AEW Dark Review - June 22, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lance Archer def. Rex Lawless

Archer did the deal where he charged the ring and laid out Lawless before the bell even rang. Lance Archer matches are my absolute favorite. I thought he would put him away right then and there, but he dragged this out for another two minutes by beating him up some more before hitting his finisher in impressive fashion for the victory. We still haven't gotten any indication what's next for Archer following his loss to Miro at Double or Nothing.

Brian Pillman Jr. def. Bear Bronson

It was announced last week on Dynamite that Pillman will be challenging Miro for the AEW TNT Championship next week on Dynamite. Obviously, he won't win, but I expect him to have an impressive outing. This match made sense to give him some credibility and it was a cool clash of styles. Meanwhile, Bronson has been faring well on his own in the absence of his injured tag team partner. I would've liked to see this last a little longer.

FTW Champion Brian Cage def. Chandler Hopkins (Non-Title)

When was the last time we got an FTW Championship defense? If he does indeed leave Team Taz, would he have to give up Taz's title? Does anyone honestly care? Cage has been teasing turning face lately, but there were no signs of that here. He was in total heel mode in this match. This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be with Hopkins selling extremely well for Cage's offense and bouncing around the ring before eating defeat.

Diamante def. Ashley D’Amboise

I am all for Diamante being built up as more of a force. Needless to say, Ivelisse being let go from AEW was the best thing that could have happened to Diamante as she's been winning more and more ever since. D'Amboise has been all over the Dark shows in recent months, so I figured this would be a competitive contest, but I was glad to have been wrong. She destroyed D'Amboise in the matter of a minute as she should have and looked great doing it.

Colt Cabana def. Kit Sackett

It's been cool to see all a lot of the Dark Order guys get the singles spotlight in recent months and get the occasional title opportunity. Granted, they never win whenever it matters most, but whatever. The best part about this was that it was under a minute long. Cabana hit a handful of moves and put Sackett away in decisive fashion. I'm honestly surprised Cabana hasn't gotten a shot at the AEW TNT Championship yet.​

Chuck Taylor def. Dan Barry

This marked Barry's AEW singles debut. I know I've seen him before on the northeast wrestling circuit and maybe even on... Holy Foley? I'm embarrased I even know that. At any rate, this was a pretty simple squash for Taylor. However, as I've said before, is there a reason why we needed to have a Chuck Taylor singles match? He isn't being built up for anything and is way more interesting alongside Trent than he is on his own. In short, this was a waste of time.

Abadon def. Ashley Vox

I hate Abadon matches just in general, but I hate them even more when she goes over someone I find to be more talented than her. That was the case with Vox here as I've enjoyed her work on NWA in the past as well as whenever AEW has brought her in for the Dark shows. She did a nice job of selling for Abadon here. The only other positive thing I can say about this is that it was kept relatively brief and harmless.

Griff Garrison def. Marko Stunt

Again, was this match really necessary? I understand Pillman was in action earlier and maybe this was just to make it even so Garrison got to wrestle as well, but at least Pillman's match made sense because he'll be contending for the AEW TNT Championship soon. Garrison didn't need the spotlight here, but this was fine for what it was. Seeing Garrison dwarf Stunt was funny, though. Less of Stunt in singles matches, the better.

The Bunny def. Reka Tehaka

The Bunny's matches are becoming more bearable, so there's that. Of all the women AEW has on its roster, she's probably one of the last people I care to see be built up, but at least she's getting additional exposure, especially while The Butcher and The Blade are on hiatus due to The Butcher being injured. This was a pretty standard squash for her, though there wasn't anything particularly interesting about it.

Stu Grayson def. Serpentico

I don't know if I'm in the minority on this, but I find Grayson to be super underrated. I didn't care about him or The Dark Order when they arrived in AEW two years ago, but his in-ring work has grown on me and he's had more and more chances to shine. He's damn good and needs to be spotlighted even more often than he is. Thankfully, he faced Serpentico here and not Luther, so it was a quality main event. Luther was unbearable at ringside, but I tried my best to zone him out.

Overall Show

At only 48 minutes, this was probably the shortest edition of Dynamite I've seen in over a year. I'd give it an automatic thumbs-up for that reason alone, but there were plenty of matches that this show would have been better off without, specifically the matches in the middle. Chuck Taylor? Abadon? Marko Stunt? No thanks. Others may feel differently, but that's just my personal preference. The show breezed by even though not everything was my cup of tea.

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