AEW Dark Review - December 17, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions SCU def. Private Party (Non-Title)

This really should have been a barn burner, and while the in-ring action was entertaining, Vickie Guerrero's commentary was incredibly distracting. She acted horny toward Private Party throughout and it got annoying after a while. Needless to say, it added nothing to the match whatsoever. Other than that, this was fun. SCU winning was obviously the right call, but I can't help but think that Private Party has cooled off significantly since beating The Young Bucks on Dynamite in Boston over two months ago.

Britt Baker def. Machiko

Thankfully, Vickie didn't act horny on commentary during this match, but she also offered nothing of substance behind the booth, either (nor did Joey Janela). This didn't last long as it was largely designed to be a showcase for Baker and give her a win. Machiko had a solid showing and I wouldn't mind seeing her brought back in the future. It feels like Baker has floundered since her win over Bea Priestley at Full Gear last month.

Kris Statlander def. Bea Priestley

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Statlander is a star on the rise. I wish they'd do a better job of explaining her gimmick and why she pretends to be an alien (she'd benefit greatly from the type of video package they ran on Big Swole last week), but between the ropes, she's terrific. I'm not huge on Priestley and have found some of her matches in AEW to be a bit sloppy, but she and Statlander worked very well with each other here. With this win, Statlander now has her sights set on beating Baker so she can continue to climb the AEW Women's Championship ranks.

Pac And TheHybrid2 def. Best Friends and Orange Cassidy

Cassidy wrestling in an AEW ring is a rarity, and as I've noted before, he's a guilty pleasure of mine. Sure, his gimmick (or whatever the hell it's supposed to be) is stupid, but fans eat it up and so do I. He's best in small doses, so I thought he played his role perfectly here. Meanwhile, Best Friends and TheHybird2 had quality chemistry and Pac shined as always. This was a hell of a six-man tag team match with a hot crowd to boot.

Overall Show

I usually don't have an issue with the guest commentators, but Vickie and Janela were downright deplorable on this episode. It's cool to see Vickie every once in a while, but commentary is definitely not her strong suit. Other than that, this was a pretty good edition of Dark. The two women's matches allowed Baker and Statlander to maintain momentum, the opener was a blast and the main event was excellent. Throw in all the recaps from last week's Dynamite and preview for this week's episode and you have yourself a super effective and jam-packed hour of wrestling.