AEW Dark Review - August 23, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Robyn and Charlette Renegade def. Rocky Radley and Allie Recks

I might be in the minority on this one, but I don't see much upside in the Renegade sisters at all. And trust me, I've seen plenty of their matches on AEW TV as well as on Dark and Elevation. They're just not that great, but maybe AEW is hoping they'll improve and that's why they're getting so many matches. This was designed to give them a win so it means slightly more the next time they lose. The best part about the match was that they didn't attempt to pull the switcheroo crap for once.

Anthony Ogogo def. Meto

We've reached a point in Ogogo's AEW run where he either needs to be featured on television again or part ways with the company. He can't stay on Dark forever, and I don't think he needs that much seasoning where he needs to be banished to the YouTube shows without ever wrestling on Dynamite or Rampage. This was your typical enhancement match and he won by knockout as always. There wasn't much else to it.

The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth) def. Adrian Alanis and Liam Gray

Look, I'm all for boosting the win-loss records of certain people, but The Wingmen really have no business winning matches. Their opponents don't gain anything from beating them and jobbers should be used as jobbers (not to mention their act sucks, but I realize that's just my opinion). This gave them a rare win. The match was serviceable albeit a waste of time along with their post-match promo. Seriously, what purpose did that serve?

Blake Christian def. Lucky Ali

As I've mentioned before, Christian is great in the ring but lacks character. He's made the rounds this past year between WWE, IMPACT, ROH, NJPW, GCW and now AEW, but I want more of a reason to care about him. His post-match promo is a step in the right direction. He was on offense the entire time and got to show off his skills. Reportedly, he's been signed by AEW and I have to assume he'll be a regular on ROH TV when that launches.

Jora Johl def. Vary Morales

Since The Andrade Family Office is basically no longer a thing now, I have no idea what that means for Johl. He'll probably continue to compete on the occasional episode of Dark, but he's going to need some more direction beyond that eventually. This was perfectly fine for what it was. Johl is an adequate hand in the ring, but the lack of progression with his character has hurt him the most. Winning a match once a month on Dark accomplishes nothing other than reminding the audience he's still on the roster.

Max Caster def. Justin Cotto

Caster was without Anthony Bowens here, but he still did his usual pre-match rap and the crowd ate it up. He even had someone in the front row do Bowens' part, which was a cool touch. The match was your standard squash, but Caster being as entertaining as he is made this more bearable. The Acclaimed have to be headed for an AEW World Tag Team Championship opportunity soon, right? They're super over right now and AEW should strike while the iron is hot with them.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal def. The Factory (Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto)

This honestly could have gone either way, and that's not really a compliment since both teams are booked like losers. However, it did make the outcome more unpredictable. Sydal is basically taking Darius' spot as Dante's partner for the time being, and although I want to see AEW do something meaningful with Dante on his own again, this team will likely get him more television time right now. On the bright side, they work well together. This was a competitive contest with the right result.

Daniel Garcia def. Westin Blake

Garcia is coming off a tremendous two-out-of-three falls match with Bryan Danielson last week on Dynamite. If Tony Khan plays his cards right, he could have a breakout babyface on his hands in Garcia (and that's coming from someone who has never found him to be entertaining as a character). Unfortunately, I feel like it's going to end up being a ruse with Garcia sticking with Jericho Appreciation Society, but we'll see. This was a well-wrestled affair and it was nice to see the former Wesley Blake from WWE make an appearance. I guess his gig in Control Your Narrative didn't work? When was their last show, anyway?

The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Parker Boudreaux Ryan Howe, Omar Amir and Cash Flo

Along with Sonny Kiss, Trustbusters were accompanied by JVSK, who is obviously VSK. His name was pronounced as Jeeves (dressed like a butler, too) and apparently he's going to be a manager for Trustbusters now. Uhm, okay? That's really random. At any rate, I'm not sold on Trustbusters yet, but then again, I'm not sure I ever will be because Daivari bores me to tears. This was a short and sweet showcase for the new group. Don't expect AEW to ease up on their push despite them being eliminated from the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament last week.

The Dark Order (John Silver, Alex Reynolds and Preston "10" Vance) def. Tyshaun Perez, DK Vandu and Joey Sweets

This was basically every Dark Order multi-man match you've ever seen, and I'd be content if I never saw one again. That said, this served a purpose because Dark Order will be taking on House of Black in the first round of the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament. Evil Uno already confirmed he won't be teaming with Silver and Reynolds, but I thought it was obvious Vance would be their partner until a graphic for Rampage that aired on Dynamite indicated Silver and Reynolds will have a mystery partner instead. Will it be Adam Page even though he indicated a few weeks ago he had no intention of taking part?

Tony Nese and Josh Woods def. GKM and Oliver Sawyer

Nese and Woods are another team Khan seems intent on aggressively pushing at the moment. Woods has potential, but this team will not do him any favors. In fact, having him associate with someone who is largely considered damaged goods will cause viewers to look at him as an undercard competitor as well, but I think he can be more than that. These guys can go, but I had no issue with keeping it brief on a show that already had so many squashes.

Iron Savages def. Sean Maluta and Manny Lo

Bear Country will be known as Iron Savages going forward and I'm not exactly sure why. They were impressive on their own, but maybe giving them JT Davidson (no idea who the hell he is, by the way) will help get them more of a push? Time will tell. They were as dominant as they've always been, so at least they haven't gotten a gimmick change. Davidson cut an impressive promo afterward, but it's going to be hard for them to stand out when AEW already has so many damn managers as it is.

The Workhorsemen def. Rosario Grillo and Dean Alexander

The last I heard, Anthony Henry had to been signed to a deal by AEW (though I forgot if he'll be assigned to AEW or Ring of Honor specifically). Hopefully that means we'll be seeing more of The Workhorsemen going forward. It'd be a much better use of JD Drake than the Wingmen garbage, that's for sure. They consistently live up to their name as this was a nicely-paced outing that had a refreshing sense of urgency about it thanks to The Workhorsemen.

KiLynn King def. Mafiosa

If you were looking for a main event on this show, this certainly wasn't it. I wasn't at all disappointed by it being so quick, though. The focus was actually on what happened with King cutting a promo about being back in AEW and brawling with Britt Baker, who she'll be facing on Wednesday's Dynamite. Truth be told, their confrontation was the best thing on this entire episode. It successfully hyped up their match for tomorrow, and although I still couldn't care less about it, I appreciate the effort, nonetheless. Dark could use more of this sort of stuff.

Overall Show

Although I think primarily taping Dark out of Universal Studios is beneficial to the lesser-experienced talent, it makes these shows feel like marathons, especially when they feature 10 or more squashes and the episodes last over an hour. This was 90-plus minutes long. Why? Most of these matches were tedious and nothing was overly exciting from an in-ring standpoint, but this edition of Dark was interesting because we saw the repackaging of the former Bear Country and the debut of two new managers. The show-closing angle was also well done and, as noted, Dark should continue to be used to promote lesser-important matches on Dark in the future.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews