Lovell’s AEW Dark Review 2.9.21

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

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

Natural Nightmares and Nick Comoroto (1-0) vs. Vary Morales and Jersey Muscle Society (AEW trios debut)

Decided to do some research on whether there’s a Nick Comoroto fan club, and it turns out there is not. So, I’m declaring myself as the president of the fan club. I’m still not sure about him being a babyface, but the dude is great. This was pure domination from Comoroto, and Dustin Rhodes got the pin at 3:37 for the convincing victory.

Blake’s Rating: **

SCU (7-5) vs. Lee Johnson and Aaron Solow (0-3)

Solow is now a member of the Nightmare Family, so that’s good for his career trajectory. Bayley next? Just kidding, just kidding. I like Johnson and Solow working with a team like Daniels and Kazarian. Anyone that works with those guys is probably going to get better, and I thought they did just that in this one. Really back and forth match, and they gave Johnson and Solow a lot of offense. In fact, this was one of the longest matches we’ve had on AEW Dark in a while. SCU hit the double team finisher and Kazarian pinned Solow for the win at 10:57.

Blake’s Rating: ***1/4

Brian Cage (13-2) with Hook vs. Jake St. Patrick (0-2)

St. Patrick continues the seemingly new trend of the unsigned talent (or projected match loser) not getting an entrance, which serves him right after inaccurately declaring on last week’s show that it was St. Patrick’s Day. Stop lying to the people, Jake! It turns out Cage was also pissed at that factual error, as he absolutely destroyed St. Patrick and hit the Drill Claw at 1:02 for the easy victory. I appreciate Cage’s appreciation for the truth.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

– Another skit from The Acclaimed, and I can’t do this one justice with words. They ran down Chris Jericho and MJF and spoofed the musical. Was it hilariously bad? Yes, it was, but that’s why I loved it. DING DING.

Miranda Alize (0-2) vs. Nyla Rose (18-6) with Vickie Guerrero

Alize also doesn’t get an entrance, so perhaps she also incorrectly thought it was St. Patrick’s Day. Or perhaps she’s just gonna get squashed. My guess is it’s the latter. Turns out I was right, as Nyla hit a big splash early and then figured she wanted a little more YouTube time instead of making the pin. She continued the domination for a bit and got the pin on Alize at 2:08 for the victory. After the match, they showed Ivelisse and Diamante staring down Nyla to hype up the women’s tournament.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

PAC (10-4-1) vs. VSK

VSK gets the jobber entrance as well, so maybe AEW is making a concerted effort to make AEW Dark shorter. That probably won’t anger anyone. I had to look it up (thanks Cagematch), but PAC last wrestled on this show back in December of 2019. WELCOME BACK, PAC. He enjoyed his return, with PAC forcing VSK to submit at 4:04.

Blake’s Rating: **

KC Navarro (0-1) vs. Sonny Kiss (1-0) with Joey Janela

Kiss came out on a mission, and so did future TNT Champion Joey Janela since he went over and screamed in Ricky Starks’ face on commentary before the match even started. Navarro hit an awesome DDT midway through the match, but that wasn’t enough as Kiss hit the stunner for the win at 3:20.

Blake’s Rating: **

Tay Conti (3-1) with Anna Jay vs. Alex Gracia (0-3)

I’m a fan of Gracia’s music, so maybe they will consider changing this new no-entrance policy just for her. I’m very intrigued by how they position Conti in the women’s tournament. As we’ve discussed many times, she’s getting better and better both as a wrestler and character. She nearly took Gracia’s head off with a vicious DDT late in the match and then hit her with a brutal knee to the face. Conti then locked in the submission for the win at 3:11. This was a hell of a performance from Conti even in a short match.

Blake’s Rating: **

Ryan Nemeth (0-1) vs. Marko Stunt (13-11)

The Hollywood Hunk gets an entrance, so that tells you he’s got a shot in this one. He also got promo time before the match, claiming that no one likes how much of a hunk he is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cut the same promo, Ryan. Countless times, man. He also requested for everyone to say “I love Ryan” which probably would’ve worked better with a crowd. Nemeth played up his character throughout the match, and FTR’s music hit to distract Stunt. That allowed Nemeth to hit a neckbreaker for his first AEW victory at 3:55.

Blake’s Rating: **

Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi vs. Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo

Dean and Bravo get an entrance, so good for them. They worked well together as a team, and I’d love to see more matches featuring those two. The chemistry was certainly there. However, this was a match to set up Avalon and Bononi’s big tag team bout on Dynamite, and it was Avalon hitting the Marti-knees for the victory at 6:45.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

10 (2-0) with Dark Order vs. Baron Black (0-2)

Black has been very impressive in recent weeks. He’s becoming yet another potential breakout talent on the AEW Dark roster. Excalibur played up the history between these two, which always adds a nice element to these types of matches. No -1 on this show, and my guess is Tony Khan is being stingy with offering him the seven-figure contract that he rightfully deserves. As for the match, this was another good performance from Black, but 10 is also fun to watch. This was a lot of fun, with 10 hitting the powerbomb on Black for the win at 7:23.

Blake’s Rating: ***

Red Velvet (3-0) with Big Swole vs. Diamante (14-6) with Ivelisse

Velvet has come a long way from her momma’s kitchen. She and Jade Cargill should at least have some interesting interactions in the tag team match featuring Cody Rhodes and Shaq. Diamante did her usual hard-hitting offense, but this was a showcase for Velvet, who hit a dropkick to the side of Diamante’s head for the victory at 5:40.

Blake’s Rating: **

Jack Evans (2-1) vs. Joey Janela (1-0)

TH2 is back! And so is Angelico’s dancing. It’s a win-win for everyone. This match had a FANTASTIC start with Evans hitting a springboard dropkick on Janela during his entrance. What a great idea. These two really brought it in this match, and they beat the hell out of each other. Janela came off the top and hit Evans with a Phoenix Splash, and I’m pretty sure he landed right on Evans’ balls. Yikes. Great near fall late in the match with Evans kicking out at two and a half, but Janela responded with the diving elbow off the top for the win at 10:04. Highly entertaining match and one of the best in a while on AEW Dark.

Blake’s Rating: ***1/2

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7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

It seems that AEW made an effort to shorten AEW Dark by eliminating entrances for some of the unsigned talent, and since the show was only around an hour and a half long, the plan worked. Things flowed better from match to match, and that made it a pretty enjoyable show. The main event between Janela and Evans was great stuff, and there were several entertaining matches elsewhere. I thought Conti's performance stood out, as she is really, really good. Hopefully that leads to a noteworthy performance in the AEW Women's World Title Eliminator Tournament. I don't know that she'll win it, but she brings a different dynamic to the women's division. Also thought Black had another good singles match in what is becoming a trend for him. 10 is becoming a Dark Order favorite as well. Best of all? To my knowledge, no one on this show had any issues with their hole.