‘AEW: Dark’ Review (Jan 11th 2022)
Welcome to this weeks review of AEW: Dark, which was filmed at the same time as Battle of the Belts which means AEW produced a longer show to satisfy the paying audience and so… we’ve got FOURTEEN matches to get through in a almost two hour “SUPER” show. We’ll see how super it is… On with the review!
Match #1: Shawn Dean def. Liam Cross
My Thoughts: And the Captain picks up another glorious win! About bloody time is all I’ll say; I’m hoping Dean’s vignettes on the vlog means he’s about to get over some more. He deserves it is all I’ll say! Dean put in the work and got the win. YES.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #2: Anthony Ogogo def. Baron Black
My Thoughts: Poor Baron Black. Another wrestler who’s put in the work for AEW and gets no respect. He’s certainly better than “golden boy” Ogogo. Ogogo may have decent coaches and have picked up some moves well in training but he’s still a poor representative of the UK. Black should’ve kicked his arse!
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #3: Red Velvet def. Shalonce Royal
My Thoughts: Good god. Can someone tell Shalonce that opera singing is not a good gimmick? It’s almost as bad as the screaming from Private Party. Glad to see this one end quickly, with Red Velvet getting a definitive win.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #4: Gunn Club def. Marcus Kross, T.I.M. & Patrick Scott
My Thoughts: Austin Gunn grabbed the mic before the match and warns the crowd if they chant ass boy’s they’re going to leave. And the crowd did chant and the Gunn kids did leave. Thank christ. Can we see more of that. Billy Gunn can do the Gunn Club squash matches all by himself IMHO.
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #5: Tay Conti & Anna Jay def. The Renegades
My Thoughts: We’re not going to get bangers from Tay Jay every week and this was more of the pre-Bunny/Ford match style, though whether that’s down to the Renegade sisters of Tay Jay I can’t say. This was OK but just OK. Still want to see more of the Charlotte and Robyn Renegade though.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #6: Orange Cassidy def. JD Drake
My Thoughts: Well goddamn if this wasn’t a fantastic match! JD Drake got his own entrance music AND two lackeys… A sign of a 2022 push for the tremendous wrestler and a personal favourite? I hope so. This was your typical David vs Goliath style match with Drake using his size to Cassidy’s speed. And the pair worked great together; I didn’t even mide the outside interference in this one either!
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #7: Dante Martin def. Aaron Solo
My Thoughts: This was another great pairing. Solo was a great foil for Dante Martin’s high flying athleticism… Hold on, didn’t I say that about Martin’s last opponent? I think I did. So it’s MARTIN who’s the great foil, matching uop to anyone he’s faces and looking amazing doing it!
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #8: Eddie Kingston def. Joey Janela
My Thoughts: This is one of those marquee matches in wrestling. Two guys that have been around years but NEVER wrestled each other before! Kingston looked in rough shape as he came to the ring – taped up and limping and that small detail made left outcome of this match in question; as did the outside interference from Janela’s lackey Kayla Rossi. In the end Kingston landed a hard-hitting Northen Lights suplex for the win.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #9: Thunder Rosa def. Kacey Fox
My Thoughts: I could copy and paste anything I’ve written about Thunder Rosa’s Dark matches here. This was another of Rosa’s showcases for her opponent – Fox got a few good moves in and even a pin before Rosa took over in dominant fashion. Rosa may do these types of matches often on Dark but they’re always satisfying.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #10: Powerhouse Hobbs def. Alexander Moss
My Thoughts: It will take you longer to read this sentence that this match actually lasted, as Powerhouse Hobbs smashed his opponent in the corner and didn’t even take off his overalls, getting the win in TWENTY seconds!
My Score: 0 out of 5
Match #11: Daniel Garcia def. Fuego Del Sol
My Thoughts: This was another surprising/interesting match on Dark. I for one did not expect Fuego to get in as much offense on Garcia as he did. In fact this was a brilliantly balanced match with both buys looking good at the end – Garcia looked strong as usual but Fuego didn’t look as weak as he has in some of his other matches. Maybe it’s time for a Fuego winning streak? Would be a great start to 2022!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #12: Jade Cargill def. Skye Blue
My Thoughts: This was an interesting match, one I certainly didn’t expect to see given how both women are relatively “new” to wrestling. But it worked. There was one flaky spot both otherwise this was solid, with Skye Blue ramping up her aggression against the bigger Cargill. The stipulation wa a good twist too – I wonder if it will apply to ALL Cargill’s opponents? If she keeps winning she’ll end up with no competition!
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #13: Jurassic Express def. The Factory’s QT Marshall and Nick Comoroto
My Thoughts: A really solid tag match that saw Comoroto teamed with QT for a change and it worked great with the two big men looking fantastic as backup for the spritely Jungle Boy and veteran QT. This one was pretty even for the most part, with the Factory looking like getting a possible upset win at one point. But hey, we knew Jurassic Express weren’t gonna lose this one so close to picking up the titles… Still a lot of fun!
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #14: “Hangman” Adam Page, Alan “5” Angels and 10 def. Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy and Serpentico
My Thoughts: Oh what a surprise… Another YouTube main event featuring Dark Order and the HFO (and Serpentico this time for some reason). At least we got to see Adam Page wrestling in this one for a nice change of pace. It also meant you knew Dark Order were winning this one too, which took some of the steam out of the match – as did just how long this one went!
