to the point of annoyance. They did a pretty good job with it. Reynolds is a guy seasoned enough to know to work up with the crowd out of a hold which is always refreshing in AEW. Nese's moonsault ended up way too low and he probably should have course corrected a bit afterwards by selling, especially since Reynolds' moonsault onto the up-knees led to the finish. It could have let it all matter more, but that's a big ask for two guys in front of a huge hometown crowd.

 

[El-P]

So Marina Shafir was on Dark this week, and here's one woman I hope they sign and get serious pushing. She's got something unique.

[Matt D]

 Dark 12/15/21

Spoiler

Stalander vs Shafir: Really good showing by Shafir. This was the sort of match that you give to someone you're seriously looking at signing. She'd have to replicate this a couple of times against a couple of opponents before she got a nod, but she did a lot right here. I read an interview where she basically said she had an NXT stink on her and other companies didn't want to work with her, but they moved in and out of things well; she had a lot of little flourishes without seeming contrived, and she went out of her way to take Statlander's offense, including being modest enough to take the boop (even if she came back strong after) and to tap. The pumphandle driver was pretty nuts. Just a legitimately good enhanced studio match. Give her an Elevation match against Rosa or Deeb.

Comoroto vs Fleming: Satisfying Comoroto squash with the best stuff being the tie goofing at the end. I still think he should be billed at just over 300 pounds. His finish looked bone crushing here.

Riho/Ryo vs Emi/Mei: When Mei really got going in the back half, it was very fun and very character driven and stylized. She got to do some really unique stuff that felt personalized in the way TJPW signature spots are. This maybe, maybe got too chaotic towards the end and Ryo didn't get too much time to shine, and maybe Mei looked too strong against Riho since she's challenging for the belt soon, but those are all nitpicks for something that really was exceptionally fun. Let's see more.

Cargill vs Rossi: I think it would be best for Cargill to lose the pump kick and just hit a big boot or running atomic elbow smash accentuating her height by crushing down with it. The Canadian backbreaker is a good pick up though. I get why they make these so one-sided but it'd be good for her to absorb a few more hits on these just to get more rounded experience.

Angelico vs Khash: Where has Angelico even been? I worry after watching Danielson over the last month or two that he'd actually squander the possibilities a match with Angelico, even though we all want to see it.  This Khash match was a pretty enjoyable TV consolation prize though, as they both had Khash hang in there and also contrived (or lived through) a leg injury for Angelico. Both of them did an admirable job making the chain wrestling and matwork competitive and intricate. The finish was sudden but in a good way as it really got over Negro Navarro's reverse figure four.

Tay vs Monroe: I almost felt bad for this one to have to follow the other two competitive women's matches (and Angelico vs Khash too, sure). I liked Monroe's trash talking but there's not too much else to say here. I really don't think that so many wrestlers should be doing the double run into the corner (Statlander did earlier in the show and 10 does, among others), but you've heard that from me before.

Johnson/Anderson vs Faboo Andre/Donati: Dontai didn't look so hot in there. I think Anderson is definitely advancing. He seems much more confident than a month or two ago. The finish with Johnson breaking up a double suplex to set up the goardbuster was fun and Tony loved mentioning it in the post match interview. That interview was a miss for me. I don't think either side came off well. Got to get the reps in though.

Taylor vs Nemeth: Kind of weird match, probably just to set up something else with the post-match. Nemeth controlled almost all of it and it was fine. He did a good job grinding down on the arm but then it sort of went nowhere until Taylor's one comeback move and the shenanigans for the finish. If they're going to run these little Dark angles, they should probably be a little more overt with them. At the end of last week's show, they should have promoted the Mei/Emi tag, for instance, like they're doing with the Janela/Kiss match in two weeks.

Spears vs Woods: This was my first look at Woods. Some very creative things here, including the switching off "Yay/boo" armbars to start, but also Spears' suplex into a tree of woe on the apron and the way he held the arm in the ropes to get the knees in. Woods looked good and confident in there. I liked the persistence with the ankle lock and Spears' selling post match. Fun if sort of slight compared to the Shafir/Mei/Khash showcases.

Rose vs Zhang: Not a Zhang showcase. A little dodging, until she got caught. I liked the short whip into the corner into the German. Pretty straightforward squash here.

Singh vs Vincita: Vincita was emotive at least? I don't know. This was fine. Singh hit some stuff cleanly. Vincita could be an entertaining enhancement guy if he keeps leaning into it.

2.0/Garcia vs Reynolds/Uno/Colt: Maybe my favorite Reynolds performance on the webshows so far. I loved his Reinera Facebuster and he played FIP well, always driving and trying to get back to the corner, and then he had the superplex while standing on an opponents' back spot in the finishing stretch. 2.0 cuts off the ring as well as anyone in the company (even FTR) and Garcia mixes this unique explosiveness with a willingness to stooge like an exposed middle school bully. The Dark Order shtick worked well here and in the end, 2.0 got heated up a bit so they can face Kingston or Jericho or Santana/Ortiz or whatever.

 

[Stiva]

We've had Prince Nana, now AEW just need to get MLW to lease out Julius Smokes to really cash in on the wave of ROH bittersweet nostalgia.

[Matt D]

AEW Dark Elevation 12/20/21

Spoiler

 

Emi/Nyla/Bunny vs Three Unfortunate Young Women: I was wondering what the point of these three vs enhancement talent was and now I see that it was to have Ruby in the booth talking up their TBS title match. As such, the announcers weren't too focused on the match itself, though at big points of impact (like Bunny tossing one into the other with a goofy but fun body press, or her move in the corner that was pretty nasty, or Emi's senton) they tuned back in. I thought the sort of metallic looking gear on one of them stood out but I couldn't tell you which so maybe it didn't matter. The heels have good chemistry at this point. I kind of love them clapping along with Emi. It'd be better if no one else in there was. Weird popping up after the first power bomb from one of the enhancement talent but she got beast bombed after as they set up the Ruby match. Maybe she was just too eager to set that up. Weird but fun mauling overall.

Red Velvet vs Madi Wrenkowski: Pretty good one here. I thought mostly everything hit well. Velvet really takes things with an extra oomph and she was flying around the ring when it was time for her comeback. Final Slice didn't look as good as usual. That's the thing with the snap way she puts it on. If it hits quick it looks way better than the play of the day ever does normally. If not, though? Extra shout for the high quality non-performance center elbow drop by Wrenkowski and Eddie on commentary saying that he used to use elbow drops but now he just bites people.

Bear Country vs Chaos Project: I've been looking forward to this one for a few days and it didn't disappoint. I continue to get a kick out of Serpentico. He's just completely in the moment at all times and ends up bumping for everyone. Luther worked big to start this off and he should probably try that at little more. Obviously Serpentico was bumping around for everyone (including his own partner) and there were some pretty fun spots in there. I guess they were heating the Bears up for Hook on Xmas but they didn't mention it. I'm looking forward to that one too though.

Andrade vs Kaun: My first look at Kaun. Boy is Andrade's entrance long, but I like that it gives Jose a reason to exist. Eddie complaining about them mentioning football accolades is one of my favorite thing. I hope he gets to announce with JR some day and just craps all over football. Kaun didn't have a lot of chance to show much here. I'd be up for seeing more based on what people are saying though. The little bit of fire early with the slap was good and it popped everyone in the booth but it lit a fire under Andrade to the point where, post match, he was still rubbing his face. Andrade did my two favorite things of his here, those elbows in the corner and that killer double stretch arm submission. I liked the struggle for Kaun's lungblower thing, but this was all pretty inevitable. I do think Andrade's pretty good at these enhancement matches though. Happy to give him credit.

Rosa vs Rodriguez: Little bit similar structure to the last one where Rodriguez got in a chop and then Rosa took her out. To be fair, Rodriguez got a little more but not much. I like how Rosa will take something and come right back. She knows how to portray herself as a star and a force. The set up to the 619 position worked out well here. That's always something I look for. Solid and got the job done.

Dark Order (10, Uno, Stu) vs HFO (Matt, Kassidy, Blade): In general, I like how Kassidy carries himself. He gets it. You can just tell he's a fan and he loves to be there. I really hope they keep developing him. Uno is smart enough not to do the "Catch foot, hand to ref" spot every match but to switch it up by doing other things with the foot like he did here. The early Twist of Fate on the floor after Matt broke up the double team was a nice little structural beat which masked the fact they actually didn't have a ton of time here and made everything feel weightier. Fans got behind Uno in the stretch and I think everyone bought the Side Effect near fall, and when's the last time that won a match. Fun trios where everyone looked pretty good.

 

 

[Matt D]

AEW Dark 12/21/21
 

Spoiler

 

Gunn Club vs Anderson/Johnson: There were some structural bits early on here that I didn't love like Colton taking out both guys so cleanly during the shine, but overall, this was good reps for everyone. I like how Brock picks up a little more each match. Here it was the arm Garvin stomps and also how he's making the corner shoulders more of a thing (full credit to Excalibur). Johnson works well with these guys.

Abadon vs Renegade: Renegade took it to her, which is good as people really need to either fight or flight with Abadon. No middle ground. Sort of a duel edged sword with her though. Abadon should have really short matches but she needs enough time to keep improving. So this was probably the right match for her but maybe not a match she needed.

Eddie Kingston vs Colin Delaney: You got the sense Kingston respected what Delaney could do. That bled through. I could have used a few more minutes on this but again, hierarchy says probably not and Kingston understands hierarchy. There are too many cutters in AEW but there's probably room for Delaney's springboard stunner. It's always fun when Kingston just starts to unload with the suplexes and I liked the little wrinkle on the finish.

Ford vs Nightingale: I keep wanting to see Willow in a position where she can do just a little more. This wasn't it, but Ford's stuff looked good, and people are going to remember that pounce. Ford just churning the Muta Lock looked absolutely agonizing.

Brandi vs (other) Renegade: Three nice things I will say about this match and one not so nice:
1. Brandi is not afraid to take offense. She almost is too exuberant and willing, going over really big on suplexes. You have to give her a ton of credit for that. I think she works well from underneath in general.
2. The Renegade sisters jawing with kids at ringside is really really good stuff and Arn was unnecessary but also kind of funny.
3. The stretch mark is a very fearless name for a finisher for someone coming off a pregnancy and it shows a great sense of humor.
- That said, Brandi's the only one in the company who can make the heavens part and summon the dreaded Dunn cuts to such degree.

Jora Johl vs Coleman: Johl hit his stuff clean. You get the sense he's very eager to be there. That's all I got.

Kassidy vs Bravo: I think Kassidy keeps getting better. He's well served not being in spotfest tag matches with guys like the Lucha Bros or Top Flight or whoever every week. He shows a ton of character in everything he does. He really gets it. Johl eating both dives was funny. He took that first one right on his head. The tornillo was nuts. Kassidy can do the flying stuff but he's most interesting when he's able to let it breathe and do the imaginary phone call afterwards. Bravo based well. A babyface base. I guess that's a thing?

Hogan vs Royal: Not much to say here but I love the opera gimmick. Can't get enough of it. Royal should be on one of the webvlog things just hanging out around corners and doing the opera gimmick. Hogan giving it back to her at one point was a hoot (a pun!). They need to keep giving Royal things to do. Add her to Chaos Project. Just imagine the act that would be.

Bear Country vs Clayton/Orlando: This was fun as Taz was in full scouting mode. Bronson's endless clotheslines in the ropes worked for me. Someone should ask Tony Khan about Bear Country and his five year plan for them in an interview. They need to be used like the Faces of Fear. I liked that Boulder didn't do the Samoan Drop/Catch-A-Cross-Body move here but a variation instead. Big guys aren't always going to try to cross body you after all. Keep switching it up when you need the other team to do something specific in cooperation. Send Hook.

They sent the Acclaimed instead. Nice to see Bowens get a shot on the mic.

Vance vs Patterson: No idea what the Go Big Show is but I'd watch Paul Wight vs Patterson. 10 trying to hit stuff on him, like the clothesline over the top, which then became the middle, which then became just shoving him out of the ring, was a little surreal. Vance stayed focused here and gets credit for that. I'm glad they booked this. My favorite bit was -1 bumping on the floor over Vance's gear falling off.

Red Velvet vs Negra: Scrappy stuff. Nice, hard hitting, sprint where Negra went until she couldn't go anymore and it was all over after that. Negra should keep yelling at refs. I like Velvet. The Avalanche Cazadora Bomb was kind of nuts. Final Slice looked better than the last one.

Dean vs Chase: Has anyone really used Rock's floatover DDT in the last 20 years? It's good Dean's doing that. Chase has the best promo picture for an enhancement guy in AEW. It really stands out.  I'm not sure that carries over to his ringwork where he looked solid but didn't have any of that flair.

Sydal vs Serpentico: This was probably too much a Sydal match and not enough of a Serpentico one, at least for the first half. They hit stuff well and Sydal's got a lot of smiling charisma in there as he does his thing, but it didn't make full use of the sheer, strange power of Serpentico doing goofy things. Sydal hit the Miz corner clothesline one match after Dean did, which bothers me and no one else in the world. I liked Luther eating the Serpentico tope since he should be hurt by Serpentico sometimes too. Moment of the night was them referencing Royal in regards to Luther's noises since I feel like I somehow brought that connection into reality when I wrote up the Royal match before seeing this one. Sydal hit a bunch of spots instead of doing hilarious things with Serpentico but that was his life choice.

 

 

[Flyin' Brian]

Looking at the match listing for Dark Elevation tonight, Lance Archer vs Cheeseburger amuses me. Dalton Castle and the Boys deserve better than Dark Elevation, as does Dante Martin teaming with Tony Deppen vs the Lucha Bros. We get a Brian Cage sighting too. The main sounds fun. Danhausen Rocky Romero and the Best Friends vs The Factory. 

[Matt D]

I got a treat for you guys. Not only will I post my comments on last night's Dark (not a treat), but I will also post our friend DEAN's as well, just to counterbalance some of the mood as of late.

DEAN:

Spoiler

Spoiler

  

17 hours ago, DEAN said:

Sorry I'm late!  A lot of little things added up to me being SQUEAKY CLEAN and 45 minutes late!  Hey!  It's Marina Shafir!  Sio Nieves is new to me.  She is wee.  Marina does JOINT MANIPULATION!  Marina does a slight variation on her usual finisher!  Hey!  It's AR Fox!  It's Ari Diavari!  This should be good.  Parker Boudreax CHEATS!  Nice Spinning Brainbuster by Fox!  Fox does neat things to set up a STUNNER!  And a CUTTER!  This match is good.  MORE CUTTERS! FOR TWO!  Diavari LOWBLOWS FOX!  FOR THE WIN!  Hell, get AR Fox to join the Trustbusters.  Josh Woods!  He's a freak.  Tony Nese is really good.  It's Invictus Khash and Rohit Raju!  Khash and Raju would be a good addition to the IMPACT! tag situation.  They don't last long on DARK.  FREYA THE SLAYAH!  ALASKA'S FINEST!  It's Abadon again!  Abadon whips out a Rana!  FRANKENSTEINER BY ABADON!  Abadon bumps BIG onto the steel steps!  This is an actual match.  BLACK DAHLIA!  Abadon is so athletic suddenly.  That was good.  Are the Renegade Twins signed to a special DARK contract?  They are always on the STICK! on DARK.  Holy shit!  Blake Christian versus Slim J!  This should be good.  This match is an indie main event.  Slim J is making Blake look like a million bucks.  SONNY KISS CHEATS!  AND CHEATS AGAIN!  Slim J throws GREAT punches.  Slim J takes the springboard Lariat like a CHAMP!  Slim J's finishing sequence is awesome!  That was really good.  It's Eli Isom!  Cezar Bononi!  He hits a big Beel!  Then he does a very elaborate set up against Not Isom to set up Nemeth's comical finisher.  Parker Boudreaux CRUSHES Terry Kidd, who I'm not familiar with.  Skye Blue takes on Robyn Renegade!  Renegade attacks from behind!  Charlett distracts Blue allowing Robyn to dropkick her off the apron!  Robyn lays in the chops!  Skye Blue lays in the chops!  Robyn takes the Flying Headscissors like Buster Keaton in 1925 and I now LOVE this match.  Skye Blue with the Flatliner!  That was good.  It's Not Bear Country!  Gordlow weeps quietly to himself.  JT Davidson channels Vickie Guerrero.  Bronson is so wee now.  Morales is teeny.  Boulder out Keith Lees Keith Lee by hitting an INSANE Beel.  This is an ACTUAL squash of Morales.  Dante Martin and Matt Sydel take on the Workhorsemen!  This should be good.   They set up this match with the singles match last week.  Martin starts off SPECTACULAR early.  Anthiny Henry with the El Hijo del Santo Neck Crank!  JD Drake applies a Spinning Toe Hold!  For a second!  Drake lays in the chops!  Matt Sydel gets the crowd behind his STRUGGLE to escape the 1980s offense of the Workhorsemen!  Workhorsemen make this a TRUE Southern tag match by dragging Martin off the apron right before Sydel can make the hot tag!   GREAT PILEDRIVER ON THE FLOOR that Martin does a total RVD sell of.  Henry is a HEAT MACHINE! by taunting Sydel while Martin is still CRUSHED by the Piledriver.  Anthony Henry is Piledriver CRAZY!  Dante MAKES IT TO THE APRON and MAKES THE HOT TAG!  Nice Lariat by Martin.  Nice Powerbomb by Henry.  Drake hits a very beautiful Moonsault to NOWHERE!  NOSEDIVE!  That was great!  AEW RULES THE MOTHERFUCKING WORLD.

 

 

 

Me:

Spoiler

This was quite the overachieving episode of Dark really. It was the tail end of the taping and Trustbusters heavy, but when the action is good, the action is good, right?

• Shafir is weirdly at both her best and her worst when her matches feel really uncooperative. I know that's a paradox but let me put it this way: the individual spots, like a fight over a takedown might be pretty compelling but the overall effect doesn't always make for a complete-feeling match.
• Davari vs Fox was something else, way over the top. Ari gave a ton and looked like a complete doofus in victory and being hyped up by his crew. It was probably the third most giving performance in AEW this year after Nese vs Cassidy and MJF vs Wardlow made even funnier by the fact he won. By the third stunner and/or cutter, I was cracking up.
• They probably needed to give the Woods/Nese match a little more time to breathe and tease just a little more Khash/Raju dissension to get over the story. The flip side is that even doing so probably wouldn't have engaged people more with it, so maybe no point, right?
• Abadon vs States was kind of wild. I'm ready for super tecnico monster Abadon, but is the world? States based for her well.
• Christian vs Slim J was weird for me as it was all Slim J, who has super tricked out offense taking all of Christian's kind of tricked out offense and making him look beastly. The studio audience really does like Christian. Taz was very much bemused that Slim J had a submission finisher.
• Wingmen vs Isom/Farrow was a good Bononi showcase. Which is a little problematic for a reason I'll get to in a minute. Basically we had three out of four matches with big beales/beels/biels in a row and nothing could live up to the Bononi/Isom one which came first. Nemeth really needs to rethink his act. I get that there's a place for a guy like him on paper, but next to Avalon, Drake, Bononi he just doesn't add a lot with the current bad-on-purpose act. If you're going to be bad-on-purpose you have to be REALLY bad. Avalon gets it! Cutler gets it! Nemeth is only mediocre-on-purpose which is not a good thing!
• Bordeaux needed to through the guy farther. When we talk about how many good matches are on Dark, as DEAN did above, you can't discount stuff like Parker just destroying JVSK's platter for absolutely no reason and Taz going nuts over it. That's as much of the charm as the matches being good.
• Skye Blue vs Robyn Renegade was not as good as Skye Blue vs Trish Adora. Needed one more rotation towards the end maybe? Some things seemed a half second late. That's generally ok if the end result is Skye kneeing someone in the face but it still felt a little off.
• They should let Acclaimed overcome the Iron Savages soon. I don't think they've changed quite enough stuff with the new name, but at the same time, nothing was broken, except for the fact that they came off almost too likable, maybe?
• Main event was really good. Permanent tape good. A little bit of high flying shine and then heat, heat, and more heat on Sydal. I loved Dante blocking Drake's press up into the ropes whack right at the start (as he'd felt it before). Henry being a jerk and pretending like he was going to get a hot tag from Sydal after they took Dante out with the pile driver on the floor was really good. Finishing stretch was hot and clever. Everyone should watch this one.

One of the best studio Darks in a while. And not just for Tax and Excalibur talking about jets and stuff.