AEW Dark Review - February 25, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jimmy Havoc def. Marko Stunt

I'm not sure if Havoc is supposed to be a face or a heel at this point, but what I do know is that the crowd was very much Stunt in this bout. I still find it difficult to buy into Stunt as a real threat to anyone, but Havoc isn't exactly a giant, so I didn't mind that he lasted as long as he did here. It was a nice little sprint where the right man went over. By the way, I have zero interest in a program or even a match between Havoc and Luther despite their similar backgrounds in hardcore wrestling.

The Dark Order def. Strong Hearts

The Dark Order have become infinitely more interesting since the whole "Exalted One" storyline started and the quality of their matches is improving as well. The original members have always been talented, but their matches bored me to tears because their gimmick sucked. The outcome of this contest was never in doubt, but it was well wrestled while it lasted and gave Dark Order a nice win that allowed them to maintain momentum.

Joey Janela def. Kip Sabian in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

This feud hasn't done anything for me personally, but I won't discredit the effort of Janela and Sabian here. This was a vast improvement over their original encounter, and while it further proves my point that Janela is entertaining/believable only when he's in an extreme environment, at least this was fun. It was basically a two-on-one Handicap match with Penelope Ford helping Sabian team up on Janela. It's a shame that tables spot at the end was botched, I appreciated that they took their fight all over the arena and kept the crowd engaged throughout.

Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall def. Peter Avalon and Shawn Spears

I realize Marshall is a friend of the Rhodes family and therefore his pairing with Dustin made sense, there was no need for Brandi Rhodes to be at ringside other than to combat Leva Bates. Nitpicking aside, this was a perfectly fine main event with solid performances from all involved. Spears looks like an idiot for choosing Avalon as his partner again despite his lack of wins so far in AEW, but hopefully this is the last time he makes that mistake.

Overall Show

From an in-ring standpoint, this was an entertaining edition of AEW Dark with four quality matches. Nothing stood out as being special, but at least Janela vs. Sabian was somewhat notable and is probably the most "must-see" of the bunch. Dark has already turned into just another show for AEW where the secondary players pick up wins and get TV time, but on the bright side, the hour always flies by and is well put together. I'm glad they finally moved on from airing from different matches from different shows on the same episode of Dark. It came across as unorganized and lazy, but they have since fixed that problem.