AEW Dark Review - February 28, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Action Andretti def. Tony Deppen

Andretti just lost to Sammy Guevara last week on Rampage, so he was able to regain some of his momentum here. Then again, how much momentum does he really have at this point? He beat Chris Jericho back at Winter Is Coming in December, but aside from a tag team loss on Dynamite several weeks ago, we haven't seen him do much at all on Dynamite. On the bright side, he feels like a perfect fit in the Face of the Revolution Ladder match on Dynamite this week. It was a questionable call for him to be competitive with Deppen (an unknown to most AEW viewers I assume), but at least Deppen wasn't made to look like a bum before he resurfaces on ROH TV.

Evil Uno def. J. Spade

I realize this was taped a while ago, but I don't think it makes much sense for Uno to struggle to beat an enhancement talent. Spade his skilled (I've seen a handful of his matches on Dark as well as in the NWA), but Uno is coming off a main event match on Dynamite with Jon Moxley. Granted, he was never close to beating Moxley, but it's all about perception. He should have blown thrown Spade with ease here. Instead, this was dragged out longer than it needed to be.

Parker Boudreaux def. Joe Ocasio

We haven't seen much of Boudreaux in the ring recently, but after what we've seen him so far in AEW, I'm not complaining. I've been disappointed by his lack of progress after he was hyped up pretty heavily when WWE signed up a few years ago. Maybe his departure wasn't such a loss for them after all. He remains incredibly green, as seen in this match. Hopefully being aligned with Swerve Strickland will give him the experience he needs. If not, he could end up being a lost cause.

Capt. Shawn Dean def. Invictus Khash

You know it's going to be a long episode of Dark when Dean is in action, and that's coming from someone who is a fan of his work. He rarely wrestles (due to having a backstage position) and there was never any follow-up on his count-out and disqualification wins over MJF, so it's impossible to care about his matches at this point. Keeping them short and sweet would be the way to go as opposed to dragging them out for no real reason.

Leila Grey def. Sahara Seven

Grey is the only remaining member of The Baddies (does that name still exist?) after Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan were booted/left. She's improved from where she was, but she still has yet to have a standout showing in a singles or tag team match. The bright side of this match is that it existed to give her more experience. Thus, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, but at least it wasn't worse.

Willie Mack def. Joe Keys

Mack getting a singles win on Dark is definitely interesting. He had that pair of great matches on Elevation and Rampage several weeks ago with Brian Cage, and I don't think we've seen him in action in AEW since. He was a free agent the last time I checked, so the fact he popped up on Dark here gives me hope Tony Khan might have him earmarked for the ROH roster. Mack is always a treat to watch work and this was no exception.

Shane Taylor def. Adrian Alanis

I became a big fan of Taylor and his Shane Taylor Promotions faction in Ring of Honor before the promotion closed its doors in late 2021. Based on his appearances on Dark this year, I have faith he'll be a part of the new ROH as well, ideally with some version of Shane Taylor Promotions. He was in total destruction mode here and reestablished his dominance with the win. This was what you can expect from him in ROH if you weren't already familiar with him.

Lee Moriarty def. Vary Morales

Moriarty went from someone I was excited to see signed to just another guy on the AEW roster. Yes, joining The Firm has gotten him more television time, but he hasn't been positioned as anyone important. I was fine with this lasting a little longer because Morales is skilled from what I've seen from him and he meshed nicely with Moriarty, so they had a quality contest in the time they were allotted.

Arjun Singh def. Blake Li

I legitimately have no clue who Singh is. If he's wrestled on Dark before, I can't say I remember it. It's possible he's one of AEW's "developmental" projects, or this could have just been a tryout. Either way, nothing I saw from him here jumped out at me. That isn't to say he doesn't have potential, but it would have helped if he cut a promo backstage earlier in the episode so we could get to know a little more about him. This was as basic as could be.

Skye Blue def. Dream Girl Ellie

Of all the lower-level talent AEW has under contract, Blue gets the most television time it feels like and has a lot of potential. She's still improving (as seen in her fairly rough match with Saraya last Wednesday on Dynamite), but that's why matches like this are key. This was one her better bouts and the victory allows her to bounce back from losing to Saraya. I'm glad she's getting reps in the ring, but her mic skills won't improve until she gets the chance to cut more promos.

Top Flight, AR Fox and Matt Sydal def. The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Slim J, Sonny Kiss and Jeeves Kay)

Top Flight have history with Sydal and currently team with Fox in six-man tag team matches, so that was a really cool combination. Trustbusters are terrible and I'm shocked the plug hasn't been pulled on them yet, but if nothing else, it was better for the babyfaces to beat them than four random no-namers. The babyfaces got to showcase their skills and do their thing. AEW has enough jobber factions, so hopefully Trustbusters aren't around for much longe.

Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett and Satnam Singh def. Jackson Drake, Jay Malachi and Oliver Sawyer

Tony Khan must be high on this trio of Lethal, Jarrett and Singh if they've been all over AEW TV and will be getting yet another shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Revolution. In fact, they spoke about their upcoming opportunity in their post-match interview with Tony Schiavone. This served its purpose in giving the heels a win before the pay-per-view, but there can be no doubt they've been exposed since November.

"Pretty" Peter Avalon def. Dean Alexander

As a result of being attacked by Chris Jericho last week on Dynamite, Avalon will face Dynamite one-on-one this Wednesday on the show. It's comical that Avalon is getting television time when so many others aren't, but I understand it's designed to give Jericho a quick win before he faces Ricky Starks at Revolution. Avalon is typically a goof, so I appreciated that he was all business here and won relatively quickly.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy and Danhausen def. The Workhorsemen

Interesting that this was taped during the ROH TV tapings over the weekend and that it aired on Dark. It was filmed in the same venue (Universal Studios in Orlando), so I suppose there wasn't much of a difference excerpt that the crowd was definitely livelier. Cassidy and Danhausen brought some star power to this main event and worked well together. Plus, you can always count on The Workhorsemen for a fast-paced sprint. This was a fun clash of styles that closed an otherwise boring show on a high note.

Overall Show

This show felt like a test run for ROH TV, which returns on HonorClub this Thursday. That's no excuse for this being over 90 minutes in length, though. Dark is much more tolerable when it features less than 10 matches and lasts less than an hour. Some of this stuff was logical (even the Avalon squash because he has a match on Dynamite this week), but other squashes were a waste of time. The exhausted Universal Studios crowd expressed exactly how I was feeling while watching this. The main event was enjoyable, but the rest of the show is not worth sitting through.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews