Lovell’s AEW Dark Review 9.28.21

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

Image Credit: AEW

– Alex Marvez with Santana Garrett, and she says she’s gonna make her father proud and prove she’s All Elite. Diamante comes in laughing and challenges Garrett for next week. They brawl before being broken up by road agents.

Thunder Rosa (28-2) vs. Nikita Knight (AEW debut)

Excalibur takes a shot at Marvez doing absolutely nothing to break up the Diamante/Garrett brawl. You’ve gotta love it. Both of these women are full of energy, and Knight does a good job playing up her heel role. But the people love Rosa, and that eventual rematch with Britt Baker is gonna be fantastic. Excalibur plays up what a win would do for Knight, but we’re not falling for it, MISDIRECTION JONES. Knight hit some elbow strikes, then Rosa took control and locked in the Peruvian Necktie to force Knight to tap at 3:52.

Blake’s Rating: **

Private Party (10-2) vs. JDX and Carlie Bravo (AEW tag debut)

JDX has been impressive in his AEW Dark appearances thus far, so let’s see if that continues. It does, as he and Bravo showcase some fine teamwork early on to take advantage of an overly confident Private Party. However, we’ve got shenanigans, which allows Isiah Kassidy and Marc Quen to regain control. JDX makes the hot tag to Bravo, and he is HYPED. Taz calls him out on it because Taz is terrific at his job. Gin and Juice after that gets the job done for Private Party at 4:37.

Blake’s Rating: **1/2

Kiera Hogan (1-3) vs. Leila Grey (0-9)

While I don’t recall seeing the Kiera Hogan is All Elite graphic, Excalibur and Taz make it official that she has signed with the company. That’s no surprise really, but it’s worth noting. I think she can be a great asset to the women’s division. They trade shots for a bit, and Hogan picks things up with aggressive offense. Hogan then hits the roundhouse kick to earn the victory at 2:57.

Blake’s Rating: NR

10 (27-4) vs. Brandon Gore (0-1)

The managerial legend -1 is back to continue his quest to become wrestling’s all-time greatest manager. -1 even points at Gore before the match starts to really intimidate him. INTIMIDATION JONES. Gore isn’t quite Rhino, so 10 does his thing and pretty much destroys Gore with a variety of offense. 10 then hits the spinebuster and powerbomb before locking in the Full Nelson for the easy win at 2:28.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

Adrian Jaoude and Cezar Bononi (AEW tag debut) vs. Ryzin and Jake St. Patrick (AEW tag debut)

For the unaware, Jaoude is the former Arturo Ruas in WWE. Taz is a big fan of Bononi and Jaoude’s theme song and even throws in a HEAVY DEATH METAL JONES for good measure. Hopefully Bononi can convince Jaoude to become a member of The Wingmen. But this was the more serious Bononi, and he and Jaoude worked well together as a focused unit. They took care of business with Bononi getting the pin for the victory at 3:09.

Blake’s Rating: **

Lance Archer (35-5) vs. Arjun Singh

Archer brings out Singh from the back during his entrance and THROWS HIM OFF THE STAGE. How can anyone not love Archer? Best entrance in the game. Archer takes Singh all around the outside of the ring and just destroys the man. Archer even delivers a spike chokeslam on the apron. However, Singh ducks a big boot, and Archer starts favoring his knee. Singh goes after it, and then Archer hits a cannonball off the middle rope as the bell rings to start the match. Hilarious. Archer hits the Blackout to score the win in about 15 seconds.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

Ricky Starks (12-2) w/ Hook vs. Darius Lockhart (AEW debut)

Starks is just the best. Taz notes Hook is holding the FTW title in a special bag and suggests it’s getting a makeover. Lockhart goes the technical route to control the early portion of the match, but Starks decides to go the pissed off route by slapping Lockhart in the face. Then he chops the hell out of him. When Starks turns it up a notch, he REALLY turns it up. The crowd thinks Ricky sucks, but I strongly disagree. Also, Excalibur is pushing AEW Universal as the name of the venue now, so I suppose they’re over the All Elite Zone. Lockhart keeps fighting back and continues the display of technical prowess with consecutive near falls. Starks seems to have it won, but Lockhart kicks out again. Lockhart then goes back on offense and several more near falls has the audience buzzing. What a back and forth affair here. But it’s Starks who finally hits the spear to notch the victory at 9:03. This was very, very good, and you can add Lockhart to the list of rising talents who could join AEW.

Blake’s Rating: ***1/2

Evil Uno and Stu Grayson (22-6) vs. Adrian Alanis and Liam Gray (0-7)

Bray Wyatt soon? Should be interesting. Uno and Grayson come out on a mission, but then it’s Alanis and Gray with their own aggressive streak. But they are no match for Grayson when he gets going, and he runs wild before tagging in Uno, who hits Alanis with an awesome boot. Combo finisher does it from there to give Uno and Grayson the win at 3:15.

Blake’s Rating: SQUASH

Julia Hart (6-8) vs. Reka Tehaka (0-9)

Taz with his best cheerleader impression to start things off. Excalibur starts reading a promo for All Elite GM, which sends Taz into a frenzy at the very mention of CM Punk. Good stuff. Taz on Hart’s cheerleading background: “She loves to cheer things.” Taz is a national treasure. Tehaka always puts on a good showing with her intense approach, this was all about Hart, who hit the running bulldog and split for the victory at 3:12.

Blake’s Rating: **

Bear Country (6-2) vs. Jameson Ryan and Brick Aldridge (AEW tag debut)

Folks, this is officially a HOSS FIGHT. These are four big dudes who are gonna beat each other up for our entertainment. It is appreciated. Taz reveals that Bear County smells, then notes that he saw them in the East River recently. Lots of power moves throughout the match, and it was Bear County getting the better of the exchange to pick up the win at 4:23.

Blake’s Rating: **

Matt Sydal and Dante Martin vs. QT Marshall and Aaron Solo (3-1)

Sydal and Dante is one of those tag teams you don’t realize you need until they’re actually in the ring together. QT and Solo try to slow things down, which makes sense considering QT doing 450 splashes seems unlikely. Things go back and forth for a bit until Sydal uses a great counter to make the hot tag to Dante, who does Dante things. Then we get stereo moonsaults onto QT and Solo. Quite a sequence there. The momentum shifts to QT and Solo, but Sydal hits the Lightning Spiral on QT, which leads to Dante hitting yet another ridiculous springboard moonsault for the victory at 9:41.

Blake’s Rating: ***

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

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

Another entertaining edition of AEW Dark. Ricky Starks vs. Darius Lockhart was great, and Lockhart is certainly a potential AEW signee given his technical talents. The main event tag team match was also good. Meanwhile, Excalibur and Taz are back in a groove on commentary, and that only adds to the entertainment value. They're the best in the business.