Lovell’s AEW Dark Review 5.25.21

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

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

Also, 411’s Steve Cook put together a great piece on Larry’s top seven columns. You should read it.

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

Nick Comoroto (11-4) vs. Duke Davis (AEW debut)

I can appreciate TK starting AEW Dark with my new favorite tradition: Comoroto picking up the stairs throne for QT Marshall to sit on. Big fan of this gimmick. If you were expecting the longest match of Comoroto’s career, you have not been watching Comoroto do his thing. Comoroto squashed Davis and got the win in 46 seconds.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

Aaron Solow vs. Ganon Jones

We immediately transition into Solow vs. Jones, who are both at ringside, at QT’s request. Give QT all the belts! He runs AEW at this point. While not quite as convincing, Solow dominated the action and hit the Pedigree for the victory at 1:43. Taz got a good laugh at his joke about never seeing the Pedigree finish before. SHOOT!

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

10 (16-2) vs. Dillon McQueen (0-1)

McQueen is one of Cody Rhodes’s prized pupils, so surely he’s gonna stop the squash streak. If you haven’t seen McQueen before, he’s got size, as he and 10 did a face to face and they were pretty much even. However, what McQueen doesn’t have is 10’s stellar 2021 record, and there’s a reason for that. McQueen played his role nicely and worked well as the desperate young talent trying to pull off the huge win. But 10’s aggressiveness (including a brutal elbow strike to McQueen’s face) was too much as he locked in the Full Nelson for the win at 6:24.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

Evil Uno & Colt Cabana vs. Steven Andrews & Simon Lotto (AEW tag debut)

Simon Lotto? Let’s see if he gets lucky! Sorry, it was too easy. Again, we haven’t seen Uno and Stu Grayson team up in a bit, so hopefully Grayson is only sidelined due to his confusion surrounding Anna Jay. The Being the Elite crowd will get that. This was all Uno and Cabana, with Uno taking care of business at 2:41.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

Big Swole & KiLynn King vs. The Bunny & Madi Wrenkowski (AEW tag debut)

Hey this one could be fun. The Bunny is just awesome with her character right now. Wrenkowski isn’t too bad herself. Bunny started laughing like crazy after King got some offense in on Wrenkowski, only adding even more greatness to her character. They worked to King getting the hot tag, and she ran wild on both Bunny and Wrenkowski. More back and forth from there, with Wrenkowski looking for the tag to Bunny but she couldn’t make the save. That allowed Swole to deliver an absolutely brutal elbow strike to Wrenkowski for the victory at 7:20.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

The Gunn Club vs. Kal Herro & Liam Gray (AEW tag debut)

Anthony Ogogo sent Austin Gunn into next Christmas, so we’ve got Billy and Colten going to work here. The early star of this match is Herro’s fanny pack, which has Billy mesmerized. Taz also slides in a nice piece of profanity that gets the censor beep. Taz is the best. Stiff strike No. 37 on the evening as Billy delivers one to Herro and his fanny pack. They played up Billy trying to send a message to Ogogo, which makes sense. And then came a horrible-looking spot where Gray did a tope suicida and legitimately landed on his head on the outside. Colten hit his finisher on Gray for the win at 5:57, so apparently Gray was fine. But that was UGLY.

Blake’s Rating: **

Leyla Hirsch (12-3) vs. Vertvixen (0-3)

Ricky Starks joins commentary, and according to the comments section, I have to add 0.5 to my overall show rating. I can’t disagree with the thought process there. Vertvixen has made the most of her AEW opportunities, as she’s stood out in some of her matches. While Vertvixen got out of Hirsch’s cross armbreaker once, she couldn’t do it a second time, and Hirsch earned the victory at 2:48.

Blake’s Rating: NR

Dante Martin (7-1) vs. Jason Hotch (AEW debut)

Dante has become the workhorse of AEW Dark. I’m pretty sure if you go back and watch his first singles match since Darius Martin’s injury, you’ll see a wrestler that has improved a great deal. Pretty excited about Top Flight’s potential once Darius returned. Unfortunately for Dante, he took a WILD backbreaker that had to hurt. That was a hell of a move from Hotch, and Dante sold it like a pro. However, Dante managed to regain control and he hit the beautiful 450 Splash for the win at 5:09. Nice sprint.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

– Angelico with Dasha Gonzalez, and he hypes his match with Ryzin.

Diamante (10-6) vs. Reka Tehaka (0-4)

Neither of these two lack aggressiveness, so I fully expect them to really go after each other. Early in the match, Diamante hit a no-arms splash, which was a unique visual. They went back and forth for a bit with no wasted offense, but it was Diamante hitting the Code Red to pick up the victory at 3:01.

Blake’s Rating: **

Joey Janela (4-2) vs. Bear Bronson (8-6)

Not gonna lie, I still love the Bear Country masks. They’re different, but I’m a fan. Bronson is another wrestler that should improve via having to wrestle singles matches while his tag team partner is sidelined. He got some shine in this match, showcasing his power to counter Janela’s offense. He also gave Janela a nice squash at one point. They weren’t playing around at all, with several solid near falls that made you think Bronson was about to get the win. That didn’t happen, as Janela came off the top with the elbow for the win at 8:42. This was good stuff from both men.

Blake’s Rating: ***

Angelico (2-2) vs. Ryzin (0-4)

Starks loves Angelico’s dancing, and who could disagree? Taz getting annoyed at Excalibur’s knowledge is always hilarious. They always like to poke fun at Ryzin too for some reason. Angelico focused on his submission moves and controlled most of the match aside from Ryzin regaining momentum late. From there, Angelico used the Navarro Death Roll to get the victory at 4:53.

Blake’s Rating: **

– Janela with Alex Marvez, and Marvez wants to know where Sonny Kiss is. Janela explains that he’ll be out there for the match to keep Team Taz from getting involved. Janela says Bad Boy Summer is upon us, which apparently includes beautiful women “sucking on his nips.” Well, that escalated quickly!

Julia Hart (0-3) vs. Tesha Price (0-7)

Having watched a lot of wrestling, I think I’m decent at figuring out who has true star potential. Folks, I’m convinced Julia Hart has that. She’ll continue to get better in the ring with more experience, but the charisma is there. Price has also done a good job in her AEW matches. Very competitive match, and it was Hart hitting the split splash to notch her first AEW win at 4:12.

Blake’s Rating: **

Brian Cage (14-2) vs. Sonny Kiss (8-6)

I really want a Miro vs. Brian Cage match for the TNT title at some point. That would be the ultimate HOSS FIGHT. Cage’s offense is so great for his size, and he hit several moves in this match that were very impressive. Sonny tried to outmatch Cage’s strength, and that didn’t work as Cage reversed it into the Weapon X for the victory at 5:25.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

– After the match, Hook attacks Kiss, and Janela simply watches from the ramp before heading to the back. After many weeks of asking the question, Janela finally decided to turn heel. The summer of beautiful women sucking his nips begins!

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

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

Another solid edition of AEW Dark. I loved how they teased the Joey Janela heel turn in a backstage promo, and you got the actual payoff after the match. They've been building to that for a while, so it at least adds intrigue as to what's next for Janela and Sonny Kiss. Also, the potential is obvious with talents like Dante Martin, Julia Hart, and more, so I can appreciate them getting more experience under the belt in these types of matches. And as usual, the commentary was brilliant.