AEW Dark Review - June 8, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lance Archer def. Zicky Dice

I'm always down for a Lance Archer squash, but I'd be lying I said I wasn't a little disappointed that Dice didn't get more of a chance to shine. Okay, so I don't remember too many standout matches of his from his time in the NWA, but I enjoyed his mic work during his reign as NWA Television Champion. However, he was just another body for Archer to crush here. I'm curious what's next for him following his latest unsuccessful pursuit of the AEW TNT Championship.

Abadon def. Willow Nightingale

I honestly forget that Abadon is still on the roster until I see her in action, and then I'm disappointed when I do. I've made it quite clear in my reviews that the Abadon character does nothing for me and her matches aren't much better. If she's going to compete, it'd be best to keep her matches on the shorter side. While not entirely terrible, there certainly wasn't anything out of the ordinary about this, either.

Cezar Bononi def. Cyrus

Bononi's development is definitely not at a point where I'd be putting him in showcase matches, even on the Dark shows. He still lacks the skills that he should probably have by now considering he was in WWE NXT for as long as he was. This was intended to be a hoss fight, but it just came across as clunky to me and a waste of time. Giving Bononi a win doesn't feel like it should be a priority, especially when he has consistently underperformed any time he's been on Dynamite.

Angelico def. Matthew Justice

There was a backstage segment earlier in the episode where Matt Hardy confronted The Hybrid2 and offered to pay them to take out Christian Cage, leading to Angelico vs. Cage being made official for Friday's Dynamite. Hardy even said he'd put TH2 in the H.F.O. if they were successful, which I don't  As for Justice, I was curious to see what he was capable of, but then he jumped to the outside and landed straight on the barricade. What a stupid spot. The rest of this was essentially a tune-up for Angelico ahead of his upcoming encounter with Christian.

Tay Conti def. Natalia Markova

This marked Markova's AEW debut. She didn't do much that impressed me, but at least she wasn't terrible. Like most Conti matches, this was mostly focused on her as it should have been. She's making strides in the ring, and as much as wrestling on the Dark shows has helped her, she can't be facing independent wrestlers forever. She was featured on Dynamite for a time a month or two ago, so hopefully she can get back to that soon. In fact, a feud between her and Britt Baker over the AEW Women's World Championship at some point wouldn't be a bad idea.

Chaos Project def. JP and Tommy Daily

I'm almost positive that the Daily brothers are regulars in Northeast Wrestling, a promotion I've frequented for over a decade in the northeast area. I didn't recognize their names, but they definitely looked familiar, and I can tell you they're a talented up-and-coming duo. Unfortunately, this was all about Chaos Project, who bore me to tears. Serpentico is fine, but I can't emphasize how bad Luther is. Less of him, the better. Please and thank you.

Marko Stunt def. Ariel Dominguez

Stunt and Dominguez were literally around the same size, which I didn't think was possible given how small Stunt is. I've always said that Stunt is perfectly acceptable as a cornerman for Jurassic Express, but I have no desire to see him wrestle on his own unless he's being squashed by someone. That's not what this was, so I had no interest. He isn't awful in the ring, but I couldn't care less about his matches.

Aaron Solow def. Sonny Kiss

I guess we're supposed to take Solow seriously now because he's associated with *checks notes* QT Marshall, who is coming off a random win over Cody Rhodes on Dynamite. How anyone can bring themselves to give a shit about The Factory at this point (or ever, for that matter) is beyond me. This was a fun little sprint, but again, Solow has to stop doing the damn Pedigree as a finisher. Kiss confronted Joey Janela earlier and hoped he'd be at ringside, but Janela (thankfully) was nowhere to be seen. This is the slowest-burning heel turn I've ever seen.

Nyla Rose def. Missa Kate

Seeing Vickie Guerrero here reminded me how underwhelming that Andrade El Idolo debut was last Friday, along with how bad that segment was with Rose crashing Britt Baker's championship celebration. I'm excited for Andrade in AEW, but not so much for Rose vs. Baker, even though they had a better-than-expected match earlier this year in the women's tournament. This was a pretty basic squash for Rose as she prepares to contend for the title soon.

QT Marshall def. Bear Bronson

Marshall standing at ringside for Solow's match was enough for me. I didn't need to see him have a match of his own. Him having a 16-1 record just doesn't seem right considering how uninteresting the dude is. Bronson, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Similar to Dante Martin, he's been doing very well on his own and having entertaining matches with a variety of opponents. This wasn't my favorite of his so far because of who he was up against, but I did appreciate how competitive it was.

Thunder Rosa def. Megan Bayne

Bayne has made only one other appearance for AEW. She's a competent competitor, but Rosa's just on another level compared to everyone else. She's simply racking up wins so she can eventually contend for another championship. The question is, will it be the AEW Women's World Championship or the NWA World Women's Championship? I thought the latter, but now that Kamille has it, I'm not so sure anymore. All roads should lead to her against Baker again, though. As for this match, it was fine but longer than it needed to be.

The Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana and Preston "10" Vance) def. Kit Sackett, Dan Barry and Justin Law

Ah, another random Dark Order six-man tag team match. Don't get me wrong, these are usually fun, but I fail to see what they accomplish when none of these guys regularly team, it doesn't help their win-loss record any because it's a six-man tag, and they almost never when when it's actually important. It's tough to complain because this was short and sweet, but on a near-two-hour show, I question why it had to happen.

Big Swole and KiLynn King def. Sea Stars

It was nice to see Sea Stars back on AEW programming, but then I was reminded that they won their last match on Dark back in March. Why haven't we seen them since? At least Swole and King got to beat an established team in what was a pretty good match. Swole, King and even Red Velvet have benefited from their alliance and have worked well together. I maintain that AEW should let them get a run at the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Championship over in IMPACT and give them something to do instead of being relegated to the Dark shows all the time.

Matt Sydal def. Dante Martin

Dante has been killing it on his own while Darius has been out injured. His impressive sting of wins earned him an opportunity at AEW TNT Championship on the Dynamite before Double or Nothing, but he was promptly squashed by Miro. Thankfully, he bounced back here with a hell of a showing against a seasoned opponents. Sydal has more singles potential at this point than Dante does (who should be reuniting with his brother Darius soon), so the outcome made sense. This was an absolute blast and one of the best Dark matches in recent memory. Why couldn't it have happened in front of an actual crowd last week?

Overall Show

I thought Dark would be similar to Monday's Dark: Elevation in that it'd be taped in front of a full crowd, but then I remember last week's tapings were split up between Dynamite and Double or Nothing. There was no pay-per-view this past weekend, so they only taped Elevation before Dynamite and not Dark. Therefore, this was taped with the usual AEW cast and crew in the audience and it had the same format that it did prior to last week. That was depressing. The 14-match card undoubtedly dragged and half of the matches weren't even necessary. The above-average main event is well worth checking out, but the undercard was mediocre to me.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews