wrestling / TV Reports
Cazer’s AEW Dark Review 12.21.21
Loading...It’s Tuesday night and you know what that means! We’re back for another episode of AEW Dark. Every week we are entertained by the lovely men and women of All Elite Wrestling. Whether it be in the ring delivering suplexes or on commentary delivering Suplex Jones one liners everyone to enjoy. Dark might not have the biggest names but it’s always good for some fun matches, interesting commentary, and an overall good show.
Tonight we’ve got 13 matches on deck, one more than last week, which was daunting but despite the high match count it was still a well received show. Tonight we’ve got Bear Country, Matt Sydal, Abadon, Brandi Rhodes and even Eddie Kingston on tap to perform so it’s looking like another good episode.
*This week rather than break down the match move by move i’ll add notes throughout, give the finish with the times and my review after. If you’d rather the old lengthier way next week let me know in the comments but I think a condensed breakdown for Dark might be an easier read.
Austin Gunn (20-2) & Colten Gunn (30-1) vs. Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson (5-2)
Why can’t AEW get consistent with the records, if it’s a tag just give us their tag records. Ok nitpicking done but the assboys are getting a great chant, love how Danausen is over in AEW already. Austin and Colten play great heels and Brock is starting to come into his own as a bit of a badass coming out with a lip of chew in. Lee is really impressive and I think this team with Brock has helped them both quite a bit. Lee likely didn’t ‘need’ to be part of the nightmare family but I think it helps to add depth to him as a wrestler, going for the cross rhodes in this one was cool to see. Good back and forth match with Lee playing the babyface in peril and Brock the hot tag waiting to run through the heels. Brock’s offense still seems a bit limited but what he does is pretty sweet and a nice little taste of a more old school style that fits the modern style of wrestling. The Gunn Club stole this one when Colten interfered giving Austin the chance to roll up Brock for the victory in 7:05.
Rating: ** 1/2
Review: This was a good tag team opener that left room for the viewer to believe either side could win. The Gunn Club stealing it also leaves room for a rematch down the line. Initially this tag team just felt like a random pairing but over time it has actually helped both as Brock can get the hot tag and do stuff he’s good at and Lee gets the exposure of being alongside Arn’s son. It works well for both parties.
Charlette Renegade (0-2) vs. Abadon (19-2)
My favorite part about Abadon is she’s from the Black Hills just like me Black Hills Jones. She’s really cleaned up her look and looks really awesome now. Call me Cornette Jones but should Abadon be doing a tijeras? I aint mad about it but isn’t she supposed to be intimidating not exciting. Abadon defeated Renegade in no time and it was exactly what should happen in this case if they want to continue building Abadon to being an evil badass. I will say, with this short time, her opponent shouldn’t have gotten any offense in at all because we need to focus every second we can on Abadon being strong, running herself face first into the turnbuckle doesn’t do that for me. Nothing wrong with this one but those re my nitpicky notes. Abadon wins with a modified DDT in 1:05.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was short and Abadon won as she should but as I highlighted above she really should be steamrolling her opponent, even though it came off a mistake and was short lived her opponent getting offense in hurt the match because it was short in general. Abadon should’ve been given the entire time to look dominant.
Eddie Kingston (29-10) vs. Colin Delaney (0-1)
This feels like a match I could’ve seen in my old stomping grounds at 2CW wrestling back in the day, love the Upstate NY match ups. Kingston vs. Garcia is a great example of that. Delaney definitely looks like a dad who took a wrong turn and ended up in a wrestling match which is interesting considering he came up on WWECW vs Tommy Dreamer in the same situation. We get a Colin Delaney history lesson and a reference to Brodie Lee and Colin’s time in WWECW. Really shouldn’t be critiquing looks in this one when both guys look great. Colin apparently took some time off before returning to the ring recently, he might look it but his ring work would tell a completely different story. Kingston wins with a DDT in 3:48.
Rating: **3/4
Review: I wish these guys got more time, this was a fun singles match with two really great dudes. I didn’t expect the loss off the DDT and was impressed when Colin ducked the backfist but what can you do. I hope Delaney can be a consistent guy on Dark going forward.
Penelope Ford (16-6) vs. Willow Nightingale (0-4)
Willows personality is awesome she really shines despite me not knowing much of her outside of a few twitter posts. Penelope looks pretty good and some of the things I thought she could work on in the past seem to have improved. Willow bleeding from the mouth and hits Penelope with a HUGE pounce, that was awesome. Willow with a HUGE moonsault right after and Tazz is spot on ‘What a landing’ as Penelope rolls out of the way. Ford locks in the Muta lock and forces a tap in 2:28.
Rating: **1/2
Review: I don’t typically rate short matches but this was really good and I am curious how these two could do in a longer setting, with the short time they were given I was really impressed. I think that Ford has really come a long way and now two years into Dark we’re seeing the growth a number of talent have had from this show Ford included.
* Sunny Kiss is backstage with Tony Schiavone to discuss the upcoming no dq match with Janela in two weeks. Sunny promises it’ll be no different the next time they meet and Joey walks up to tell Sonny he’s here to say hi before he publicly executes Sunny and leaves the scraps for Kayla Rossi. Joey says next week they fight to survive and laughs like a maniac as he walks off. I’m not sure I love this Janela character but it might be the best work he’s done in AEW.
Brandi Rhodes (12-3) *Overall Record vs. Robyn Renegade (0-7)
Robyn is the sister of Charlette let’s see if she can fare better than her sister did earlier in the night. Charlette gets involved from the outside and these two are a mean tandem, Tazz says they’re identical and I can’t confirm it but they’re definitely similar. Covid Jones makes an appearance and cuts a promo on the Renegades. Robyn uses a double fish hook, an evil maneuver but not wise in 2021. Charlette gets involved again and Arn comes out to take care of business. The crowd tells Arn to get the glock and he threatens to pull out the finger gun but just shoos Charlette off instead. Analyst Jones makes an appearance right before a frog splash, or maybe he said animal jones. Brandi locks in the stretch mark submission for the victory in 4:34.
Rating: **1/2
Review: This was better and longer than I expected, maybe the outside actions of Arn helped but I think the Renegades could be an interesting addition to the roster. Brandi looks pretty good at certain points but definitely still is on the road to refining a few things.
Jora Johl (2-8) vs. Julius Coleman (0-0)
The last Jora Johl match I saw I was not a big fan of, hopefully he can impress this week against a newcomer. Johl dominated the first half of this one but Coleman looked liked he was going to comeback only to get dropped by a modified cradle shock. Jora drops Coleman with a running boot and picks up the victory in 2:00.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was short so it really didn’t give Johl a lot of time to change my mind too much but I do think he looked better and more confident this week which can go a long way going forward.
* The Wingmen are backstage and Nemeth and Peter tell Cesar what they want for Christmas. Cesar tells them they’ve been so good that next week they get to beat up the best friends for Christmas.
Isaiah Kassidy (23-15) vs. Carlie Bravo (0-3)
Kassidy drops Bravo early but then takes ten minutes to take off all of his jewelry. Maybe do that in a different order. Kassidy’s scream is back but it’s not so bad we’ll have to see if it’s overdone. If Kassidy didn’t have such stiff competition he might be a top contender for improvement of the year this year he looks spectacular. Tazz popped me when he told us about Matt Hardy’s invisible phone he gave Kassidy. We got some outside action that they don’t teach at school. Jorah Johl tries to get involved and gets geeked out instead. I wanna see Bravo vs. Johl now. Bravo looked pretty impressive in this one and Bravo looked like he was going to steal it for a second off the scissors kick. Kassidy wins with an ugly springboard cutter that really brings me back to the early days of Private Party and some missteps they had. Kassidy picks up the win in 4:08.
Rating: **
Review: Kassidy has improved but the finish was a reminder of what things I didn’t love about Kassidy before. Bravo looked pretty good and I really do hope they go with him vs. Johl because he made Johl look foolish and he literally just had a match. Botches can be overlooked but its hard to do that when its clearly disrupting the finish.
Kiera Hogan (3-4) vs. Shalonce Royal (0-1)
Opera Jones makes an appearance and I love it. Kiera with some singing of her own inspires more opera from Tazz this is awesome. This started off quick and the continued singing just added to the overall entertainment value. This was a decent short back and forth match that the singing jones added a fair bit of quality to. Kiera wins with a roundhouse kick in 2:31.
Rating: **1/4
Review: This just cracks the thresh hold of being long enough to rate, and it was a fine singles match. The singing throughout was an added bonus, I think Kiera is awesome so i’d really like for her to get a shot down the line in an extended match.
Bear Country (11-4) vs. Zack Clayton & Mike Orlando (0-0)
Boulder is a BIG DUDE. This is a good scouting opportunity for Hook ahead of his match with Bear Bronson on Friday. Mike Orlando looks like if a rockstar wanted to become a superhero. Clayton and Orlando played their roles as heels pretty well but Orlando really didn’t impress me much, I felt like as an enhancement talent he was doing a lot more to make himself look good than Bronson, who when in the same role consistently made his opponents look great. Boulder is great at the combination moves we get a Samoan drop ddt this week taking out both guys before Bronson got Bearbombed onto Orlando for the victory in 5:10.
Rating: ** 1/4
Review: I’m usually not too critical of the enhancement talent but I really wish Bear Country was facing guys who bumped like they have in this same position. Orlando wasn’t awful, but I really felt like he was trying to look strong rather than make his opponents look great.
Post match: Schiavone interviews Bear Country and they say they want the biggest, the baddest and the best that AEW has to offer. This brings out The Acclaimed who don’t rap this week and it gets more heat than any rap to date. The Acclaimed call them Winnie the Pooh lookin wrestlers and says they’re far from the best team in AEW. The Acclaimed say they’ve embarrassed so many teams on the mic that the top team refuse to wrestle them. Max says they’ll wrestle them next week so he can diss their ass and they can wish their ass never wished for the match in the first place. Good little way to set up next weeks match.
Dark order’s 10 (35-6) vs. Leroy Patterson (0-0) w/ Howdy
Yes that is Leroy Patterson. Leroy Jones is here to get destroyed. Leroy is from the Go Big Show so I can’t imagine this will go too long. Leroy is falling out of his clothes and Tazz is losing it. Negative one wants to gouge his eyes out and Tazz is contemplating doing the same. Tazz is hating this and I can’t blame him. He loves Ten tossing Leroy and Leroy taking a bad landing. Ten tries to clothesline him to the outside but it’s not going too well. -1 takes Howdy’s hat and starts running away before Howdy gets dropped with a shoulder block. -1 hits us with a did I do that and i’m with Excalibur this is unhinged. Ten with a spinebuster and full nelson for the victory in 3:10
Rating: -1*, Comedy ***1/2
Review: This sucked, but it was comedy and meant for cross over fun. That said it still really sucked from a match quality standpoint but it was a bit of fun ahead of Christmas so that’s cool. Ten easily could’ve won in ten seconds and i’d have been more satisfied.
Red Velvet (31-8) vs. La Rosa Negra (0-1)
Rosa nearly picked up a victory but the ref was too lazy, love it. Red Velvet looked awesome in this one as did Rosa. These two going back and forth calling each other out in Spanish was awesome too. Velvet has really come a long way and is another great example of why Dark is an important piece of AEW. Velvet with a spinning back kick and the final slice for the victory in 2:10.
Rating: N/A
Review: As I said Velvet has really come a long way over the last few months especially. She had a great opponent in this one and I hope we get to see more of La Rosa Negra because she was pretty awesome in the limited experience I saw her.
Shawn Dean (3-4) vs. Lucas Chase (0-1)
This was a really short unspectacular match really. It kind of was similar to the Abadon match early on if the match is going to be short i’d rather the winning superstar just dominate. Dean has consistently been a good hand but this wa another just more of the same for him, he hit em with the deal and picked up the victory. Shawn Dean with the victory off a flying splash in 2:01.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was too short to feel any specific type of way about but I think Dean fares way better in matches where he’s enhancing talent but this was fine.
Serpentico (12-56) w/ Luther vs. Matt Sydal (30-26)
Serpentico tried to jump the bell and catch Sydal off guard but it didn’t work out for him. This was a fun exciting fast paced match between two quick superstars. Initially my favorite part of this match was the crowd mocking Luther but it went on way too long. Luther tells Sydal that Serpentico is going to kill him and it’s just enough to distract Sydal. Luther’s funny but I do wonder what his screaming adds to the match especially in a small venue it feels like more of a distraction. Sydal with a sweet meteora and nearly won but took Serpentico too lightly and he kicks out. These two are really solid in ring workers and gave a good back and forth that even felt like Serpentico might steal a couple of times. Sydal hits the lightning spiral in 7:00 and Tazz is thankful it’s over and I really can’t help but agree. I didn’t even notice Tazz had stopped talking for the last few minutes but i’m sure he was tired of Luther as well.
Rating: **3/4 – Might’ve been three without the Luther screaming, call me Cornette Jones.
Review: This match was solid and a decent back and forth main event. Sydal is still so freakin good and if I didn’t know he had been wrestling forever i’d assume he was still way younger than he is. Serpentico was good as well, I don’t think Luther intended to be a distraction but I think this match turned into more of a comedy match. If that was the purpose then they did well but if not then I think that this match fell short due to what went on outside rather than inside. I wasn’t sure on Sydal early on in AEW but the last few showings from him have really shown me that i’d like to see him more in an extended singles role.
Top Three Names to watch following this show
1. Matt Sydal – Sydal had a terrific main event and he did everything he could to remind the crowd of the match going on inside the ring. He had a good dance partner but really Sydal has been on a hell of a run. I’d love for them to give him more wins like this in the near future against other quality opponents, even if it’s outside talent just to remind viewers like myself who may have forgot just how good Sydal still is.
2. Penelope Ford – We had a lot of womens action on tonight’s show and that’s exactly what you want to see. Ford is someone that’s been with AEW since day one and has really improved in the ring, stuff like the back handspring elbow have been cleaned up and she’s starting to find her groove. I’ve had these feelings before in her shorter taped matches and then been a bit disappointed after but the overall growth can’t be denied.
3. Brandi Rhodes – Alright, listen. I get it, most aren’t major fans of the Rhodes these days. I’ll be the first to critique Brandi but tonight I realized how much of a benefit Dark has been to talent like Penelope and The Gunn Club among many others. Brandi returning here to grind up and get better is the best she can do. This match was longer than we’ve seen in recent week from her and it was not bad. She had some bursts of impressive action and really is on the right path. Now could that all change the second she gets into a single match on Dynamite? Sure, but for now she’s been fun to watch.
Jobber of the night: The Renegade Sisters – These two are still unknowns to me for the most part. Their in ring skill was serviceable but I can’t say for sure if they’re ready to rock in the primary AEW women’s division. What I will say, is if they are then these two are going to be very interesting in 2022. They’re really good heels and have an interesting presence about them, and of course they’re two bad ass twins, or at least sisters. Wouldn’t bet the house on them just yet but they’re worth watching.
