It’s your host Justen with your first installment of AEW Dark Dork Review!
Let’s send it over to Elevation first, for our Monday night action!
Emi Sakura (w/ Lulu Pencil) vs. Queen Amanita: We start off with some royal on royal violence! Emi Sakura took on Queen Amanita, and came out on top.
Frankie Kazarian vs. Ren Jones: Tony Schiavone wished Frankie the best in his match against Adam Cole, and Frankie got the win via submission.
Penelope Ford (w/ The Bunny) vs Layna Lennox: Penelope got a win with her absolutely wild back-bending submission muta lock. Eddie also took some time to take some snipes at referee Bryce Remsburg for missing some cheap shots.
The Butcher and the Blade, reunited, against Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum: Two delightfully violent dudes are back in action after the Butcher was busy recording an album for the last few months, and even taking some time to rescue a squirrel from drowning. Special note to Turbo Floyd and Truth Magneum, who had some great matching pants and had amazing names. You may have gotten your asses kicked, but you looked great doing it.
Jade Cargill (w/ Smart Mark Sterling) vs Shawna Reed: The absolute epitome of a squash match. Jade wins.
Anna Jay and Tay Conti vs. Ella Shay and Jaylee: We get the return of the ladies of the Dark Order! Ana and Tay got a win, and it’s nice to see such a fun tag team back.
Match of the Night – Daniel Garcia (w/ 2point0) vs Lee Moriarty: I had a sense of deja vu watching this, and then I realized that I had watched Lee Moriarty and Daniel Garcia fight before in indie matches. These two technical wrestlers are great against each other. Red Death picked up the win, but I don’t think this will be the last time we see them fight each other: After the Elevation taping, Tony Khan offered Lee Moriarty a contract, so we’ll be seeing more of Taigastyle in AEW! I’m excited.
Skye Blue vs. Nyla Rose: We get the return of Vickie Guerrero interrupting Justin Robert’s introductions, and while Skye got some good hits in, Nyla Rose came out on top.
Tangent of the Show: For Elevation this week, the theme of the night was bullying Bryce. Eddie called out Bryce for missing Miro’s Nuts Redemption during their match at All Out, and Eddie had a little salt throughout the show about it.
Our first Dark episode had some serious deviations from the previous formula. First, Dark has moved to tapings in an Orlando studio, and with Excalibur out for his wedding, Tony Schiavone is joined with Taz this week.
Our opening for Dark is an interview segment between Leyla Hirsch and Jade Cargill with Alex Marvez ahead of their Wednesday match. Leyla called out Jade, and said that she was going to bring home the win in front of her home crowd in New Jersey, but Jade brushed it off and Smart Mark Sterling called Leyla delusional.
The Butcher and the Blade vs. Rosario Grillo and Hunter Knott: The violent Victorian villains took care of business in a quick fashion. There were a few hints dropped that the Butcher and the Blade are going to make a title run, and I’m fanning myself at the thought of them going against the Lucha Bros.
Anna Jay vs Ashley D’Amboise: It’s nice that in the turmoil of the Dark Order, with the boys fighting over Hangman, Anna Jay’s a stable force. She gets the win easily. However, after she got the win, she was ambushed by the Bunny, with Tay Conti running out to chase the Bunny off.
2point0 vs Erik and Andrew Lockheart: An easy win for the Canadian tag team.
Jade Cargill vs Angelica Risk: A quick win for Jade Cargill to get a little tune up. After the match, Smart Mark cut a promo comparing Leyla to a bug who was going to be squashed by Jade, and made fun of Leyla’s height. Taz, a short king, took objection to this. Sterling also referred to Leyla’s recent loss to NWA Women’s Champion Kamile at the NWA Empowerrr event, and called Jade Leyla’s Everest.
Diamante and Swole, coming off last week’s Three Strikes match where Swole got the knockout, talked about the outcome, reiterated that this rivalry isn’t going anywhere. Can this replace Dan Lambert’s wheezy screaming on Dynamite please?
Fuedo Del Sol versus Mysterious Movado: Movado got off to a hot start, but Fuego rallied. He hit the Tornado DDT and got his first single’s victory! I’m stunned and estatic.
Shawn Spears vs Khash: AEW’s local chair fetishist has a new intro(Or maybe it’s just been long enough with the Pinnacle business I don’t remember it), and he came out to the match with a personalized chair with a picture of Darby on it. Spears had Khash pinned, but pulled his shoulders up at the two-count, and told the camera “Darby, this is for you” before finishing Khash off.
Sonny Kiss recalled the start of her partnership with Joey Janela, saying it was fun, but it’s hard for her to tell where it went wrong. After Joey’s betrayal, Sonny promises to remind everyone that Janela is “a piece of shit and a loser.” Joey responded by saying that the romance is over, and next week is going to be the end of her. Sonny challenges both Joey and his new muscle, a lady with impressive arms, saying that she’ll end Joey’s career.
Jora Johl and TH2 vs Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, and Wheeler Yuta: Ah, I see the Best Friends are in action again this week! Are we seeing anything new, or…Oh. They are fighting the Hardy Family Office again. I see. I love everyone in this match, but I want them in more interesting stories. Fun match, still, and a Best Friends win means a Best Friends hug. Also, have a picture of Kris Statlander in Chuck Taylor’s denim jacket.
Match of the Night – Kilynn King vs Leyla Hirsch: Leyla Hirsch has been paired up with a lot of tall opponents recently, and keeping to recent patterns, Kilynn King is her opponent this week. Leyla does great as the David going against Goliath, and she never looks like she’s in over her head, and it makes for great spots when she suplexes them. We had a fantastic moment in the match where the two ladies did a flex-off, and this is a great longer match for the main event. After the match, Jade Cargill came out and the two of them brawled and had to be broken up by the refs.
Overall, a much busier episode for Dark this week. Dark’s next episode was also recorded in the same studio at a later session, and I think this new setup works pretty well. The ring is miced up so you can hear the wrestlers more clearly, and it makes for a fun experience.
That’s all we’ve got for this week. Next week, we’ll be in the build up for Grand Slam, so until next time, stay a little weird.