AEW Dark Review - June 2, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Billy def. John skyler

Yes, Billy Gunn is going by just Billy now. That must be a trademarking thing, especially since Austin Gunn is still going by that name. It was apparent to me after he had that extremely dull match with Shawn Spears a while ago on Dark that I have less than zero interest in seeing him wrestle anymore. The best thing I can say about this is that it was on the shorter side, because it didn't entertain me whatsoever.

The Butcher and The Blade def. Joe Alonzo and Jon Cruz

I totally forgot Butcher and Blade ​were a thing until recently. I know Allie has been all over QT Marshall lately, but my guess is that it's a ruse and she'll end back up with Butcher and Blade eventually. If AEW wants to position them as being dominant, it should not have taken them this long to defeat a jobber team. It wasn't even interesting because Butcher and Blade aren't anything special compared to the rest of the division.

Christi Jaynes def. Kilynn King

Jaynes had an impressive outing against Hikaru Shida last week on Dynamite, so it seems AEW wanted to give her another chance to shine here. I'd argue their women's division could use more names, but they have a ton of talented ladies under contract they already aren't doing anything with. It was hard to care about this without knowing much about either competitor, but it was well wrestled while it lasted.

Santana and Ortiz def. EJ Lewis and Big Game Leroy

It dawned on me during this match how Santana and Ortiz simply haven't been the same since leaving IMPACT. They had that stellar series of matches when they originally arrived in AEW but have mostly felt like afterthoughts in Inner Circle. They're fun, but they currently lack that same edge they had a few years ago. They made this bearable, despite lasting a little longer than it needed to. 

The Natural Nightmares def. Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler

It's sad when you think about how The Natural Nightmares are ranked higher in the AEW World Tag Team Championship Power Rankings than higher than Santana and Ortiz. I know Natural Nightmares have been winning more matches lately, but they've largely been beating enhancement talent, so how much do the wins really mean? I assume this storyline with Allie flirting with Marshall is leading to Natural Nightmares getting a shot at the tag titles and Allie costing them the match. This was a decent main event but more storyline-driven than anything else.

Overall Show

Dark continues to be "Squash Match City" and features nothing of note. I'm glad that some of the stars are picking up much-needed victories and the newer people are getting more opportunities, but Dark is far from must-see. On the bright side, this edition of Dark didn't feature almost a dozen matches and was over in roughly 45 minutes. Granted, part is that is because Shawn Spears' match was cut due to his opponent saying some dumb stuff online, but it's an improvement, nonetheless.