AEW Dark Review - April 4, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AR Fox def. "Pretty" Peter Avalon

Avalon was recently on Dynamite facing Chris Jericho, so I guess it meant more for Fox to beat him than a no-name indie wrestler. Obviously, I couldn't care less about Avalon and the Wingmen crap, but he's a competent competitor and a good, experienced person for the talented Fox to be working with. They had a nice little match, but I wish Fox won more decisively instead with a roll-up as there's no need to protect Avalon of all people.

Willie Mack def. Serpentico

Much like Avalon, Serpentico doesn't do much for me based on his association with Luther, but on his own, he's perfectly passable and can have well-wrestled matches. This was an example of that. Mack has primarily been relegated to the Dark shows so far in AEW, but he's capable of some impressive stuff as seen here. As someone who has followed his work for years, I hope he signs with AEW/Ring of Honor if he hasn't already.

Leila Grey def. Ameera

Grey is in an interesting spot at the moment because she's still green and needs to reps, hence why these matches on Dark are necessary. However, I don't see her improving much as long as she's been paired with other talent who haven't been around very long. She needs more matches against women on the roster. That said, this was fine for what it was and was wisely kept on the shorter side.

Varsity Athletes (Tony Nese and Ari Daivari) def. Jay Lucas and Terry Yaki

If you've seen one Varsity Athletes enhancement match, you've seen them all, especially the ones with Daivari instead of Josh Woods. They simply exist and nothing more. The problem is that they're a talented team, but fans have zero reason to take seriously because of how they're booked, and that hasn't changed in ROH. Having that goof Mark Sterling as their manager hasn't helped. This wasn't bad by any means, just more of the same.

Lee Moriarty def. Invictus Khash

Moriarty is awesome, so it's been disappointing to see him a part of this Firm faction that hasn't amounted to anything. They've been fed to Hook and that's about it. I doubt he'd get as much exposure without the group, so it's a lose-lose situation. These wins give him minor momentum boosts, but again, where are they leading? It's a treat to watch him work in the ring, so that's one positive about his pointless squash matches.

Evil Uno def. Cezar Bononi

Uno has been having more and more singles matches since having that one main event against Jon Moxley on Dynamite a month or so ago and I have no idea why. Uno isn't awful, but if there aren't any plans to use him in singles competition (and there shouldn't be), then I don't understand what purpose these matches serve. Similar to the opener, at least Uno beat a Wingmen jobber instead of someone we've never seen before, and it was okay.

Toni Storm def. Kiera Hogan

Hogan has been completely directionless as a babyface and it's sad to see. She's better in the heel role and I have no idea why she was broken away from Jade Cargill if there wasn't going to be any follow-up. Meanwhile, Storm making an appearance on Dark now that she's involved in a relevant storyline on Dynamite was a treat. This was a fun main event and easily the best bout on this show. I also appreciated that it received as much time as it did with Hogan getting to look credible in defeat.

Overall Show

Seven matches is an appropriate amount of matches for Dark. Elevation has been following that formula for a long time, but Dark is much more inconsistent for some reason. Hey, I'll take these shorter shows whenever we can get them. This was an average episode on the whole capped off by a quality main event. Everything else was business as usual, but Mack, Moriarty and Fox being in action added to my enjoyment.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews