AEW Dark Review - February 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Anthony Ogogo def. Marcus Kross by Referee Stoppage

It was interesting to hear Ogogo cut a promo beforehand about how far he's fallen since feuding with Cody Rhodes last spring. He got hurt soon after and hasn't appeared on Dynamite since. He's been back for a bit now, so I assume AEW simply doesn't have anything for him at the moment. What I do know is that he won't get anywhere while aligned with The Factory. He should have destroyed Kross in under a minute, especially since the guy is a goof and should not be having competitive matches with a legitimate athlete like Ogogo.

Penelope Ford def. Angelica Risk

Ford has a whole lot of nothing going on right now except for her alliance with The Bunny. It's a shame because she's someone with potential and she's improved from when she started with AEW, but it doesn't feel like she's going to get above a certain level. Thus, don't be surprised to see her and her husband Kip Sabian leave at some point. This was fine, though I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

QT Marshall def. Toa Liona

Liona has stood out to me any time I've seen him in action on Dark or Elevation. He's an impressive dude and I'm glad he scored as much offense as he did in this match. Marshall did this in another match he had recently with Zack Clayton, but I really liked how he tried to spotlight Liona by selling a decent amount for him. I've never been the biggest QT Marshall fan, but he does more for the enhancement talent than anyone else and that hasn't gone unnoticed.

2point0 def. Ish and Kidd Bandit

I'm a fine with a team like 2point0 having longer matches with the enhancement talent because they're enhancement talent themselves for the rest of the roster. They play their roles well alongside Daniel Garcia and need to win once in a while in order to maintain some shred of credibility, so this served its purpose. I appreciate that they're serious and straightforward when the bell rings and leave their comedy for outside of the ring.

Lance Archer def. Jordan Costa

Archer did his usual shtick and beat up Costa on his way to the ring. It's always entertaining, so you'll never see me say a bad thing about it no matter how many times he does it. Similar to the Ogogo squash, I was hoping this would be over instantly as well, but at least it didn't take him more than a minute or two to defeat Costa. This was total annihilation for Archer as he prepares to face Adam Page in a Texas Deathmatch for the AEW World Championship next Wednesday on Dynamite.

Marina Shafir def. Reka Tehaka

Between the unique entrance music and AEW selling a shirt for her on their official shop, something tells me she's been signed by the company and that it hasn't been officially announced yet. If so, that's a nice pickup. I know she was fairly abysmal any time she wrestled on WWE NXT TV, but she's shown a lot of promise as of late on Dark. She comes across like killer, so kudos to her for honing her skills since being released. Tehaka never stood a chance.

The Factory (Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solo) def. Cameron Stewart and Dante Casanova

I'm all for Ogogo making more appearances. Marshall works in small doses like he did earlier. However, this show absolutely did not need another Factory match. Comoroto has shown signs of potential in the past, but Solo simply does nothing for me. I'm glad this was kept on the shorter side, but I couldn't bring myself to care. We found later on that this was meant to give Comoroto and Solo a win before they likely lose to Alan "5" Angels and Preston "10" Vance.

Tony Nese def. Zack Clayton

I'm always reminded that Nese is still on the roster whenever I see him in action. His appearances are few and far between, and that includes whenever he's shown in the front row of Dynamite or Rampage during a Hook match. It looked like they were building to Hook vs. Nese at some point, but it hasn't been teased lately. This was an average affair that gave Nese his first win of 2022. AEW definitely signed him just for the hell of it.

Kiera Hogan def. Mazzerati

AEW's booking of Hogan has been bizarre so far. Granted, she never got the "all elite" graphic, but I still feel AEW could be using her on TV more and giving her competitive matches that aren't against enhancement talent. She'd probably be getting more opportunities in IMPACT right now had she stuck around. On the bright side, she got to pick up a rare win here in what was a nice little match while it lasted.

The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels and Preston "10" Vance) def. Ariya Daivari and Invictus Khash

Angels and Vance have really honed in on their chemistry over the last year and have become a fun team. I don't ever see them getting a serious push toward the tag titles, mind you, but they play their roles well and are able to build momentum on the Dark shows. This was more competitive than most of the enhancement matches on this show, likely because Daivari is a known name to an extent. The Factory emerged afterward and attempted to recruit them into their group, which they thankfully declined. I assume they'll face off on next week's episode.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal def. Bear Country

I'm still baffled at what the hell AEW is doing with Dante. He seemed to have a lot of momentum at one point a few months ago, but ever since he joined Team Taz and turned on them one week later, he's been ice cold. Lio Rush being replaced in the storyline by Jay Lethal hasn't helped, and Dante going back to teaming with Sydal seems like a step back for him. On the bright side, this was an entertaining affair with a fun size dynamic. Bear Country had a strong showing and looked credible in defeat, which I appreciated.

Lee Moriarty def. Joey Janela

This was a rematch from September when they originally collided on Dark (I remember because I was there for that taping over All Out weekend in Chicago) and this very well could have gone either way. I've spoke time and time again about how I find Janela to be abysmal, but this was one of the better bouts I've seen him in lately. Moriarty is just great, though his mic skills could use some work based on the post-match promo he cut.

Overall Show

Last week's edition was a nice change of pace in that it was held in front of a full crowd and ran around an hour, whereas this show was back at Universal Studios and run over 90 minutes. Dark, in its current format, has no business being that long. Some of the more competitive matches down the stretch were serviceable, but this show would have benefited from trimming a few of the unnecessary ones off and, most importantly, not overexposing the damn Factory.

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