AEW Dark Review - August 10, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Thunder Rosa def. Zeda Zhang

I remember Zhang from the brief stint she had in WWE from 2017 to 2018. I don't think she was ever featured on TV much, but I'm pretty sure she was in that first Mae Young Classic. She was released years ago, so I'm surprised it took AEW this long to use her for one of their Dark shows. She had a solid showing and scored more offense than I thought she would, but Rosa went over decisively in the end as she should have.

Red Velvet def. Skyler Moore

Velvet has her opportunity at the AEW Women's World Championship coming up on the premiere episode of Rampage this Friday, so AEW is obviously giving her a few more momentum-building wins before then. She's definitely improved in the ring this year and is ready for a title shot on TV, but needless to say, she isn't winning. She's not a super popular babyface by any means, so there can be no doubt that she's getting booed in Britt Baker's hometown of Pittsburgh.

2.0 def. Adrian Alanis and Liam Gray

For those who missed last week's Dynamite (and why would you have), 2.0 are the former Ever-Rise from WWE, or 3.0 from before their WWE stint. They popped up on this week's Being The Elite and are very entertaining, so hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of them. I think it's telling that they picked up a win here and weren't given the jobber treatment like last week on Dynamite. Speaking of Dynamite, they'll be on Dynamite again this week in the corner of Daniel Garcia.

Bear Country def. Chaos Project

Bear Country is back, baby! Bear Boulder was out injured for a few months, but he's returned to active competition and Bear Country looks to be picking up where they left off. They were gaining some serious steam before Boulder got hurt and I'm glad it appears AEW is going to get back to that seeing as how they won here. It was a competitive contest, and although I'm no Chaos Project fan, this was a decent outing with the right team going over.

Darby Allin def. Invictus Khash

I can't get over how cool that new entrance video for Allin is. Props to the people who made it. Throwing a Darby Allin match in the middle of the card was a surprising choice, but it served its purpose by giving Allin another victory. Sting wasn't at ringside with him, but why would he bother? It's a Dark episode with no fans in the building. On a side note, Invictus Knash is a hell of a wrestling name. He fared well for himself here.

QT Marshall def. Alan "5" Angels

Oh, we're still doing this QT Marshall push? Cool, I guess. He had his time in the feud with Cody Rhodes, and it was a flop. I'm happy that this was relegated to Dark and not Dynamite, but if they're going to use him in an on-air capacity, he'd be better off serving as a manager to one of his pupils, such as Nick Comoroto, who has way more upside at this point. This was a better bout than I thought it would be, but Marshall never ceases to bore me to tears.

Hikuleo def. Thad Brown

I thought Hikuleo's recent match against Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship on Dynamite was a one-off, but apparently not. Will he continue to make appearances on the Dark shows and continue to gain experience and exposure? He's a massive dude with potential, so I'm all for him becoming a Dark regular. Some of his offensive maneuvers in this match didn't look too clean or devastating, but at least it was kept on the shorter side.

Nyla Rose def. Valentina Rossi

This marked Rose's first match on AEW programming since falling short of becoming champion against Britt Baker a few weeks ago. She's back to square one as far as squashing people, which is fine by me. She excels in that role, even though I maintain that Vickie Guerrero adds nothing to her act as a manager. Keeping this under two minutes was the right call as it accomplished what it needed to without overstaying its welcome.

Daniel Garcia def. Fuego Del Sol

As previously noted, Garcia will be back in action this week on Dynamite facing Allin one-on-one. I would've liked to have seen Fuego pick up the rare win, but he wasn't going to beat someone who has a somewhat important match coming up on Wednesday night. Fuego sold well for him and it was a fine little match while it lasted. Fuego continues to impress in defeat, though he didn't have as big of a crowd to feed off of here.

Penelope Ford def. Sahara Seven

Ford is wrestling more now than she ever was when she was with Kip Sabian, or so it seems. I could be wrong about that, but she's now the focal point. I liked them as an act given their chemistry, but Ford may be better off flying solo from here on out. The women's division needs more players after all. This was along the same lines of most matches she's had recently (which tend to be hit or miss, but this was passable) and saw her score the decisive victory. 

The Pinnacle (Shawn Spears and Wardlow) def. Seth Gargis and Ripper Zbyszko

if you couldn't already guess, Ripper Zbysko is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Larry Zbysko. AEW is giving every second-generation star a look it seems (unless you're Tessa Blanchard, that is). He looked fine in there and didn't embarrass himself, so there was that. We'll see if they bring him back for more matches. This was another showcase for the forgotten members of The Pinnacle who aren't doing anything of note at the moment.

The Hybrid2 def. Marcus Kross and Jay Freddie

Kross is the dude who has been on the Dark shows a handful of times lately and looks ridiculous with his Dragon Ball Z-inspired attire and hair. To his credit, he does well in the enhancement role and always makes his opponents look good, though TH2 don't need much help with that. I feel like we see much more of Angelico on his own nowadays than we do the two of them as a team, so it was nice to see them back in action together here.

The Lucha Brothers def. The Wingmen (Cezar Bononi and JD Drake)

Peter Avalon accompanied The Wingmen to ringside, but Ryan Nemeth wasn't there for some reason. Hey, I'm not complaining. In all seriousness, The Wingmen play their roles well and were here to allow The Lucha Brothers to shine. They've been on fire since reuniting and have been killing it against everyone they've been up against. Bononi and Drake are regulars on the Dark shows, but there was no reason for this to last any longer than it did.

Tay Conti def. Robyn Renegade

If Red Velvet is getting a title shot this Friday on Rampage, I can't imagine Conti is too far behind. She's been on a roll in the ring and she's been able to improve her offense with these short-and-sweet matches, but the key now is developing her mic skills. She's actually more in her element as a heel as far as the talking goes, but either way, they need to let her cut more promos. This was your basic Conti squash.

Private Party def. Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta

I don't think Yuta is a full-fledged member of Best Friends yet (more like their protégé in the absence of Trent), so that's why I didn't refer to him and Taylor as such. The H.F.O. are apparently now feuding with the Best Friends crew and, although I'm a fan of certain people in both stables, I can't bring myself to care. This was probably the longest match on the show and it was rock solid. Private Party winning made more sense seeing as how they're a true team while Taylor and Yuta are not.

The Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Evil Uno Colt Cabana) def. Davis Ramos, Jake Manning and Joey Sweets

Man Scout returns! I've seen him in the crowd at some of the recent AEW shows and he was even involved in a segment with Team Taz a few weeks ago on Dynamite, but this was the first match he's had on Dark in months. He's a guilty pleasure of mine. Unfortunately, he didn't have any time to do his shtick because this was so short. Then again, there was no reason for it to be any longer. All three Dark Order guys had their time to shine and it was over in about two minutes.

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds and Preston "10" Vance) def. Dean Alexander, Arjun Singh and T.I.M.

Ah, a second straight Dark Order squash. What was the point of putting them back-to-back? And why were they positioned at the end of the show in the main event slots? I know they're fan favorites, but that was a weird choice. This was twice as long as the previous match but featured most of the same stuff as far as the Dark Order guys getting their signature spots in. I wasn't familiar with their opponents whatsoever. The highlight of this for me was seeing Silver back in the ring after a long layoff. He wrestled in that 10-man tag team match on Dynamite a few weeks ago, but this was the only other match he's had since returning.

Overall Show

There were a whopping 17 matches on this show, which was absolute overkill. Two hours may sound like nothing compared to what Dark was doing around this time a year ago, but in front of no fans (this was taped at Daily's Place in Jacksonville), it was tough to sit through. As always, the strengths of Dark are that it gives wrestlers more experience and boosts their win-loss record, but two hours is far too long for a show of this nature, especially with Elevation also airing on Mondays and Rampage set to debut on Friday this week. Less is more, people. This was a serviceable show but nothing you need to go out of your way to see, of course.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews