AEW Dark Review - December 21, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Brock Anderson and Lee Moriarty

This stemmed from Gunn Club challenging Anderson and Moriarty on last week's show. I don't believe Austin and Colten have ever lost as a team (I know Gunn Club lost to Darby Allin and Sting a few weeks ago but that was Billy and Colten), so I assume they were winning here. They put together a pretty decent match with the story being that Gunn Club took advantage of Anderson's inexperience to pick up the victory.

Abadon def. Charlette Renegade

I've said it time and time again, but I simply can't bring myself to care about Abadon. She didn't have a terrible showing in this match, but the character does zero for me. I don't think it's a coincidence that she was barely on AEW TV prior to her Rampage main event against Britt Baker back in October and hasn't been featured since. Big Swole was barely featured and later chose to leave AEW, so don't be shocked if Abadon doesn't re-sign when her contract comes due. Wins on Dark will only get her so far.

Eddie Kingston def. Colin Delaney

Excalibur noted on commentary that these two have history from the independent scene years ago. Most people will say Barry Horowitz was "their" jobber growing up, but Delaney was mine. He was getting beat up almost every week when I started watching WWE back in 2008. Thus, it's always nice to see him pop up every now and again. He scored far more offense than I was expecting, but Kingston still went over decisively all the same.

Penelope Ford def. Willow Nighingale

Nightingale hasn't the most successful month of December. First, she unsuccessfully challenged Rok-C for the ROH Women's World Championship at Ring of Honor's Final Battle pay-per-view. She then wrapped up her MLW commitments with a loss to Holidead on last week's edition of MLW Fusion: ALPHA. Finally, she lost to Ford on this show. That said, she looked excellent in defeat on all three occasions and shined against Ford here. I'm shocked AEW hasn't already signed her, but they should. She can connect with a crowd and gets better in the ring every time I see her in action.

Brandi Rhodes def. Robyn Renegade

Both Renegade sisters were in action on this show and they had the unfortunate duty of losing to my two least favorite wrestlers in AEW's women's division. I kid, I kid. In her defense, much like her return to the ring a few weeks ago, Brandi didn't look half bad in this bout. She's definitely no master mat technician, but it's clear she worked hard at improving during her absence from TV. I still don't want to see her wrestling regularly on Dynamite or Rampage, but Dark is probably the perfect place for her to hone her craft.

Jora Johl def. Julius Coleman

I feel like we don't see Johl in action often enough to get a good enough grasp of what he's capable of. He's certainly serviceable and has proved he can hold his own against the established talent, but from a character standpoint, he bores me to tears. It's also odd that he's a member of The H.F.O. yet we never see him with the rest of the group on the main shows. He looked decent in this match for as long as it lasted.

Isiah Kassidy def. Carlie Bravo

Johl was back out at ringside to stand in Kassidy's corner for this match. Kassidy has been doing a lot of six-man tag team matches with Matt Hardy and The Blade lately, so I don't know what's up with Marq Quen (I know The Butcher is currently touring and that's why he hasn't been around). Bravo is a talented dude and thus this was a fun little sprint. We don't get to see Kassidy on his own often, but he did shine as a singles competitor here.

Kiera Hogan def. Shalonce Royal

I remember Royal as the wrestler that sang whenever she was on offense. It's unique, I suppose, but it gets annoying very quickly in a "go-away" heat type of way, at least for me. In the ring, however, she's fine, so this was what it needed to be with Hogan picking up a needed win. We haven't seen a whole lot of Hogan on the Dark shows recently, so hopefully this is a sign she'll be wrestling more regularly going forward.

Bear Country def. Zack Clayton and Mike Orlando

Bear Country were also in action on Monday's Elevation, where they beat Chaos Project. That win meant a bit more because Chaos Project are actually on the roster, but this was a dominant performance from them, nonetheless. Bear Bronson needed these wins ahead of his match with Hook on Friday's Rampage. The Acclaimed also challenged them to a match afterward and that will take place on next week's episode.

Preston "10" Vance def. Leroy Patterson

Man, this was an embarrassment. I really don't know how this made the show. I'm sure there will be people who find it funny and maybe I'm just in the minority here, but I thought this was total trash. Patterson and his manager are goofs and shouldn't have been in this spot. Realistically, Vance should have killed Patterson as soon as this started to spare us from having to suffer through it. The only positive was -1 enjoying himself at ringside and afterward. That's about it.

Red Velvet def. La Rosa Negra

I'd put Velvet in the category of those who have come a long way from where they were even a year ago. She isn't championship material yet and is still rough around the edges depending on who her opponent is, but she's significantly smoother in the ring than she once was. Negra was a good opponent for her to have and they made the most of the two minutes they had. Negra deserves more Dark opportunities.

"Captain" Shawn Dean def. Lucas Chase

I don't understand what AEW is doing (or not doing, more accurately) with Dean. He'll have a squash match like this every once and a while, but then it doesn't lead anywhere. He's usually used to put others other and I guess this win was intended to give him a shred of credibility before his next loss, but he's talented enough to be more than a stepping stone. This was a short and sweet showcase for him, though.

Matt Sydal def. Serpentico

Luther being at ringside automatically caused this match to drop down an entire letter grade in my book. In all seriousness, I'm glad it was Serpentico in there and not Luther. Serpentico is skilled and isn't nearly as unbearable, though of his in-ring antics are a bit goofy. I don't know where Mike Sydal was to back his brother up, but Matt managed to get the job done despite being outnumbered. This was a quality contest when they focused more on the wrestling and less on Serpentico's dumb comedy spots.

Overall Show

​I can't imagine many people are clamoring for more than a dozen matches on the enhancement show. Some people don't need to be appearing every week and there were a few matches that I would've cut out. On the bright side, they're shooting more angles and it makes some of the matches more worthwhile. For example, Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss have been feuding on Dark all year and they'll finally settle their score in two weeks. This was a solid albeit middling show.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews