AEW Dark Review - March 16, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Luchasaurus def. Cezar Bononi

Bononi is a clearly a pet project for AEW, which would explain why he was paired off with Peter Avalon. If Avalon can help him improve, then wonderful, but their act along with Ryan Nemeth screams undercard. Also, Bononi was in the NXT system for several years and he doesn't seem to be that much better since the matches I remember having him there, but at least Luchasaurus carried him through this contest.

"​Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Savannah Evans

Tony Khan officially announced on Monday that Hirsch has been signed to an AEW deal. That's awesome news and I'm honestly surprised it didn't happen sooner. She's been a blast to watch over the past few months because of how she comes across as, well, legit every time she's in there. Her offense looks crisp and in time, she can be a top star in that women's division. Her first match as a contracted AEW talent went well.

John "4" Silver John Skyler

Silver has breakout star written all over him. Yes, there's fans in the building right now, but he'll be even more over with the audience than he already is once AEW is back to full capacity. He and Alex Reynolds have turned into a terrific team, but it's also cool seeing him spotlighted as a singles star on occasion. He and Skyler had a fun little match here that highlighted how talented both guys are.

Penelope Ford def. Tesha Price

I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but Kip Sabian and Miro's feud with Best Friends desperately needs to end. I know that doesn't have anything to do with Ford, but if Miro finally gets away from them, then the focus can go back to being on Ford. She has potential that's going to waste because she's been an afterthought on Dynamite other than the wedding. She had a solid showing here and Price looked good in defeat.

Chaos Project def. Fuego Del Sol and St. Patrick

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly is aware that Chaos Project do nothing for me. That's why I was happy this was kept relatively short and sweet with Chaos Project going over in decisive fashion. I don't want to see more of them on Dynamite or anything like that, but I appreciated that they jumped their opponents before the bell and showed more intensity than usual. That made this match more bearable than it would have been otherwise.

KiLynn King def. Jazmin Allure

King is an interesting case. She's a skilled competitor, but we know nothing about her. That's inexcusable when you consider she's been on Dark for as long as she's been. It doesn't matter whether she's signed to a deal or not; if you're going to feature someone like her on a regular basis, you have to give viewers a reason to care about her. That said, this was a decent showcase for King that lasted a little longer than it needed to.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alan "5" Angels and Colt Cabana) def. RYZIN, Baron Black, Angel Fashion and Vary Morales

I'm convinced that Dark Order are full-fledged faces at this point, but that observation is solely based on their recent interactions with Adam Page on Dynamite. They've become a very likable group, but they'll sometimes come across as heels in their matches like they did here. I'm a Dark Order fan, but I hate the constant multi-man matches. It's normally the same thing time and time again. This had its moments, but I'd rather see the Dark Order guys showcased in singles competition or even two-on-two tag team matches.

Gunn Club (Austin, Colten and Billy Gunn) def. David Ali, Adam Priest and Seth Gargis

This might have been the best Gunn Club match I've ever seen, and I'm only half-joking when I write that. Okay, so I can't say they've had even one remotely memorable match, but this was extremely short and there's no way I could possibly hate on it. I wish every Gunn Club match could be this brief in the future, but I don't think I'm that lucky. Less of Gunn Club, the better.

Bear Country def. Dean Alexander and Brick Aldridge

Bear Country are teaming up with Jurassic Express on Wednesday's Dynamite to take on Private Party, The Butcher and The Blade. Between that, a Battle Royal on Dynamite a few weeks ago and the Casino Tag Team Royale at Revolution, these guys have been featured on AEW programming quite a bit. Did I miss something and they're actually signed? If so, I'm not complaining because they've grown on me big time. This was over within a minute and established them as a dominant duo.

Nick Comoroto def. D3

Comoroto impressed me from the first time I saw him in action a while back and he's been coming along nicely ever since. He's an odd fit in The Nightmare Family, but if it gets him more experience and exposure, then whatever. The weird thing is that QT Marshall accompanied him to ringside here despite cementing his heel turn last week. I'd love for Comoroto to destroy him and put an end to the stupid storyline. Speaking of squashes, that's exactly what this was and thankfully so.

Varsity Blonds def. Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs

I asked this in my Dark: Elevation review from Monday, but did Isaacs depart the NWA? He was an NWA World Tag Team Champion at one point and was a part of Nick Aldis' stable, so it'd be disappointing if he was done with them. At any rate, Varsity Blonds continue to work well together and Dark is the perfect place for them to further hone their skills.

Madi Wrenkowski def. Vertvixen

Wrenkowski has shown signs of potential whenever I've seen her in action, but she's definitely still a work in progress. I didn't know before Excalibur mentioned it that she was trained under Thunder Rosa, so at least she's in good hands. Vertvixen is also pretty decent, but I wouldn't be putting two fairly unestablished women against each other. They should be working with women on the roster in order to get better. This was passable for what it was, though.

SCU (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) def. Carlie Bravo and Aaron Solow

After so many months of largely playing out on Dark, I'm happy the SCU storyline has seemingly made its way over to Dynamite as they were shown scouting The Young Bucks. I'd actually put them next in line for a title shot as them against Young Bucks should be the culmination of their angle, regardless of whether they win or not (and I wouldn't have them win the belts back). At lest they're stacking up victories in the meantime in matches like this one.

Team Taz (FTW Champion Brian Cage and Ricky Starks) def. Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss

Team Taz is fresh off a high-profile loss to Sting and Darby Allin at Revolution (where they arguably stole the show), and now they can't even main event Dark. I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, I hope they don't get lost in the shuffle now that the program that brought them together is over. How in the hell did they come close to beating a legend like Sting but had trouble putting away Kiss and Janela? There wasn't anything technically wrong with this, but it was way too competitive given who was involved. I also couldn't care less about Janela teasing a heel turn afterward.

Preston "10" Vance def. Jack Evans

Evans cost Vance a spot in the Face of the Revolution Ladder match ahead of Revolution, so this had some history behind it. There wasn't a ton to this match, and although it would have been fine elsewhere on the card, it was underwhelming as a main event. They picked up the pace down the stretch, but it certainly wasn't anything special. Meanwhile, -1 on commentary has become a staple for Vance's matches, which helps Vance stand out from the other members of Dark Order if nothing else.

Overall Show

I wasn't jumping for joy when Dark: Elevation was announced last month, but I did hope it would help AEW cut down on the amount of matches on Dark on Tuesdays. We're only one week in, but that is not yet the case. Elevation was two hours on Monday and this was only slightly shorter. Both shows featured way more matches than they should have. I'm not saying enhancement matches can't be effective, but 15 of them is absolute overkill. They need to switch up the format of one of the two shows because otherwise they're going to get old very quickly.