AEW Dark Review - December 8, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sonny Kiss def. Baron Black

I feel like we see Kiss featured more in tag team action than we do on his own. Him teaming with Janela is fine, but I don't see them getting far in AEW's stacked tag team division. Kiss might as well get more reps in as a singles competitor because he'll have a better chance of breaking into the AEW TNT Championship picture than the AEW World Tag Team Championship picture. He had a good outing here and continues to improve.

FTW Champion Brian Cage def. Danny Limelight (Non-Title)

A Brian Cage squash is one of the few things I could used to seeing on this show every week. They're always enjoyable because of how quickly and decisively he puts his opponents away. To Limelight's defense, he battled back toward the end and scored some offense toward the end, but it was a dominant win for Cage, nonetheless. These matches may as well be for Cage's FTW Championship to make it feel more than a prop.

Nyla Rose def. Alex Gracia

I honestly keep forgetting that that Rose is on the roster and that she's managed by Vickie Guerrero. I mean, can you blame me with how inconsistently their act is featured on Dynamite? I think it's safe to say Vickie being her manager (and Rose didn't need her in the first place) has been a total bust, though the commentators referenced them being "hired guns" for Jade Cargill on a recent Dynamite. I guess we'll see where that goes. Anyway, this was a simple squash win for Rose.

Britt Baker Hosted The Waiting Room with Dustin Rhodes

That initial installment of The Waiting Room was pretty polarizing, but I thought this was a solid step in the right direction. Baker's opening monologue was kept to a minimum and her exchange with Rhodes was entertaining. He hyped up his match with Preston "10" Vance on Wednesday's Dynamite and promised that his bad blood with The Dark Over isn't over yet. I didn't know the Dark Order vs. Nightmare Family feud was still a thing to be honest. On a side note, Marko Stunt's a hell of a singer. He does nothing for me as a wrestler, but the kid's got pipes.

Preston "10" Vance def. Aaron Solow

This was smartly positioned after Rhodes' appearance on The Waiting Room because, as previously mentioned, Rhodes vs. Vance is happening tomorrow night on Dynamite. Vance is a physically imposing figure and I liked that he won in a matter of minutes here (as opposed to going 50/50 with Solow like most matches in AEW), but I really wish we knew more about him. And no, the minimal mic time he gets on Being The Elite doesn't count. He's probably the least interesting member of Dark Order as a result.

"Pretty" Peter Avalon def. Louie Valle

This "Pretty" gimmick isn't a home run by any means, but it's a hell of a lot better than the librarian garbage Avalon was subjected to before. It just may grow on me the more I see of it. To his credit, he plays the role well. I know nothing about Valle, but he wasn't awful. That's about all I can say about him. Good for Avalon for starting to put together a string of wins after embarking on a year-long losing streak. I have no idea how far this character will take him, but I'm interested to find out.

Gunn Club (Austin, Colton and Billy Gunn) def. Sean Maluta, Sean Dean and RYZIN

Insert my obligatory rant about how Gunn Club are a waste of three roster spots. Are they that terrible? No, but Billy Gunn being the focal point of the trio at 57-years-old is highly questionable considering he's past his prime and has nothing to offer from an in-ring standpoint. Having him score the winning pinfall for his team does very little, if anything, to get his sons over. This was more of the same from Gunn Club, so feel free to skip right over it.

Red Velvet def. Dani Jordyn

I'm still stunned AEW has signed so much female talent in 2020 yet hasn't offered a deal to Jordyn yet. Not everyone will get the "burn book" gimmick, but I think it's clever and has helped her stand out in a positive way. She's also talented in the ring to boot. However, Velvet is the one getting the spotlight right now, even though her involvement in the Anna Jay vs. Brandi Rhodes rivalry never really went anywhere. She's someone else I wish we knew more about so viewers had more of a reason to care about her.

Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt) def. Falco and Mike Magnum

I believe this marked the AEW debuts of Falco and Magnum. Meanwhile, I don't think we've ever seen Luchasaurus and Stunt team up without Jungle Boy before. It was a fun little outing with Jurassic Express being entertaining as always. I'd be fine with them teaming up more often if Jungle Boy branches off on his own at some point. Between winning this match for his team and his impressive performance on The Waiting Room, this was a big night for Stunt.

Brandon Cutler def. Fuego del Sol

This was set up on this week's Being The Elite. Cutler has been more bearable since breaking his losing streak, but I'm actually more intrigued by Avalon because he has an established character. Cutler doesn't aside from his odd obsession with Dungeons and Dragons or whatever it is. He's exuding more confidence in his matches and I appreciated the fire he showed here, but it'd help if he got more mic time to discuss his winning ways and where he's headed (again, Being The Elite doesn't count).

Ivelisse def. Skyler Moore

The commentators referenced that Ivelisse and Diamante are still partners despite Diamante not coming out with her here. I assume that's because Diamante had a match of her own later on in the night. At any rate, this served its purpose in giving Ivelisse a momentum-building victory. I'd say she feels underutilized right now, but that's likely by design if rumors regarding her attitude are to be believed.

Big Swole def. Lindsay Snow

Dark seems to be Swole's new home for now after being a regular on Dynamite for much of 2020. She had her shot at the AEW Women's Championship, lost, and now finds herself floundering. I've seen a ton of fans hype her up as one of AEW's best women's wrestlers, but I have yet to see it personally. Granted, she's done well in these short squashes on Dark, but nothing about them (or her) stands out as special to me.

The Hybrid2 def. Sotheara Chhun and VSK

TH2 have a huge match coming up on Dynamite this week against The Young Bucks and thus they had to pick up a victory against Chhun and VSK in order to maintain that momentum. It's been cool seeing them get their biggest push to date in the tag division and I'm sure they'll deliver in the ring come Wednesday night, but their post-match backstage interview proved to me they need a mouthpiece because their mic skills are far inferior to their wrestling skills.

Diamante def. Tesha Price

Price has been brought in a lot lately for Dark and is one of the few enhancement talent who's actually shown signs of potential in my opinion. Diamante was a great person for her to work with because she's superb in her own right. Both women had standout showings here. Similar to Ivelisse, I'd like to see Diamante featured more prominently in the women's division because it feels like that entire Deadly Draw tournament was all for nothing at this point.

Shanna def. Freya States

This marked Shanna's second match back and she hasn't missed a beat. She wasn't one of my favorites when she originally signed with AEW last year and came off as generic to me, but her return is definitely a plus for the women's division. It's nice she's getting a chance to shine on Dark before she eventually resurfaces on Dynamite. She had to fight from underneath against the bigger States and did well in the babyface role. It was different than the rest of the women's matches on this show, so at least it had that going for it.

The Acclaimed def. Michael Nakazawa and Jon Cruz

It's about time The Acclaimed started facing contracted talent. Unfortunately, it had to be Nakazawa, whose gimmick gets dumber every time I see it. Cruz isn't signed, obviously, but The Acclaimed beating one indie guy is better than two. The match was what it was, but The Acclaimed's pre-match rap was the real highlight. They confronted The Young Bucks last week on Dynamite, which hopefully means they'll be regulars on the show sooner rather than later.

Varsity Blondes def. The Dark Order (Alex "3" Reynolds and Colt Cabana)

The duo of Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr. finally have a name! The weird thing is that I don't think either of them are officially signed by the company, at least not yet. Unlike most teams in the division at the moment, I think they can go far down the road as both are skilled and have their whole careers ahead of them. They definitely have a Hollywood Blondes feel to them and I'm sure that was the point behind the name. This was a quality tag team main event, though I'm not sure why it had to be positioned as the main event because it certainly wasn't main event worthy. I'm happy Varsity Blondes got one over on Dark Order, but that's because they needed a win before they face FTR on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Overall Show

One positives coming out of this week's Dark was that, despite featuring roughly the same amount of matches as the last few weeks, the matches were a bit shorter than usual and the show was just over two hours (as opposed to almost three). Another positive was that there was once again a handful of women's matches. Dark continues to be a chore to watch for me, but if you enjoy it, more power to you. In my opinion, there isn't anything worthwhile on this show that you can't find elsewhere. The two-plus hours aren't worth sitting through from start to finish.