AEW Dark Review - January 10, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Juice Robinson def. Travis Williams

We last saw Robinson unsuccessfully challenge Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship at Final Battle in December. I'm not surprised he hadn't been seen since because he never felt like a priority signing. He'll probably be relegated to the Ring of Honor roster when ROH TV gets going soon. He doesn't do much for me personally, and I'm not sure making this competitive was the right call.

Ruby Soho and Willow Nightingale def. Diamante and Emi Sakura

Soho and Nightingale recently lost to Tay Melo and Anna Jay A.S. and will be facing them again this Friday on Rampage, I believe in a Street Fight. As I've said before, they work well together and I'd be fine with this alliance sticking around once that rivalry runs its course. I also appreciated that they faced two women on the roster and not two local losers, helping to make the match a little less formulaic. This was good stuff.

Jake Hager def. Steve Migs

I'm sure Hager is grateful to Chris Jericho for including him in Jericho Appreciation Society because I don't know that he'd still have a spot on the roster otherwise. The most interesting thing about him at this point for most people is his obsession with his hat, though I think it's incredibly dumb. Unfortunately for me, this was all about the damn hat. If nothing else, the crowd was into it and it didn't waste more time than it needed to.

The Firm (Big Bill and Lee Morairty) def. The Voros Twins

Bill and Moriarty have a match coming up on Wednesday's Dynamite against Jack Perry and Hook. They're obviously being set up to lose and that's the right role for them at this point. Bill and Moriarty are developing quality chemistry as partners, so that's a plus. Meanwhile, The Voros Twins are total goofs, but they do an excellent job of taking a beating, so that made this match more enjoyable.

Jericho Appreciation Society (Tay Melo and Anna Jay A.S.) def. Teal Piper and Kel

As previously noted, Melo and Jay have that tag team rematch coming up with Soho and Nightingale, so this was designed to give them a win and further their momentum before Rampage. I'm glad they have a storyline to keep them busy, even though it isn't a very compelling one. Also, it was cool seeing Roddy Piper's daughter Teal in action here considering they were in Portland (where Piper had a lot of success before WWE).

The Firm ("All Ego" Ethan Page, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy) def. Judas Icarus, Sebastian Wolfe and Caleb Teninty

Page and Hardy agreed to get along on Monday's edition of Elevation, though it's clear that they're doing it to get under the other's skin. It's become a very entertaining dynamic, including Kassidy not playing along. That was the best part of this whole match and I'm glad they're not doing the same stuff every week, which is what I feared from this storyline. Hardy will inevitably turn on Page and for now, I'm content with them taking their time getting there. 

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Marina Shafir

This was probably the best showing I've seen Shafir have so far in AEW. Yes, the bar is low, but she deserves the credit for improving recently. I'm still far from her biggest fan (especially because she remains a charisma vacuum), but she's slowly putting the pieces together. Of course, facing someone as skilled and as experienced as Athena is only going to help her cause. The heel vs. heel dynamic made it difficult for the crowd to root for either one of them, but admittedly, this exceeded my expectations.

Overall Show

It's strange how Elevation and Dark seemingly switched places this week with Elevation being a much longer show than usual with 13 minutes and then Elevation having a simple seven-match card and lasting less than an hour. Taping it in front of a live crowd before last week's Rampage instead of at Universal Studios was a bonus. There was a lot to like about this show, making it one of the stronger editions of Dark in recent memory.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews