AEW Dark Review - December 24, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sammy Guevara def. Brandon Cutler

It's crazy to think that Guevara hadn't won any singles matches in AEW prior to this point, and that it took him beating a guy like Cutler to do it. No offense to Cutler, but the outcome was never in doubt. That said, this was a nice little match while it lasted and it was easily Cutler's best showing to date. It probably didn't need to be almost eight minutes, but that's merely nitpicking.

Santana and Ortiz def. Private Party, Best Friends, and The Hybrid2 in a Four-Way Tag Team Match

As entertaining of a match as this was, my favorite part personally was Orange Cassidy's involvement and how he was shown laying on the ladder when Santana and Ortiz pulled it from underneath the ring. I don't know why, but that made me burst out laughing. In all seriousness, this was a hell of a sprint with all four teams bringing the goods. It was just a fantastic four-way with Santana and Ortiz successfully bouncing back from their loss to The Young Bucks last week.

Pac Attacked Michael Nakazawa

This was taped after Pac had already attacked Nakazawa on Dynamite last week. It was simply a continuation of that angle with Pac promising to unleash hell until Kenny Omega accepts his offer for a rubber match. He nearly put Nakazawa on the shelf with a chair shot to the throat but resisted. This was a solid segment and I could see Omega vs. Pac being added to the first episode of Dynamite in 2020.

Joey Janela def. Shawn Spears

As a match, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but it didn't need to be. They worked a perfectly serviceable matchup and the stuff with Janela portraying Santa Claus (and let's not forget "Jesus" lending him a helping hand) was fun. It looked like Spears was building momentum before eating defeat here, so while I question Janela avenging his loss to him, I can forgive it simply because it's the holiday show. Hell, even the post-match stuff with Janela hitting Spears with a Stunner was designed to send the crowd home happy ahead of the holidays.

Overall Show

Interestingly enough, this was AEW's final show of 2019, as there will not be a new episode of Dynamite on Wednesday. It wasn't their most amazing effort, but it wasn't a total waste of time, either. I don't know how many people went out of their way to watch it on Christmas Eve, but that's the beauty of it airing on YouTube: you can check it out whenever you want. Colt Cabana making his debut on AEW commentary was cool and it was an easy hour of wrestling to digest with the four-way match being the main highlight. Plus, I will never not be a sucker for anything Christmas-related. Merry Christmas, folks!