wrestling / TV Reports
Cazer’s AEW Dark Review 5.3.22
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...It’s Tuesday Night and you know what that means! AEW Dark is back and we’ve consistently had six match shows for the last two or three weeks and while those were pretty comfy I think switching it back to lengthier shows will help talent more overall. Tonight we have nine matches on tap and I think that’s a good middle ground for consumers. Price.com is yet again our sponsor, AEW should really try to sell more advertisement spots on Dark the way Podcasts do as it’s basically Taz and Excalibur chatting it up while watching AEW.
 John Silver vs. Ryan Nemeth
Nemeth and Silver both getting traditional entrances so I expect this to be a bit of a lengthier opener as Nemeth didn’t get the “jobber” treatment early. I’d also like to note tonight’s episode began with a promo package for The Forbidden Door show, something about an opening video has helped the flow of this show already they really need a Dark intro video. Excalibur sells out Taz early pointing out he’s watching the MLB Network on his phone. Grappling early with Silver showing his athleticism and consistently having Nemeth’s number. Avalon tries to couch up Nemeth but Silver gets tossed across the ring instead. Nemeth calls for a water break but Taz reminds us there are no timeouts in wrestling. Nemeth takes over the match after catching Silver distracted and wrapping him up in the ring apron. Nemeth continues to work away at Silver maintaining control slamming him into the corner and then doing the pee-wee herman dance to taunt Silver. Nemeth with a cover but it’s too early for that, Nemeth exchanges words with -1 and the crowd pops huge for whatever was said. Silver catches a right hand from Nemeth and nails him with one of his own taking control of the match. Silver with a backbody drop and starts doing a dance of his own. Silver catches Nemeth with a powerbomb and nearly gets the three, if you run back the replay you might even say Silver won. Silver runs into a big boot, Nemeth charges but eats an enziguri. Silver off the ropes with a lariat and covers for two. Nemeth with a STIFF pendulum DDT somehow Silver kicks out but that looked rough. Silver escapes a neckbreaker because Nemeth is busy gyrating his hips. Silver sets Nemeth on the top ropes, Nemeth counters getting him in the firemans carry position. Silver counters out with a modified rana taking them both to the mat. Silver hits the spin doctor on Nemeth and covers for the victory in 6:43.
Rating: **3/4
Review: This was a solid opener but a couple of technical moments take it down a notch for me. Not the cleanest rana near the end and there were a couple of ‘power’ spots that really didn’t deliver as they should likely because Nemeth and Silver aren’t like the big guys who typically do these moves. Nemeth when he tossed Silver into the corner and Silver following a lariat both just felt a bit weaker than intended. Not major issues but things that didn’t bring this down slightly for me.Â
– Toni Storm is backstage with Tony Schiavone, she cuts a promo on Hayter and then brings up her upcoming tag team match with Ruby Soho against Britt and Hayter. The AEW Women’s division has a number of ladies ready to break out among a few already established talent so i’m excited with the time they’re given on Dark I just wish it translated a tad more on TV. Overall though it is nice to have this feud getting plenty of time to build up.Â
Varsity Blonds vs. The Workhorsemen
JD Drake is teaming with his partner Anthony Henry leaving behind the wingmen. Julia is with the Blonds which is weird I was pretty sure she officially split away but I tend to overlook some things so I must’ve misread the situation. She’s here but Julia isn’t paying a bit of attention to the match at hand, it must be an interesting character to play just looking away at the crowd. The Blonds work over Henry early but he manages to shove Pillman into the corner and make a tag to Drake. Drake sends Pillman to the outside and we hear him drop Garrison off the apron but we don’t see it, instead we wait and see an Anthony Henry spot near the barricade. At one point Pillman and Garrison had a lot of steam now I would not even be too shocked to see them lose this match. Henry tags in and works over Pillman, it’s interesting how Drake and Henry don’t really look like a team but they’ve been together longer than JD was with the Wingmen. Workhorsemen getting a chance to workover Pillman for a bit here and Excalibur points out that they’re doing some damage tonight. Drake goes for a Vader Bomb but he calls for it signaling for Pillman to move. Pillman is finally able to make the tag and Garrison runs wild on the Workehorsemen laying into both men with lariats in the corner. Griff is an interesting prospect who could have a lot more to give but i’m not sure tagging with Pillman is doing it for either guy at this stage. Nice sequence when Henry drops Griff with a huge german but Griff transitions right into a forearm on Henry and cover. Henry reverses a tag team move it looked like a botch for a moment but instead pretty cool moment. Drake and Henry nearly take the win but Pillman is right in the corner and able to break it up. They get rid of Pillman and it really looks like the Workhorsemen could win here. Henry with a diving foot stomp it doesn’t connect too well, Griff dodges a moonsault and the Blonds hit a dropkick combination on Drake, then Pillman with a superkick on Henry, into a Garrison finish for the victory in 6:33.
Rating: ***
Review: Nice to see back to back matches that actually get a bit of time. I would’ve rather seen the Workhorsemen win at this point as the Blonds story just isn’t clicking for me at all. I’ll be happier once Julia finally breaks away. The match itself was solid, The Blonds continue to be a team that I just haven’t seen enough growth in to get behind, while they were hot for a bit it was short lived and since things have just been a bit stagnant.Â
– Post match Pillman says it’s been a tough season for the Blonds, he tells Julia she’s changed and her buddies The House of Black can bleed too. Pillman says they can try to take their girl, he says come and get her because Wednesday they’ll be at AEW Dynamite. Julia rolls her eyes and I can’t help but do the same. I am not sure how Pillman and Griff are the babyfaces with a promo like that, I mean I get it but It didn’t come across that way AT ALL. Just feels odd to feel like they can just take Julia away as if there is odd ownership over a manager if she wants she can just join them right?
Shawn Spears vs. Lord Crewe
Crewe is here for his second appearance with AEW not sure how I feel about him just based off look, seems like a pretty decent big dude with a nice beard. Spears doing a good job at keeping himself distanced from Crewe. Spears with a chop on Crewe and gets the crowd to chant for one more only to not deliver. Crewe with some dope offense laying into Spears and hitting him with a diving elbow strike. Crewe goes for the tope but runs into a forearm and then gets dropped back first on the apron. This might be the turning point in this one as Spears just lays into Crewe after this one with strikes and kicks. Spears has Crewe in the corner but gets into it with some fans allowing Crewe to get a strike in but it’s short lived as Spears drops Crew with a kick to the back of the knee. Spears lifts Crewe up on his shoulders and hits the C4. Spears with the cover and gets a three count for the victory at 3:50.
Rating: **3/4
Review: It’s too short to give a lot to but I must say Crewe was much more impressive than I anticipated. It’s not that I expected him to be bad he just didn’t look as physically imposing as I expected but he delivered really well when he was on offense. I’d love to see him get another opportunity where he gets a tad more offense in.Â
Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Terry Yaki & Jay Lucas
Can’t imagine this one will last long as the jobbers really fit the bill here two scrawny young men set to do the job. It’s hilarious listening to Excalibur have to call this guy Yaki because of his goofy name. Starks looking like a freakin million bucks like always. Starks sends Yaki into the corner and he runs a bit silly managing to hit a decent counter, Taz calls his name one of the greatest in all of wrestling, I beg to differ. Hobbs tags in and I agree with the crowd he’s going to kill Yaki. Starks yells from the apron that this is too easy. Hobbs launches Yaki up and Starks follows with a stomp to the back of the head, not quite as clean as you’d expect but still cool. Starks asks “WHERE DO THEY FIND THESE PEOPLE”. Yaki actually gets some offense in so he can make the hot tag to Lucas. Lucas tries to drop Starks off the apron but he gets popped in the back of the head instead. Hobbs sends both dudes into the corner then splashes into them. Starks sends Jay into a spear from Starks. Starks covers for the victory in 3:55.
Rating: **1/2
Review: The jobbers honestly should’ve got ZERO offense in. The moments where Terry Yaki was fighting back were truly unbelievable. Call me Cornette, I typically don’t feel this way but watching these two get offense in on Starks and Hobbs just felt dumb after the beating they were taking. That said it was short lived and didn’t kill the match, just as short as it was it was never gonna be that spectacular either.Â
Julia Hart vs. Jacey Love
Taz explains that Julia was attacked by Malakai “weeks and weeks” ago and honestly it feels like six months ago. Julia now has plenty of intensity and rage. I’d like to point out the Blonds are not here so theoretically The House of Black would be smartest to come and get her now rather than on Dynamite. Hart with a much more aggressive side and I dig it. Love counters a lariat and hits Julia with a jaw breaker, her offense is short lived allowing Julia to send her into the corner and hit her with a splash in the corner. Julia slams her around and it’s not pretty. Julia locks in the headscissors to score the victory in 1:55.
Rating: N/A
Review: This was not that good, when it’s someone like Julia who is less experienced it’s always better when we see the greener talent up against vets and this is true here. I’m not sure how long Jacey has wrestled but neither her or Julia were in a position to carry this match. It was short so nothing to be too upset about but yeah not the best match at all.
– The Factory are backstage and QT hypes up a match for next week between The Factory students and members of the New Japan Dojo. I dig it.
Tony Nese vs. Leon Ruffin
Nese makes his entrance and Ruff has to be held back he’s so ready to get his hands on Tony. Ruff making his AEW debut a former NXT North American champion. Nese beating down Ruffin early in this one smashing him into the corner and stomping away at the much smaller talent. I should add Smart Mark Sterling is at ringside with Nese. Ruffin with some unique defense leapfrogging to multiple ropes to avoid Nese very cool stuff that pops the crowd. Ruffin looking for an armdrag but Nese catches him and slams him into the corner. He does it again and this is what I expect from these power moves I mentioned early great work from Ruffin and Nese. Sterling with a slap on Ruffin in the corner, Excalibur says it was a thumb to the eye. Nese catches Ruffin with a chop in the corner and follows him to the opposing corner looking for another, Ruffin ducks it and gets a spark of offense. Ruffin looks for a right hand but Nese drops him with a strike at the same time, not the best angle for this shot but pretty cool. Ruffin is pretty sweet, he’s not someone i’ve seen much of but he’s good. Again Ruffin with a flurry of offense dropping Nese with a couple leaping elbow strikes. Excalibur says we may see an upset but Taz is doubtful I LOVE that kind of commentary, great discussion between these two on the match at hand. Nese with the running knee in the corner, he covers Ruffin and gets the victory in 4:11.
Rating: ***1/4
Review: This is my match of the night thus far, Nese and Ruffin did very well in this one, as I mentioned Ruffin is fantastic at selling and his offense was believable despite the size differential because it was explosive and confident despite being relatively short lived. I went into this not thinking much of Ruffin and now i’d be lying if I said he didn’t gain a fan. It was also my favorite Nese match in his short tenure with AEW as well.Â
Angelico vs. Yuya Uemera
Yuya is a name i’ve seen but i’m completely unfamiliar with his in ring work. Angelico is quite the interesting opponent, I find it interesting seeing the talent AEW has retained and let go, Jack Evans has confirmed his exit meanwhile Angelico continues I can see why that would be the case but still intriguing to see. Yuya gets an entrance and they break down that he’s a New Japan young lion who is working his way up the ranks and Taz does a decent job breaking it down. I love the Young Lion training system as they begin learning to wrestle and focus only on that rather than the character and eventually a character buds from that. We get some chain wrestling early between these two, commentary do a good job putting over Angelicos ability to wrestle this style rather than the high flying you’d expect and it’s true. I always expect Angelico to fly around but does great when grappling. Slow paced but really good match up between these two lots of grappling and exchanging maneuvers. It starts to pick up and you can feel the intensity between both men begin to pick up. Angelico offers a handshake over four minutes into the match, Yuya accepts but gets suckered into a wrist lock. Yuya manages to force the break with the rope break. Yuya with a STIFF chop into Angelico and looks for another but Aubrey prevents it as Angelico is in the ropes, don’t really love that. Angelico regains control and locks in a leg submission, Yuya gets to the ropes but the damage is already done. Angelico continues to target the legs of Yuya, this is such good stuff these two working a match on Dark actively telling a story and it’s with a youngboy whose gimmick is no gimmick i’m a mark for stuff like this. Angelico sends Yuya into the ropes but Yuya counters with a dropkick and begins to fight back sending Angelico into the corner. Irish whip into the other corner and Yuya with a splash, Angelico counters a backdrop but Yuya finally hits it and makes the cover for two. Yuya says this is it but Angelico nearly steals it with a roll up. Yuya with a HUGE armdrag that was sick. Angelico prevents the suplex by pulling the hair of Yuya. Angelico locks in the Navaro death roll and picks up the victory in 8:55.
Rating: ***3/4
Review: I don’t want to over rate this and I might be still but for an AEW Dark match this was AWESOME. It had everything I need from AEW’s Dark matches they told a story and sold me on a new character even though he lost to an established guy who typically wins. This was great for everyone and really didn’t have many high impact moments just a solid story and good match. I would LOVE if Yuya was on Dark every week.Â
Dante Martin vs. Invictus Khash
Khash has impressed me a bunch in the past so he’s a fantastic opponent for Dante. This will likely be much different from what we just saw as that match was much more ground based. I do think Khash will try to keep it slow but Dante is always exciting, that’s great pacing of this show honestly, some weeks it’s just high flying banger after banger so this is the ideal way to do it. Dante and Khash exchange holds early on with Khash working his best to keep Dante grounded and early on he’s successful. Khash sends Dante into the corner and he just flips over Khash and drops him with a dropkick. It’s always impressive, Dante is like a real life spiderman. Khash and Dante outside the ring and Dante is slammed face first into the ringpost. Khash rolls him into the ring and tries to take the victory, again good stuff for no other reason than it’s sensible. Khash talks trash over Dante as he stalks his prey laying into him with some strikes before locking in a wrist lock. Dante fights back laying into Khash with forearms, then a sunset flip into a cover for two. Khash continues to work over the arm of Dante, Taz says he’s trying to ground the high flyer, not sure that working the arm achieves that but hey what do I know. I love that Taz continues to mention Dante screwing him on the contract. Dante fires up and lays in some clotheslines on Khash, Dante to the top he kicks him then immediately follows with a crossbody that was unique, simple yet sweet. Dante tries to lift him up for a suplex but the arm is too worked over to complete it. Khash counters into a shoulder breaker and covers immediately. Dante counters Khash and drops him with a german suplex. Dante with a suicida while trying to protect the arm, he then follows with the nosedive for the victory in 6:00.
Rating: ***
Review: This was solid, and again the two superstars worked to actually tell a story in this match with Khash trying to work over Dante’s arm. It was well done and Dante was still able to capitalize and take the win as it wasn’t his leg that was worked over. I actually prefer this, even though it makes more sense for Khash to attack the leg to actually ground Dante that tends to hurt the match as it seems silly when a superstar can sell the leg for so long then still do all these dives and flips. Good stuff.
– Post match Dante cuts a promo on his upcoming match with Fenix and says he’s not going to hold back as he will do anything to qualify for the Owen. This was not the greatest promo but i’ll give Dante a pass it’s gotta be tough to cut a decent promo after doing all those flips and dives.
Toni Storm vs. Diamante
Excalibur reminds us Diamante is 6-1 in her past seven matches and has done well but still really has nothing to lose against Toni who has true momentum. This should be a decent match and I like Toni being able to gain a bit of a significant victory here defeating Diamante who has done really well recently. Nice back and forth grappling exchanges of holds early, Diamante takes control sending Storm to the outside with a baseball slide. Both women begin exchanging strikes on the outside, Diamante sends Storm into the ring steps and commentary plays up how hard it was but it was a bit lackluster if you ask me. Diamante sends Toni to the inside and locks in a submission, the crowd looks to will her back to her feet and finally she counters out with elbows tot he midsection but Diamante slams her head first onto the mat with a hairpull. Diamante with kicks to the midsection and starts choking away at Toni in the corner. The crowd is unsure how to react as they really want to cheer Toni and respect Diamante so her being in control has them a tad quiet. Diamante with a trio of suplexes and nothing from the crowd. I actually dig this it’s like Diamante has silenced the fans of Toni essentially leaving them shocked that their girl could be getting beaten up this bad, they and likely Toni didn’t take Diamante too seriously. Diamante slaps at Toni and nails her with a german suplex of her own, Diamante with a subtle “oh shit” when getting locked in the german, good stuff. Toni with the hip attack in the corner nearly gave me whiplash. Toni with the cover for two and she seems firmly in control now as the crowd livens up a bit. DIamante with the roll up, they exchange pins probably too many if you ask me, Diamante nearly steals it though with a sweet roll up so maybe not too many. The crowd was audibly concerned she might steal it there. Toni with the DDT outside before sending her back into the ring, Toni immediately with the fisherman suplex and bridging cover but Diamante with a kickout at two. Diamante sends Toni into the ropes neck first and then follows with the standing sliced bread, she covers and nearly takes the victory again. Diamante goes for the code red but Toni counters with the waterwheel drop then storm zero for the victory in 8:38.
Rating: ***1/4
Review: This was a pretty great main event, I do think that Toni could’ve gotten a bit more offense in but it is a tough line to ride. You want Diamante to get a lot offense in otherwise it’s hard to sell the idea she can actually beat someone like Toni who has so much going on but that said with Toni having so much going on i’d have liked to see her on offense a bit more here. Overall it was a solid main event and did a lot to establish Diamante as a legitimate threat even though she came up short here. I hope they continue to focus on her and give her some true momentum.
Top three names to watch following AEW Dark
Toni Storm – This week is a tough week but i’m going with Toni and two enhancement talent who I think could all really shine in AEW. Toni is a no brainer as someone to keep an eye on but he trajectory could be right to the moon if booked properly. She’s clearly a fan favorite very early on and has consistently shown she can deliver solid matches even on Dark. I don’t expect to see Toni on Dark often but if they can do matches like this with her facing the likes of Diamante and other really talented women then i’m all for it.
Yuya Uemera – Rather than focus on notable AEW talent who have been on Dark a ton i’d like to use the last two slots to focus on guys i’d love to see more of on AEW Dark. I love that this week we got Yuya in a long match that he was able to really showcase who he is and what he brings to the table. I’m sure he will stay a NJPW guy but i’d love for him to crossover as much as possible because his match with Angelico was tons of fun and even though he lost it helped him and Angelico in my eyes something I didn’t expect to see going into the match.
Leon Ruffin – I didn’t catch Ruffin in NXT because I haven’t paid much attention to that product for some time now so my expectations were low. Upon seeing his size I was immediately thinking this guy wasn’t going to be able to impress me and boy was I wrong. Nese was awesome in their match but to have a good match you need a good dance partner and Ruffin absolutely delivered in their short bout. His offense was believable and fun but more importantly when he was on the defensive it was so fun to watch as well. He bumped like a mofo in this one and I loved it. I’d love to see him back especially on Dark as much as possible.
