AEW Dark Review - August 9, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Private Party, The Butcher and The Blade def. Isiah Broner, James Alexander, Brayden Lee and Sam Moore

Again, I ask: why the hell are Private Party still teaming with The Butcher and The Blade if The Andrade Family Office are no longer a thing? I mean, that much is apparent based on how Andrade El Idolo and Rush will be teaming together this Wednesday on Dynamite. It's over, boys, get over it. Plus, Private Party have no natural chemistry with them, so it feels forced (even more so than it did previously). The match gave them a rare win but served no purpose beyond that.

Anna Jay def. Megan Meyers

Jay was listed as Anna Jay A.S. in the pre-match graphic but was announced as just Anna Jay, so I'm sticking with that until I hear/see an official name change elsewhere. It's so incredibly dumb that I hope they're not actually using that as anything other than the occasional nickname. The whole concept of her joining Jericho Appreciation Society is silly and doe her no favors. Jay acting over-the-top aggressive is also ridiculous, but at least this didn't last longer than it needed to.

Best Friends (Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor) def. Rohit Raju and Ren Jones

It's worth noting that Danhausen accompanied Best Friends to ringside. He seemingly ditched them for Hook and now he's reunited with them, so I'm not sure where his allegiance truly lies. At any rate, Raju has been given plenty of shine in recent months on Dark, so I was disappointed to see him used as just another enhancement guy on this show. He and Jones didn't receive much offense before eating defeat.

Andrade El Idolo and Rush Addressed The Lucha Brothers

Andrade and Rush just popped up on Elevation to confront The Lucha Brothers following their win over The Wingmen as those teams will finally be clashing on Wednesday's Dynamite. It's a match I've been excited to see for months and I'm sure it will be a banger. It's rare we get on-stage interviews on Dark, but I'm glad we got one here to hype up the Dynamite match. They kept it short and sweet.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Preston "10" Vance) def. The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon and JD Drake)

As I noted in my Elevation review from Monday, John Silver and Alex Reynolds are the top tag team in Dark Order now that Uno and Vance have lost their respective partners, but at least they work well together. The Wingmen are total goofs, but admittedly, they always play their role perfectly. This existed to give Dark Order a much-needed win as they prepare to possibly take part in the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament.

Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir def. Heather Reckless and Joseline Navarro

I hate to sound like a broken record, but my mind has not changed: Shafir is as interesting as watching grass grow and this pairing with Rose hasn't done either of them any favors. Vickie Guerrero tried to make herself relevant by cutting a post-match promo, but it felt like a waste of time more than anything else. The sad thing is that I'm not sure what you do with Rose otherwise. This was a bit of a mess and shouldn't have happened.

Kris Statlander def. Sierra

Statlander has really found her footing with her character since being repackaged earlier this year and it's encouraging to see as someone who has been a fan of her work from before she signed with AEW in 2019. Athena has been my pick to dethrone Jade Cargill as AEW TBS Champion for a while now, but Statlander is another excellent choice if they decide to go that route. This was exactly what it should have been with Statlander winning in quick and decisive fashion.

The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Slim J and Parker Boudreaux) def. Sonny Kiss, Zack Clayton and Xavier Walker

Trustbusters appear to be the latest faction Tony Khan is high on. This was their first time in action all together and I still can't say I'm sold on them as a trio despite Boudreaux's potential. Don't get me wrong, this was a solid showcase for them, but I don't get the sense AEW needs yet another undercard faction even with the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament coming up. Kiss being treated like just another jobber alongside two guys who aren't even signed (to my knowledge) was the bigger takeaway for me.

Athena, Ruby Soho and Hikaru Shida def. Serena Deeb, Emi Sakura and Leva Bates

Despite some of the star power involved in both sides, there was never any doubt who was winning this thing. Deeb would have had more of a fighting chance if she had partners who weren't perennial losers in AEW. Bates is just abysmal and is better off not being an in-ring regular at this point. The shenanigans at the end to make people think the heels might win were pointless, but the rest of this was solid and gave the babyfaces a victory.

Orange Cassidy def. Anthony Henry

Hopefully people have stopped sleeping on what Henry can do. Obviously, there was no way he was winning this and it was on the shorter side, but I thought they made the most of the time they had and Henry was able to shine a bit before losing. Despite the polarizing character, Cassidy works well with a variety of wrestlers and I thought the two of them had a well-worked main event.

Overall Show

This show was an hour long with nine matches. That's usually the sweet spot with Dark, though they could have cut out one or two matches, but they were made more enjoyable by the fact this was taped in front of a capacity crowd and not at Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a more conducive environment for the up-and-comers, but the occasional episode in front of a full crowd is a treat. That alone made this slightly better than your average edition of Dark, and multiple main players were showcased.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews