WrestleRant
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact
Picture

AEW Dark Review - June 23, 2020

6/23/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brian Cage def. Robert Anthony

Anthony has a history with Jon Moxley and recently called out Cage on Twitter for going after his longtime friend/foe. I'm glad we got a match with actual storyline significance and, better yet, that it was over in under a minute. This is exactly how Cage should be booked, though it is odd that it took Jon Moxley as long as it did to beat Anthony earlier this month. Either way, AEW is handling Cage the right way heading into his AEW World Championship clash with Moxley at Fyter Fest.

SCU (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) def. Musa and David Ali

It looks like Daniels and Kazarian will be the main tag team in SCU going forward while Sky branches out into singles competition. I'm surprised they didn't do that from the get-go, just because Sky has more to offer at this stage of his career than Daniels and Kazarian (who have always been a terrific team). This was a fun little squash that didn't overstay its welcome.

Shawn Spears def. Pineapple Pete

I said a few weeks ago that it was going to take a lot for me to take Spears seriously again after he was embarrassed by Dustin Rhodes at Double or Nothing. These wins are a step in the right direction, but he isn't in the clear yet. The glove that he won with here hasn't been explained yet and most viewers likely don't know of its history (I know I didn't before I saw someone bring it up recently), so that needs to be fully fleshed out for it to actually matter. This was a fine match, but until Spears picks up an important victory, it's difficult to care about him.

Lance Archer def. Griff Garrison

Lance Archer squashes are probably my favorite type of squashes. I can see the formula getting old with some fans eventually, but it hasn't for me yet. I love how he comes out, gets his stuff in, and wins with ease. That's how you book a monster heel. He suffered a setback with that loss to Cody at Double or Nothing, but he can bounce back if he can settle into another storyline soon.

Joey JAnela and Sonny Kiss def. The Dark Order (3 & 4)

Wasn't there a vignette that aired for Janela and Kiss on Dynamite explaining why they came together and it ended with "To be continued"? Whatever happened to that? They've been a nice addition to the AEW tag team division so far, but I honestly don't see them getting above a certain level with there being so many teams in the company who are better than them. Meanwhile, 3 and 4 (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) haven't been positioned as anyone important in Dark Order so far, so their loss here was hardly shocking.

Mel def. KiLynn King

I honestly forgot Mel was still employed by AEW until I saw her pop up in the audience recently on Dynamite. That Nightmare Collective crap was a complete flop and I don't see a role for her in the AEW women's division. Hopefully Britt Baker and Kris Statlander getting hurt doesn't lead to her getting more television time. The issue is that she's no good and this awful match exposed that. Would it be too harsh to say that she's the AEW equivalent of Tamina?

Scorpio Sky def. Lee Johnson

This was easily the most entertaining match on the show up to this point, even if it didn't last long. Sky is awesome and Johnson has impressed almost every time I've seen him in action in recent months. They worked well together and Sky got to shine. I can certainly see him accepting Cody's AEW TNT Championship open challenge eventually and giving him a run for his money.

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt) def. Luther, Serpentico and Max Caster

Jurassic Express have been stacking up several victories recently on Dark, so hopefully they'll enter the AEW World Tag Team Championship hunt soon. They have a tendency to make anything they're involved in enjoyable, though I will say that one thing that really bothered me about this bout was Luther not shutting the hell up. I realize he's a heel and his job to make me hate him, but it was channel-changing material. As I've said before, I don't see what he brings to the table.

Orange Cassidy def. Peter Avalon

If AEW wants fans to view Cassidy as a threat to Chris Jericho at Fyter Fest, they're going to have him establish as much credibility as possible ahead of the event. Then again, he took on Pac in his singles debut back at Revolution and went the distance, so I don't think Jericho will beat him in a matter of minutes. Obviously, a win over Avalon isn't a game-changer (especially since he has yet to win a single match in AEW), but it doesn't hurt, either. Cassidy's antics made this thing entertaining, and as ridiculous as this was (which is why I can understand some hating on it), I was hooked for every second of it.

Overall Show

This edition of Dark wasn't quite as long as last week's (which exceeded the 90-minute mark), but it was still needlessly long at over an hour. Most of these wins won't mean anything if the only people the contracted wrestlers beat are enhancement talent. Don't get me wrong, a well-booked squash match can be effective, but AEW does them so often on Dark that they're no longer a novelty. They're just boring. By recent Dark standards, this show was a bit more bearable than usual, but nothing you need to go out of your way to see.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    #AskGSM
    Battle Of The Belts
    Cruiserweight Classic
    Halftime Heat
    Hidden Gems
    Interviews
    Lists/Rankings
    Mae Young Classic
    Mixed Match Challenge
    News
    NJPW
    NWA Shockwave
    NXT PLEs
    Opinion
    Previews
    Retro Reviews
    Reviews
    RJ's Two Cents
    Satire
    Slammy Awards
    SNME
    SummerSlam Recall
    The Deadly Draw
    The World Is A Vampire
    Tribute To The Troops
    Women's Eliminator
    Worlds Collide
    WrestleMania Recall
    WWE Draft
    WWE Network Specials
    WWE PLEs
    WWE Starrcade


    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

    RSS Feed

©2025 WrestleRant. All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • Columnist Corner
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Audio
  • Videos
  • Store
  • About
  • Contact