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AEW Dark Review - January 17, 2023

1/17/2023

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By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kiera Hogan def. Danika Della Rouge

I'm still disappointed that AEW completely botched Hogan's face turn. She broke away from The Baddies for no real reason and has been floundering ever since. She's more natural as a heel, and while she's done well as a babyface so far, fans have had no reason to care about her because I can't recall a single promo she's cut since turning. This only existed to give her a rebound win and was wisely kept short.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage def. Carl Randers

Cage is coming off an awesome match with Willie Mack on Monday's Elevation. Make time to check it out if you haven't already seen it. This wasn't nearly as exciting, but it served its purpose in giving him another victory. I assume he's being built up for something because I haven't seen this many Brian Cage singles matches in forever. However, I'm not complaining because I appreciate that he's finally being used more regularly.

Jericho Appreciation Society (Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia) def. Brian Cook and Deimos

The new story with Jericho Appreciation Society, aside from their ongoing rivalry with Ricky Starks and Action Andretti, is that Guevara and Garcia are attempting to coexist. They haven't teased much tension yet, but I assume it's coming. Garcia isn't nearly as over as he was six months ago, but at least he's winning a majority of his matches. This was all about their shenanigans and them being on the same page. There was nothing about the match itself that stood out at all.

Action Andretti def. Ari Daivari

Unsurprisingly, Andretti turned down Daivari's offer to join him. He's missing out on a million dollar opportunity of a lifetime by not joining the illustrious Trustbusters! In all seriousness, it was nice to see Andretti back in action since he's basically been Starks' sidekick for the past month. He needs to establish his own identity and this was a fine start. Hopefully it isn't long before he's wrestling on AEW's main programming.

Powerhouse Hobbs def. Jaiden

As I've said, I've been digging the brief Book of Hobbs vignettes we've been getting on Dynamite and Rampage recently. I have no idea where they're headed, but it's better than him doing nothing. Jaiden was dressed like a superhero. I know the crowd popped for him, but I popped seeing him get his ass kicked by Hobbs. This was short, sweet and straight to the point as it should have been.

Jericho Appreciation Society ("Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker) def. Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson

Menard and Parker are always a treat to watch work. I'd say that it'd be difficult to take them seriously as threats to the tag titles because of how they've been booked as losers for the last year, but then again, we've got Gunn Club in the title picture right now, so anything is possible. One thing I love about their matches is that they waste no time and that they win almost immediately. Thankfully, this was no exception.

Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta) def. The Butcher and The Blade

This followed up on the three-way tag team main event from Elevation that also involved these two teams. Butcher and Blade haven't been meant anything in ages, but to their credit, they can always be counted on for a quality contest, especially if they're in there with the right team like Castagnoli and Yuta. This was very well wrestled with entertaining action and they were given plenty of time. Castagnoli should be doing more singles stuff as ROH World Champion, but him and Yuta do make for a terrific team.

Overall Show

Dark is at its best whenever it's under an hour and taped in front of a capacity crowd and that's what we got this week. I understand why they tape at Universal Studios and it does help the inexperienced talent, but the shows are certainly stronger with this format. A majority of the matches were squashes, but I thoroughly enjoyed the main event and thought it made the episode worthwhile.
SEE MORE: Dark Reviews
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