‘AEW: Dark’ Review (May 18th 2021)
Welcome to this weeks episode of AEW: Dark which, like is companion show AEW Dark: Elevation, has been on a run of good episodes recently. Let’s see is Dark drops the ball like this weeks Elevation… Straight away it loses points for yet another 2-hour show!
Match #1: Powerhouse Hobbs def. Dean Alexander
My Thoughts: The match was over faster than it took me to write this sentence. Seriously. What’s the point in having these types of matches? Quick squash matches do nothing except possibly make the winner look like a beast and/or piss the audience off with the waste of time in a 2 hour show!
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #2: Dante Martin def. Falco
My Thoughts: Another superb match from Dante Martin, at this rate he’ll be on the path to a singles championship before his brother gets back from injury! That 450 splash is one hell of a finisher, here’s hoping AEW keeps it clean and doesn’t let anyone spoil the strength of the move by kicking out of the pin that follows.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #3: Dark Order’s “10” def. Ryzin
My Thoughts: 10’s winning streak continues on Dark as he pretty much squashed Ryzin, throwing him around the ring for 3 of this matches 4 minutes, before putting the Full Nelson on Ryzin for the win.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #4: Chuck Taylor def. Aaron Rourke
My Thoughts: Aaron Rourke makes his AEW debut against one half of the Best Friends (or one quarter of the group they have with Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander). Rourke got a bit of offence in before Taylor decimated him with the Awful Waffle.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #5: Lee Johnson def. Fuego Del Sol
My Thoughts: Oh hell yes! Johnson and Fuego put on a show-stealing match! The pair traded moves and kept the match fast-paced and the booking let them go for a decent amount of time – you’ve got to think Fuego’s work is gonna move him into a winning position soon… It looked like we might get an upset here but it was not to be and Johnson hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for the win.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #6: Evil Uno & Colt Cabana def. Tamilian Vineesh & Duncan Mitchell
My Thoughts: Pretty much a squash match for Uno and Cabana, who decimated Vineesh and Mitchell in swift order and seemingly had fun doing it. Uno and Cabana actually work really well together but I’m hoping Stu Grayson makes a comeback soon!
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #7: Cezar Bononi def. Marko Stunt
My Thoughts: Do I have to tell you this was a squash match? That’s pretty much a guarantee with the size difference between the two. Though to be fair to Marko Stunt, he did pull off a great DDT before getting pinned swiftly after by Bononi.
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #8: Nick Comoroto def. Adrian Alanis
My Thoughts: Adrian Alanis follows up his singles debut on Elevation on Monday, where he got squashed by Jungle Boy, to getting squashed AGAIN by the beast that is Nick Comoroto. Though Alanis was allowed about 30 seconds of offence here, which came to nought!
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #9: Serpentico def. Sonny Kiss
My Thoughts: Yeah, you read that right. Serpentico got an actual singles win! Otherwise this was a decently matched affair with Serpentico and Kiss keeping things moving, making for a fast-paced exciting match.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #10: Big Swole & Red Velvet def. Vertvixen & Jazmin Allure
My Thoughts: Two thirds of the Trios team of KiLynn King, Big Swole and Red Velvet were in action here and, as usual, they dominated their match. Though credit to Vertvixen & Jazmin Allure, who didn’t look like total walkovers here.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #11: Griff Garrison def. Deonn Russman
My Thoughts: Griff Garrison gets a rare singles match outing, though supported by his Varsity Blonds tag team mate AND their new addition, Julia Hart, in his corner. Garrison looked stronger and stronger the more this match went on.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #12: Matt Sydal def. Marty Casaus
My Thoughts: Woah woah… A Sydal brothers match NOT closing Dark? What happened?! Anyway, this was a solid if average match with Casaus’ facial expression beng the highlight (unfortunately).
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #13: Kris Statlander def. Diamante
My Thoughts: These two gave Fuego and Johnson’s match a run for its money, with somehard-hitting, fast-pacedaction. It really did look like Diamante wanted to kill Statlander in thi match but she didn’t Statlander held on, hitting the Big Bang Theory for the win.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #14: Nyla Rose def. Reka Tehaka
My Thoughts: Nyla Rose just played with Reka Tehaka for the [brief] diration of this match, with Tehaka not given a moment to breath, let alone mount an offence.
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #15: Angelico def. Vary Morales
My Thoughts: I was expecting a squash from this one but instead Angelico let Vary Morales show of his skill set a little more in this match… which is good because Morales is actually a decent wrestler when he’s not being squashed or sidelined in tag matches.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #16: Brian Pillman Jr. def. Luther
My Thoughts: In a follow-up to Garrison’s singles match earlier, Pillman Jr. took on the other half of Chaos Project, Luther, in a mtach that looked like it put Pillman Jr. to the test, which reflected Garrison’s struggle early in his match; and like that match Pillman ended his match strong too.
My Score: 2 out of 5
News of the Night:
- The injured Ricky Starks was on commentary for this episode of Dark and I loved Starks brand of dry humour; he rounded out the commentary team really well this week. A team, may I add, who were on fire the entire episode!
- The Acclaimed debuted an entire music video for their Moxley & Kingston diss track “All Talk”
Final Verdict: 2/5
A mix of typical Dark matches with a few standouts that made this episode worth watching. But please AEW, can we start to NOT book these short squashes anymore? Hell, I’ll take the WWE’s ridiculous multi-man matches over them at this point!
