AEW Dark Review - April 6, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Evil Uno and Alex "3" Reynolds def. Jake St. Patrick, Sage Scott and Chandler Hopkins

This marked the first time that Grayson, Uno and Reynolds have teamed up as a trio. Grayson and Uno are an underrated team and throwing Cabana in there doesn't hurt. Most of these multi-man matches they have don't accomplish anything, but at least they're enjoyable for what they are. Another plus is that they're only a few minutes long. That's key because there's no reason for them to be having competitive matches against unknown enhancement talent.

Team Taz (FTW Champion Brian Cage, Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs) def. Brick Aldridge, Justin Law and Hayden Backlund

I don't understand the underlying tension between Cage and Starks. Team Taz has barely been around for a few months and apparently one loss at Revolution was enough to drive a wedge between them. Hopefully it doesn't amount to anything because to split them up any time soon would be foolish. Team Taz took turns destroying their opponents here, so that was a treat. I would have placed this later in the show so we didn't have two six-man tag team matches back-to-back.

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. Rex Lawless and Dean Alexander

I feel like half of the matches Jurassic Express have on Dark are under two minutes. Hey, I'm not complaining, but it is odd when you think about dominant they are on these shows because not many other teams seem to be and they're never this dominant on Dynamite. In this case, they were looking to send a message to Bear Country who they'll be facing on Wednesday's show, so it made sense to keep this brief.

Ryan Nemeth def. Fuego Del Sol

Both of these guys have been glorified losers on Dark and Dark: Elevation so far, but something had to give here. Fuego is definitely better in the ring than Nemeth, but Nemeth is the one they're pushing right now in his new mini faction. Fuego got as good of a match as he could out of him and Nemeth had one of his stronger performances yet. This was one of the longer matches on the show and was better than expected.

The Butcher def. Jon Cruz

It isn't often we see Butcher and The Blade wrestle singles matches. There's probably a reason for that because they're better off as a team and, personally, I've never cared for them as a team, either. On the bright side, this was a complete squash with Butcher decimating Cruz in under a minute. The match didn't overstay its welcome. I don't know what purpose it served, mind you, but it was what it needed to be.

Sea Stars def. Vertvixen and Jazmin Allure

Ashley Vox and Delmi Exo, collectively known as Sea Stars, have had a few matches on AEW programming recently. Vox in particular has wrestled a singles match or two for AEW. I was initially introduced to her work in the NWA a year or two ago and I liked what I saw from Sea Stars from the match or two they had in IMPACT earlier this year. The fact they won here, in what was a fine little match, tells me AEW plans on using them more and that can't be seen as anything but a positive.

Red Velvet and KiLynn King def. Madi Wrenkowski and Vipress

Velvet and King having an alliance benefits both of them. Velvet gets more experience out of it while King gets exposure. It's a win-win, even though there aren't women's tag titles in AEW for them to fight for. Why not send them over to IMPACT for a little while? This was a solid match. Wrenkowski stood out per usual. Once she's done with enhancement duty and if she continues to progress, she might have star potential.

JD Drake def. Baron Black

I don't think Drake has been signed to a deal by AEW yet, but they obviously have plans for him in this misfit faction with Nemeth, Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi. He's a skilled competitor and he was able to showcase some of those skills here with Black selling his offense well. They had a quality contest. This was Drake's second singles win in AEW and I'm glad he's been establishing credibility for himself.

Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss def. KC Navarro and Aaron Frye

I haven't forgotten about that teased heel turn from Janela a month ago. It might make his character slightly more interesting, but there hasn't been any follow-up. Nonetheless, this was your typical tag team match from Janela and Kiss. I truly think they'd benefit from going their separate ways because there are far more teams that are more interesting than them, including teams that aren't even under contract to the company.

Matt Sydal def. Mike Magnum

I prefer Matt Sydal on his own as opposed to in a tag team with his brother Mike. They aren't terrible together, but there's no just spark there for me despite the two having natural chemistry because they're brothers. Matt is still fantastic and I think that was evident when he faced Kenny Omega one-on-one on a recent Dynamite. I honestly wouldn't have minded this being a little longer, but I'll never have a problem with a short match on this show.

Matt Hardy def. Vary Morales

Hardy is in the perfect spot in his career right now. I feel like I say that a lot, especially when it came to his "Broken" character, but I've been digging his current heel run as it allows him to work with (and help elevate) younger talent while also wrestle occasionally. Hell, he's probably one of the biggest names that competes on Dark most weeks. He finished Morales off quick here, building his case for a future shot at the AEW TNT Championship.

Bear Country def. The Hybrid2

This was easily the biggest win Bear Country has gotten yet and it's obviously because they'll be facing Jurassic Express this week on Dynamite with the theme being Godzilla vs. Kong (which was a great movie, by the way). They have to be signed to some sort of a deal by now, right? I've thoroughly enjoyed Bear Country so far and they had a fun main event with TH2 who, unfortunately, have never meant less.

Overall Show

I assume AEW wanted to lighten the load for the Dark shows this week with it being WWE's WrestleMania week and there being so much going on. I'm not sure if that was their line of thinking or not, but either way, it makes my job a hell of a lot easier, so thank you, AEW. At any rate, this was a perfectly serviceable episode. Bear Country's win over TH2 in the main event was notable as they prepare to take on Jurassic Express on Wednesday. The rest of the show was pretty basic stuff, but at least certain people are picking up key victories and I appreciated that most of the matches were on the shorter side.