AEW Dark Review - August 6, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. RYZIN and D3

I was wondering where RYZIN has been recently. He was a fixture on the Dark shows for over a year but seemed to disappear for a few weeks for whatever reason. That's probably the case with a lot of the enhancement talent they use, but I just notice it more with RYZIN because I'm a fan of his work. At any rate, this was a perfectly serviceable squash for Jurassic Express. Jungle Boy is more of a force in singles competition at this point, but I'm all for Jurassic Express teaming up from time to time.

Kris Statlander def. Leila Grey

​Statlander is stacking up wins left and right and is clearly being positioned for a future shot at the AEW Women's World Championship, hopefully at All Out if Red Velvet is going for the gold on Rampage next Friday. I feel like she's been firing on all cylinders more than she was before she got hurt last year in addition to cleaning up her in-ring work, which was already above average. This was another successful showcase for her.

The Lucha Brothers def. Jake St. Patrick and Sage Scott

The Lucha Brothers have reunited and it feels so good. Seriously, they're stars and I'm ready for them to make waves in the tag team division again, assuming both of them can stay healthy. I'm glad they're involved in something meaningful at the moment (the angle with Andrade El Idolo), but I'd like to see them get another run at the AEW World Tag Team Championship sooner rather than later. This was a fun sprint.

Julia Hart def. Angelica Risk

​Risk just made her AEW debut earlier this week on one of the Dark shows. She was competent this time around as well in putting over Hart. Hart getting as many matches as she has been is no coincidence, as Tony Khan clearly sees potential in her and the rest of the Varsity Blonds act. She's still improving in the ring, but getting more reps in on the Dark shows will only help her cause.

"All Ego" Ethan Page def. Baron Black

This marked Page's first appearance on AEW programming since losing that Coffin match to Darby Allin last month. I was curious when he'd be brought back, but from a storyline standpoint, I like how he took some time off to sell the loss and the fact he was destroyed inside a coffin. There was no sign of Scorpio Sky, but I'm sure they'll still be tag team going forward... for some reason. This victory got Page back on track.

The Gunn Club (Billy and Colten Gunn) def. The Factory (Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto)

I noted in one of my Dark reviews earlier this week that I genuinely forgot that The Factory was still a thing. Without Anthony Ogogo, whose currently out injured, they're beyond boring and dead in the water. Comoroto has the most potential of the bunch, but he's lost momentum since that Dynamite loss to Dustin Rhodes a few months ago that amounted to nothing. This match was whatever. I'd usually complain about Billy picking up the win for his team and not one of his sons, but it was against Aaron Solo, so I can't possibly bring myself to care.

Frankie Kazarian def. "Pretty" Peter Avalon

You forget how infrequently Avalon has wrestled in recent months, at least on his own. Hey, I'm not complaining, as he seems to make more sense as a manager for the younger guys. He's not bad in the ring whatsoever, but I've always found it difficult to care about his matches. This was a solid little match and a nice win for Kazarian, whose Elite Hunter gimmick I continue to enjoy.

Matt Sydal, Mike Sydal and Dante Martin def. Aaron Frye, Darian Bengston and Vary Morales

The Sydal brothers teaming with Dante feels like the perfect fit, especially coming off the two matches Matt Sydal had with Dante recently. I'm looking forward to the Sydal brothers having an alliance with Top Flight once Darius is cleared to compete. This was a straightforward squash with the babyfaces on offense the entire time and getting to show off their aerial abilities. It stood out among the other matches on this show for that reason despite being brief.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Lance Archer def. Tre' Lamar (Non-Title)

​We found out last week that Archer will be defending his U.S. Title against Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Resurgence event this month, a match I'm very much looking forward to checking out. It's awesome that Archer finally has some sense of direction after doing nothing for the longest time. This was a fairly standard squash for Archer as it should have been.

Abadon def. Kelsey Heather

As I've said time and time again, I have zero interest in any of Abadon's matches. They're all mostly the same, and although you can say the same time for a bunch of other people on the AEW roster who also regularly compete on the Dark shows, I'm just not into Abadon's shtick and don't see any real value in it. Heather pretending to be scared of her was the highlight of this thing, which follows her short stint as one of Bobby Lashley's ladies on WWE Raw.

Orange Cassidy def. Jora Johl

Matt Hardy recruited Johl into the H.F.O. this summer, but he's done nothing of note while with the group. In fact, I don't think the guy has won a single match since joining AEW. He's actually got skills, but although he scored some offense here, this wasn't a very competitive contest. Rather, Cassidy beat him in a matter of minutes. Best Friends have been regularly appearing on all of AEW's shows lately, but they don't seem to be locked into any one thing in particular.

Overall Show

Usually AEW doesn't do Dark shows on a Friday unless it's a pay-per-view weekend, but I believe this aired at 10/9pm E.T. because that's the same time slot Rampage will be premiering in next Friday night and this was intended to get AEW fans excited for that, or something along those lines. It was a pretty pointless show and I hated that they were back at Daily's Place in front of nobody except the usual enhancement talent, but at least it was just over an hour and all of the matches were well wrestled and therefore harmless.

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