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Lovell’s AEW Dark Review 12.29.20

December 29, 2020 | Posted by Blake Lovell
AEW Dark
7.5
The 411 Rating
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Lovell’s AEW Dark Review 12.29.20  

Hey everyone! It’s Tuesday. You know what that means.

It’s obviously been a tough week for a lot of people in the world of wrestling after the passing of Brodie Lee, and I wrote a column trying to express my own emotions on it.

As a reminder, the GoFundMe for Larry Csonka’s daughters is still active. Please contribute and share if you can.

Let’s jump into this week’s episode of AEW Dark.

AEW Dark logo

– We get an “In Memory Of” graphic for Brodie Lee.

Rey Fenix (6-3) vs. Vary Morales (AEW debut)

As many people pointed out, Morales has a lot of similarities to Juventud Guerrera both with his style and look. This was more of a back and forth match than most probably expected since Fenix is set for an AEW World title shot, but I was perfectly fine with that since these two worked great together. However, it was Fenix heading into the title match with a victory as he notched the win at 5:12.

Blake’s Rating: ***

Lindsay Snow (0-3) vs. Penelope Ford (11-5)

Snow has a unique look and she’s certainly aggressive in the ring. I like her potential. Penelope’s taunting game is really fun, and this match was all about her as she hit the cutter for the win at 2:42.

Blake’s Rating: NR

John Silver & Alex Reynolds (2-6) vs. Shawn Dean & Tyson Maddux (AEW tag team debut)

Well, this match wasn’t exactly easy to watch knowing that this was taped. However, John Silver yelling that he’s FREAKING JACKED is always a treat. Maddux and Dean worked well as a team, but Silver and Reynolds hit the double team finisher for the victory at 5:45. All the Dark Order matches are getting the appropriate stars on this card.

Blake’s Rating: *******

Anna Jay (5-4) vs. Jazmin Allure

Allure showed some potential on last week’s episode of Dark, but had to go one on one with THE GREAT ONE in this match. Anna Jay has become quite a talent, and she used the Queen Slayer to force Allure to tap at 2:21.

Blake’s Rating: 99 stars

– The Waiting Room with Dr. Britt Baker. As usual, Rebel is an absolute star with her incredible laugh. Britt makes a joke about Cody stealing Jon Moxley’s spotlight by announcing he’s having a kid, and that was a pretty good line. Matt Sydal enters and Britt makes a slip joke. He hypes his upcoming match with Cody before she gets mail from TBS wanting her to hype his appearance on Go-Big Show. Sydal hypes the match some more.

Ryzin, Nick Comoroto & James Tapia (AEW trios debut) vs. Team Taz (Ricky Starks, Brian Cage, Powerhouse Hobbs)

Hobbs and Comoroto starting the match officially made it a HOSS FIGHT. And then, of course, there’s the magic of Starks to add to the greatness. Hook gave Ryzin a big clothesline on the outside, which made Papa Taz one happy man. Hobbs gave Comoroto a huge slam, which led to Cage hitting the Drill Claw on Tapia for the win at 4:07. Team Taz is just terrific.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

Fuego Del Sol (0-6) vs. Griff Garrison (5-16)

No disrespect to anyone but WHO THE FUCK IS GRIFF GARRISON? Dark Order on Being the Elite has been one of the top wrestling highlights of the year. Brodie Lee’s chemistry with these guys was so great. Pretty Peter Avalon on commentary, and his interactions with Taz were pure gold. Fuego continues to put up a valiant effort, but Garrison hit him right in the face for the victory at around five minutes.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

– After the match, Avalon tries to give Garrison a signed 8×10 of himself, but Garrison throws it down. Avalon is pissed.

Santana & Ortiz (8-5) vs. Terrence & Terrell Hughes (0-3)

Santana and Ortiz haven’t had a lot of matches in recent months, but this was a reminder that they’re still an awesome tag team. Meanwhile, TNT continues to get better and better, and they have impressed in every match they’ve had on AEW Dark thus far. Santana and Ortiz hit the powerbomb and knee to the face combo for the win at 7:41.

Blake’s Rating: ***

Aaron Solow (0-6) vs. Sammy Guevara (11-8)

I know I keep saying this, but Sammy Guevara is a STAR. This guy is so good. Nice exchanges early from these two until Sammy had enough and gave Solow the middle finger. Awesome. Sammy hit an insane springboard moonsault off the top rope that was simply a thing of beauty. Solow got a lot of offense in, but Sammy hit the GTH for the victory at 6:31.

Blake’s Rating: ***

– Sammy says this win helps him move up in the rankings and that this is his 10-year anniversary of being in pro wrestling. He talks about his grind in the business and says he’s the man in AEW. I love that they’re giving him more promos on Dark because it’s great for developing his character and giving him more mic time.

Chaos Project (6-4) vs. Ariel Levy & El Cuervo De Puerto Rico (AEW tag team debut)

Regular readers know my appreciation for Luther using Serpentico as a weapon, and it makes Chaos Project matches rather enjoyable. Serpentico even got pissed at Luther trying to use him as a weapon, but Luther reversed it and did it anyway. Absolutely hilarious. Even Excalibur couldn’t stop laughing. Cuervo also stood out in this match as someone with a lot of potential, and my guess is he’ll get more opportunities on AEW Dark. But he wasn’t winning this one, as Chaos Project hit the Creeping Death for the win at 6:19.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

Leva Bates (3-1) vs. Madi Wrenkowski (0-1)

Speaking of potential, Wrenkowski was a standout on last week’s edition of AEW Dark. As Taz noted, she’s got swagger. However, she also completely destroyed the Young Bucks’ book when the match started, and that’s probably not ideal for her job security. She’s out there KILLING THE BUSINESS. Not only did she do it at the start of the match, but she did it later in the match. That led to Leva using the small package for the victory at 3:41.

Blake’s Rating: **

Danny Limelight (0-4) vs. Matt Sydal (9-3)

Go back and watch Limelight’s match with Fenix if you didn’t already see it. Seriously, Limelight has been one of the unsigned AEW Dark MVPs for a while now. These two put together a fun, back and forth match with nice counters and stiff kicks. Limelight tried his own counter to try to get the pin, but it was Sydal countering and using the crucifix pin for the win at 6:08.

Blake’s Rating: ***

Tay Conti (3-1) vs. Vertvixen (0-1)

Anna Jay continues to accompany Conti to the ring, so they are playing up that friendship without Conti being an official Dark Order member. Vertvixen kept fighting back, and that didn’t make Conti happy. So, she eventually turned up the offense and hitting a pump kick to the jaw before hitting the TCO for the win at 4:10.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

Royal Money, Baron Black, & Mike Verna (AEW trios debut) vs. Gunn Club (4-0)

Taz during a Gunn Club match is always good for a laugh. This was pretty much a showcase for the Gunn Club, as they made quick work of their opponents with Colten hitting the Colt 45 for the victory at 3:24.

Blake’s Rating: **

Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (4-5) vs. The Hybrid2 (7-6)

They did a really good job building this up on the Waiting Room with Britt Baker, with Kazarian adding the stipulation that he and Daniels are done as a team if they lose another match. You have to assume this leads to them eventually getting an AEW Tag Team title shot, right? Or maybe Kazarian makes the heel turn at some point? There are a lot of ways they could go with the storyline, so I like it. And they certainly played that up late in the match with Kazarian accidentally hitting Daniels. However, they used their double team skills to earn the win at 12:08 to keep their team in tact. This was a fantastic main event.

Blake’s Rating: ***1/2

– After the match, The Acclaimed hit the ring to attack Daniels and Kazarian, with the Young Bucks getting involved and chasing them out of the ring.

For more of my thoughts on pro wrestling, subscribe to the 411 On Wrestling podcast and follow me on Twitter @wrestleblake. Thanks for reading!

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
It was a little different watching AEW Dark this week given that it was taped before Lee's passing. However, as for the show itself, this edition still offered plenty of good wrestling as usual. The knock on AEW Dark several months ago was that it lacked competitive matches, but that theme has changed with more back and forth contests featuring a plethora of styles. The main event was a lot of fun since there were high stakes involved with Daniels and Kazarian, and it also set up a future eight-man tag team match with SCU and the Young Bucks against TH2 and The Acclaimed at some point in the future. There were several entertaining matches elsewhere, including Fenix vs. Morales, Guevara vs. Solow, Sydal vs. Limelight, and more. Also, the Dark Order went undefeated ahead of what will be a unique episode of AEW Dynamite as they celebrate their former leader. It should be pretty special.
legend

article topics :

AEW, AEW Dark, Blake Lovell