AEW Dark Review - June 1, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Gunn Club (Austin, Colten and Billy Gunn) def. The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth, "Pretty" Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi)

If Gunn Club can remain over with the audience and justify their presence on these shows, God bless them. They don't do anything for me personally and never have, but I'm okay with the trio as long as the focus is on Austin and Colten and developing their skills. Billy being in the ring as much as he is just feels like a waste to me. This was a perfectly acceptable match and it was nice to see Gunn Club not face the usual enhancement talent for a change.

Kris Statlander def. Robyn Renegade

Renegade was just in action on Monday's Dark: Elevation where she lost to Leyla Hirsch. This was similar to that in that this was largely a showcase for Statlander, who received an impressive pop from the crowd when she came out considering she hasn't done much of importance since returning from injury. I wish she'd tone down the alien aspects of her character, but all in all, she's very good and is gradually building momentum with wins on across all of AEW's programming.

The Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds and Alan "5" Reynolds) def. Serpentico and The Hybrid2

Random members of Dark Order team up almost every week on the Dark shows and stack up wins against enhancement talent, thus I appreciated that they got a step up in competition this week. It lasted a little longer than it needed to, but it was fun for what it was. Dark Order are beloved and the heels played their roles well. The rest of Dark Order running off Luther at ringside automatically enhanced my enjoyment of this.

Red Velvet def. Diamante

Diamante's matches on the Dark shows have become a treat to watch. She's always intense and brings the fight to her opponents. Velvet has made strides in the ring as well, so this was a nice match. I figured Velvet would win, but Diamante didn't lose much in defeat. Again, it was refreshing to see these two face off against an actual member of the roster and not an unsigned talent for a change.

Jungle Boy def. Bear Bronson

I liked the mini video package we got on Bronson earlier in the evening as well as the mini promo from Jungle Boy. He confirmed that he and Christian Cage will be teaming up against Private Party on Friday's Dynamite. He was once again massively over in front of this audience, who rallied behind him the entire time. This wasn't as enjoyable as Jungle Boy's match against JD Drake from Elevation on Monday, but it was still solid, nonetheless. Bronson continues to impress on his own.

Overall Show

Much like with Monday's Dark: Elevation, this was the best edition of Dark in some time. The runtime was under an hour and I can't stress how relieved I was to see that. If that'll be the norm when AEW returns to touring this summer, that's terrific news. There were only five competitive matches featuring notable names and all of them served a purpose and were enjoyed by the audience in attendance. It was pretty much everything you'd want out of an episode of Dark and was a small preview of what to (hopefully) when AEW gets back on the road full-time.