AEW Dark Review - July 26, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kiera Hogan def. Allie Recks

Hogan is basically the sole "baddie" at this point with Red Velvet out injured for now and Leila Grey not cleared to compete last week on Dynamite. I like Hogan a lot and believe she has potential, so that's fine by me. She was able to score a rare win here in was a fairly short opener. It was what it needed to be to give her a minor credibility boost since I assume she's losing the next match she's in.

Alex Reynolds def. Ryan Nemeth

I'm digging the beard Reynolds is growing. -1 joined him in his corner for this match. The Dark Order is losing members by the week, so I'm all for doing something a bit different by featuring them in singles matches more frequently. This was a fairly basic bout and Nemeth's in-ring work has never stood out to me in the slightest, but it was well worked and the right guy went over.

Marina Shafir def. Tracy Nyxx

I've mentioned this many times before, but why the hell has Shafir been all over AEW programming so much recently? She's beyond boring, and although I know she has that legitimacy about her, all of her matches are the same and a lot of offense doesn't look good. Putting her in matches with jobbers is the best use of her because she always looks out of place against people better than her on the roster. This was serviceable and harmless for as long as it lasted.

Slim J def. Blake Li

Slim J has apparently been around for a long time, but personally, I know nothing about him. Maybe if they start to feature him more often and he racks up some wins, I'll care about him, but for now, he's just another dude on Dark and nothing I saw from him here was overly special. He and Li had an average match and that was about it. Li has been used a fair amount as an enhancement talent and he plays that role just fine.

Julia Hart def. Renee Michelle

I've complained in the past about Hart's in-ring development not being where it probably should be at this point, but the fact of the matter is that she won't improve without reps, so that's why she's been on Dark so often lately. Granted, her matches aren't long, but that's arguably for the best. This was another brief bout where she dominated her opponent and won with ease. It wasn't offensively bad, so there was that.

Cole Karter def. Mike Orlando

Karter is the former Troy "Two Dimes" Donovan from WWE NXT and he was just released last month, but the funny thing is that he first name for himself as Cole Karter on Dark. I've always criticized the kid for looking generic, but he can definitely hold his own in the ring. He was able to showcase his skills here and pick up his first win since returning to AEW. Word is that he's been signed by AEW, which is weird when you consider Tony Khan didn't sign him the first time around (unless Karter turned it down originally because he had his sights set on WWE).

"Cool Hand" Angelo Parker def. Cameron Stewart

I haven't been able to bring myself to care about the former 2point0 since they joined Jericho Appreciation Society since the group does absolutely nothing for me. Interestingly, I thought they were more entertaining when they weren't doing the stupid "sports-entertainer" crap. I'm not sure what the point was of giving Parker a singles win since he and Matt Menard barely wrestle singles matches, but at least it didn't overstay its welcome.

Ari Daivari def. Slim J

Although Christian is a talented and accomplished competitor, Daivari is the one who received the vignette treatment last week on Rampage, so that foreshadowed the finish to this match. He was also accompanied by Slim J, so it appears they're going to be some sort of a group going forward. Like I said about Slim J earlier, I'll need to see more in order to care. This was a well-wrestled affair while it lasted. Daivari cut a promo afterward referring to himself as "The Trust Fund", which is a blatant rip-off of Jared Silberkleit's gimmick from Northeast Wrestling. Justice for Jared!

Dante Martin def. "Pretty" Peter Avalon

Dante is one of those guys who isn't nearly as important or as hot as he was at the start of the year. He had a ton of momentum as a singles star, but then he reunited with his brother and re-entered the tag team ranks. Unfortunately, Darius got hurt again and Dante has been on his own again. He's been treading water for months and is back to pulling Dark duty most weeks. On the bright side, this was a fun little outing that resulted in a necessary win for Dante.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Pac def. LJ Cleary

This was the second All-Atlantic title defense to air on Dark, so I'm all for the title becoming a big part of Dark depending on how often they air. This one was taped at Over The Top Wrestling's Poetry Slam event over the weekend. Cleary is a new name to me, but he was impressive with his performance here and he had a great match with Pac. Pac kicking out of back-to-back Canadian Destroyers was pretty dumb, but this was entertaining otherwise.

Overall Show

The last edition of Dark to feature an All-Atlantic title defense went almost two hours, so when I saw that was advertised for this week along with nine other matches, I feared this would also be a lengthy episode. Thankfully, that was not the case as a majority of the squashes were kept on the shorter side. The main event is worth seeking out, but the rest of this show was the usual standard stuff and doesn't feature much out of the ordinary.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews