06th Apr2022

‘AEW: Dark’ Review (April 5th 2022)

by Phil Wheat

It’s time for this week’s review of AEW: Dark, which emanates from AEW Universal once again and features a mere 6 matches this week… Is that the least we’ve had on an episode of Dark? We’ve got Taz and Excalibur on commentary so let’s get right to it.

Match #1: Ryan Nemeth def. Chandler Hopkins

My Thoughts: You know what, I’m going to say it now. Nemeth needs a new gimmick, he really does. Everything is not just so off-putting with the “Hollywood Hunk” gimmick that I really hoped he lost to Chandler Hopkins and at one point he nearly did. Which I would’ve been happy to see! Hopkins made this match IMHO

My Score: 2 out of 5

Match #2: Sonny Kiss def. JP Harlow

My Thoughts: Too short to be anything effective for either wrestler. I’m worried Sonny Kiss is starting to flounder in the AEW roster, the Janela feud raised Kiss’s profile but it’s not stayed that way unfortunately. Hopefully Kiss is also used on ROH going forward.

My Score: 1.5 out of 5

Match #3: Abadon def. Hyena Hera

My Thoughts: Another squash-tastic match for Abadon. As I’ve said before, squash matches work for Abadon, as they initially did for Lance Archer, but eventually she’s going to need some serious competition. And I’ve no idea who that could be in AEW right now, especially if Abadon wants to keep the monstrous mystique.

My Score: 1.5 out of 5

Match #4: Cezar Bononi & Tiger Ruas def. Luke Sampson & Guillermo Rosas

My Thoughts: This was a decent tag team match and it’s nice to see that, like JD Drake, Cesat Bononi can operate BETTER outside of the Wingmen clique. Speaking of which, is that dead now? Their feud with Best Friends petered out and we’ve had singles matches for most of the crew whilst Peter Avalon messes around on BTE in those “hat” skits. If it is over then good. Drake and Bononi might be given a fairer shake as tag [and singles] competitors now.

My Score: 2.5 out of 5

Match #5: Lance Archer def. Dean Alexander

My Thoughts: This was ALMOST an AEW quasi-squash match but I don’t think poor Dean Alexander got enough offence in to qualify. Made a nice change for someone to attack Archer BEFORE the bell rang rather than the other way round though!

My Score: 1.5 out of 5

Match #6: Alan “V” Angels & Pres”10″ Vance def. Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto

My Thoughts: A good main event but that’s pretty much guaranteed with Dark Order and The Factory, both of whom seem to be holding down both Dark and Elevation on a weekly basis right now. We got some daft, but still funny, humour from QT Marshall and -1 which was, unfortunately for the rest of the card, probably the most memorable thing on the show!

My Score: 3 out of 5

Final Verdict: 2/5

This was a passable time-filler of an episode this week. Disappointing to know as well that a lot of these matches were filmed back in January(!) apparently. If that’s true you have to wonder if Dark can ever exist outside of its own AEW bubble beyond stats padding. SOme more synergy with Dynamite or hell, even with Elevation, would elevate the show tremendously. With the rebirth of Ring of Honor in the works by Tony Khan can either of AEW’s YouTube shows continue to exist?

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