AEW Dark Review - August 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

2.0 def. Skyler Andrews and Sam Adams

2.0 kicked off Monday's episode of Dark: Elevation as well. It's clear AEW is behind them to a certain extent if they're getting so much screen time, including a tag team match on Dynamite this Wednesday against Darby Allin and Sting. They're an entertaining act, but I'm glad they're getting a chance to show what a lot of fans didn't get to see from them in the ring while they were with WWE NXT. I could absolutely see a contract being in their future.

Tay Conti def. Rebecca Scott

Conti appeared at an independent wrestling event I attended over the weekend and it's evident she has made strides in her ring work. She's far from a ring general or anything along those lines, but she's getting good and the only thing she's missing at this point is character development. We got to see a bit of that when she was appearing alongside Anna Jay, so maybe they'll get back to that once she's cleared to compete. This was the usual Conti showcase.

Lee Johnson and Brock Anderson def. Joey Keys and Spencer Slade

Johnson and Anderson are still getting reps as a team. To my knowledge, Anderson hasn't been signed to a full-time deal with AEW, and I don't think he's ready for that yet, anyway. He's showing signs of potential in these matches, but he's not quite there yet. Johnson, on the other hand, has been the highlight of these squashes and is coming along nicely in his own right. I just don't know how far these two can go as a team.

Matt Hardy def. Wheeler Yuta

Best Friends and the H.F.O. have been feuding for the past month, so I should have expected to see this match eventually. Hardy is the seasoned veteran while Yuta is the promising up-and-comer, so I liked the dynamic. I don't know how many matches Hardy should be having at this stage of his career, but he looked perfectly fine here while Yuta once again gained credibility in defeat.

Penelope Ford def. Masha Slamovich

Personally, I had no idea who Slamovich, but I read somewhere that she's actually an east coast regular and has competed in a variety of promotions over here. I've never heard of her, but maybe she can continue to appear on AEW programming and make a name for herself. Ford is still a work in progress, but this was one of her better bouts in recent memory. Thunder Rosa emerged afterward to make the save for Slamovich, so it looks like we're headed for a mini feud between Ford and Rosa.

Kris Statlander def. Kiera Hogan

Hogan made her AEW debut on Monday's Elevation against Hikaru Shida and had a solid showing. She didn't have much more of a chance to shine in defeat here, at least compared to other enhancement talent AEW has used, but I think they'd be foolish to not sign her. She has so much untapped potential, especially from a character standpoint. This was decent while it lasted and kept Statlander's winning ways intact.

Death Triangle (Pac and The Lucha Brothers) def. Chaos Project and Cole Karter

I can't remember the last time we saw Death Triangle all together in one match like we did here. Maybe it was recently and I'm just blanking, but between certain members getting hurt and Pac's travel issues, they haven't been able to team up too often over the last year. It's well documented that Chaos Project do absolutely nothing for me, so I had no problem with Death Triangle squashing them and Karter here. Andrade El Idolo attempted to distract them from the stage during the bout and cost them the win, but to no avail.

Nyla Rose def. Tina San Antonio

Rose completely killed San Antonio here. I mean, this was the definition of a dominant squash. Truthfully, that's what we should be seeing more of from Rose, especially now that she's out of AEW Women's World Championship contention for the time being. And no, Vickie Guerrero's screaming afterward doesn't make me think otherwise. She lost to Britt Baker when the title was on the line and then again to Kris Statlander, so my guess is that we'll be seeing a lot more of her on the Dark shows for now. This was what it needed to be, but I could have done without Vickie speaking at all.

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds and Preston "10" Vance) def. Rickey Shane Page, Andrew Palace and Bill Collie

Silver and Reynolds are a terrific duo and I hope we get to see more of them together now that Silver has returned to action. I'm actually surprised we haven't seen more of Silver in action over the last month. Throwing Vance in there was a nice touch and this was a solid showcase for the three of them. They've resorted to having squash matches again now that their bad blood with The Elite seems to be over for now.

Frankie Kazarian def. Brandon Cutler

Kazarian has been feuding with The Elite for months and more specifically Brandon Cutler. I had zero interest in Cutler when he was doing his own thing, and while he's still a goof, at least he's more entertaining in this role he's currently in as The Elite's stooge. He did some stupid shenanigans, but it wasn't enough to stop Kazarian from picking up the victory. By the way, I'm curious what the endgame is supposed to be with Kazarian's rivalry with The Elite.

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) and Varsity Blonds def. The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth, Cezar Bononi, "Pretty" Peter Avalon and JD Drake)

I believe this marked the first time we've seen The Wingmen all together in a while. It's usually only two or three members at a time, but they reunited here to do the job for two teams on the rise: Jurassic Express and Varsity Blonds. Varsity Blonds are a bit directionless at the moment with their feud with The Acclaimed put on the back burner temporarily, but at least they're maintaining momentum. As for Jurassic Express, this gave them a last-minute momentum boost before they vie for the AEW World Tag Team Championship this Wednesday on Dynamite.

Dante Martin def. Lee Moriarty

I've heard a lot about Moriarty as of late and apparently he's been a regular in MLW despite not signing a full-time contract there, at least not to my knowledge. I was curious what the buzz was all about and we got a good glimpse of what he's capable of in this match. This was a total spot-fest, mind you, but I enjoyed it and so did the crowd. Needless to say, AEW needs to bring back Moriarty for more matches in the future. As for Dante, he had a breakout performance last week on Dynamite and I'm glad AEW capitalized on that here.

Overall Show

This featured around the same amount of matches as Monday's Dark: Elevation episode and I couldn't be happier about that. Usually when one show is on the shorter side, the other is much longer than it should be (two hours consisting of mostly squashes is ridiculous to me). That wasn't the case this week and the show blew by as a result. Dark shows wrapping up in 90 minutes or less is ideal and this show followed that formula very well. If you were wondering why we saw some of the same faces on this show that we did on Elevation, it's because I'm pretty sure this was taped on Rampage night while Elevation was taped on Dynamite night. That's a much better balance.

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