We interrupt your regularly scheduled AEW Dark review to bring you some news. Your regular reviewer cannot be here so I have hijacked the show and stolen the review like some evil heel and a title belt (Mark will be back very soon, promised…). Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy and Britt Baker joined Excalibur throughout the show on commentary this week to cover the action on 3 high impact matches. We got a chaotic Triple Threat bout, some enjoyable tag action and the Best Bout Machine taking on someone Super Bad. Let’s get into the action.
Scorpio Sky vs Peter Avalon (w/Leva Bates) vs Jimmy Havoc
Before the match can begin, the crowd threw boos at Peter Avalon. He tried to run down the crowd for not being classy but was cut off by Havoc’s music. Last to enter is Scorpio Sky, still riding high off his title opportunity and the clear fan favourite. Havoc instantly bailed outside to hunt for weapons, frequently stopping to chase off Leva Bates. He stopped one too many times so Scorpio Sky took him out. Once back in the ring, Sky kept the pressure on Avalon. Especially after some miscommunication with Bates gave him a bad elbow. Havoc soon rushed back in and started to level the pair with a mix of strikes and Suplexes into the turnbuckle. Havoc and Avalon formed a temporary alliance to take down Sky, sensing him to be the better prey. They continued to work over Sky until Avalon wrecked his chances at a potential win with the Marti-knees to Havoc. After that Havoc went for his staple gun but never had the chance to use it as Avalon tried to bring a book into the fight. That book would help Sky though, who swatted away the staple gun with the literary aid. After surviving an Uppercut out of his first attempt at the Slingshot Cutter, he successfully hit it on Havoc but Avalon tried to steal the pin. This earned him a TKO and Sky walked away with the win. This was a strong match to start the show and full of fun spots. I liked the fact commentary reminded us Havoc was risking his bank account using the staple gun and the nice rebound win for Sky was a smart step. The only thing I don’t get is Avalon. Despite all the weeks of programming and countless matches, I still don’t see the point. Given his 0-6 record now, he seems to be AEW’s version of James Ellsworth.
One with the Dark Order
FOLLOW THE LEADER@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno@EvilUno @EvilUno @EvilUno#JoinDarkOrder pic.twitter.com/z9Kkl0IHiP
— EVIL UNO of the DARK ORDER (@EvilUno) December 9, 2019
Following a bit of recap, there was a strange package from the Dark Order vetting new members in a forest-based ritual. Evil Uno is deciding who joins the ranks and receives a mask and who does not make the cut. A guy wants to join because he has a lust for revenge, he receives a mask. A guy wants to join to have friends, he is denied. Then punted in the face. Then clawed presumably to death. It looks like there are some strict criteria to join.
Jurassic Express (Marko Stunt & Luchasaurus) vs John Silver & Alex Reynolds
Our next match is a tag team match between the Jurassic Express and Beyond/CZW stars John Silver and Alex Reynolds. Silver and Reynolds were yet to get a win and remained winless when the match was over. Luchasaurus started the match destroying the duo before he tagged in Marko Stunt who proceeded to unleash his own fast-paced combo of dropkicks and another fast-paced flying. Unfortunately, Reynolds is a douche and hit Stunt in the back, giving Silver a chance to get back into the match. The dastardly duo used the opportunity to beat down Stunt and nearly put him away several times. Silver was merciless in hitting the diminutive star with a series of stiff kicks. Luckily for Stunt, he was too fast for the desperately clingy Reynolds later in the match and reversed his ankle grabbing into a sunset flip launched into his corner. A tag was made to Luchasaurus and once again, the big and bad dinosaur destroyed the pair. A series of kicks and a double Chokeslam later, the Jurassic Express hit a Rolling Cutter/Neckbreaker combo and won the match. They pick up a tag team win and hopefully rise in the tag ranks. With Jungle Boy getting a chance to make a statement against Chris Jericho, it would be nice to see Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt get major chances too. Oh, and Britt Baker dropped one of the best lines ever on commentary, “As an oral health provider, I would like to take a closer look at that tongue,” in response to Luchasaurus’ green tongue.
"I will not let anybody down."
Tremendous video feature on @SwoleWorld this week on #AEWDark ?
➡️ https://t.co/xmC2PjBHNJ pic.twitter.com/75vPgIFXvd
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) December 11, 2019
Big Swole documented her story into wrestling. This including nearly dying as a child, battling Chron’s disease and acting like a true role model to a lot of people who may not be confident in their abilities to be a wrestler. It was incredibly heartwarming to hear her talk about her successes and I feel the company have organically made you give a damn about her without doing anything but let her talk. The segment also showed the moment that Kenny Omega offered her a contract, which was a really damn good moment.
Christopher Daniels Hates Alex Marvez
Following his loss to Pentagon Jr on Dynamite, Christopher Daniels was in the medical room cursing his own idiocy. He also launched a tirade on Alex Marvez, who in fairness asked a very understandable if obvious question. Daniels left the “interview” spouting about how he needs to get into the mindset of Penta if he is ever going to beat a guy of his quality. I mostly included this because I found Daniels going off on poor Marvez rather funny.
Kenny Omega vs Kip Sabian (w/Penelope Ford)
.@TheKipSabian and @thePenelopeFord have Kenny right where they want him! #AEWDark
➡️ https://t.co/xmC2PjBHNJ pic.twitter.com/zCN3Gb0PlI
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) December 11, 2019
I should open this by clarifying that Kenny Omega is my favourite wrestler on the planet, so I may have been a tad biased going into this match. He was against someone who thought he had been overlooked in AEW, Kip Sabian. Sabian won the first singles match in AEW history but hasn’t really been showcased much since. Now was his big chance against one of AEW’s best. It was certainly going to be a clash of egos. Omega was completely in control for the opening stages as he had the experience edge and kept making light work of Sabian. Penelope Ford came into play distracting Omega and hitting a hurricanrana on him outside. Sabian used the distraction to his advantage and came back into the fight. The pair went back and forth with Sabian mocking Omega’s mannerisms on several occasions. Omega didn’t like this at all and when Ford wasn’t distracting or attacking Omega, he was giving Sabian as much damage as he was dealt. The pair traded further with Sabian nearly putting Omega away with a PK and Poisonrana combo. Omega powered up by shunting Ford into Sabian and hit a V Trigger. This was followed by several more and multiple Snap Dragons. Omega made sure Ford saw he was destroying her boyfriend and finished off Sabian with the One-Winged Angel.
.@KennyOmegamanX sends his regards to the happy couple! #AEWDark
➡️ https://t.co/xmC2PjBHNJ pic.twitter.com/nmdjFMUhzy
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) December 11, 2019
I personally enjoyed this match despite the fact there was no real way Omega would lose. Kip Sabian is excellent in-ring, even more so when he actually gets to be Superbad. Chuck Taylor was a tad mean in his commentary about him though by giving the backhanded compliment that Omega was at a disadvantage since he had no idea who Sabian was whilst Sabian would know all about Omega and his “moves of doom.” Overall, this was just a great little match. Annoyingly though, after the match, Omega was going for a mic when the clip just cut out and the episode ended.
.@KennyOmegamanX blasts Kip! #AEWDark
➡️ https://t.co/xmC2PjBHNJ pic.twitter.com/Ivmc9FLI2e
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_wrestling) December 11, 2019
That match finished off a decent episode of Dark that had great matches but a tad too much recap and filler content for my liking. It was nice to see more in-depth information on the women’s division and I loved seeing Marvez get shouted at by Christopher Daniels, but the endless Dynamite recaps were a bit much. The show could have probably been condensed to an hour instead of an hour sixteen. Complaints aside though, I feel it’s worth a watch even if we never know just what it was that Omega was going to say. Not to mention, Orange Cassidy was by far the best commentator this world will ever see.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEJLIO7zQ_E]
All images courtesy of AEW Twitter, Evil Uno Twitter, Gifs courtesy of TDE Wrestling, Video courtesy of AEW YouTube