AEW Dark Review - March 23, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Dark Order (Alex "3" Reynolds and John "4" Silver) def. Chaos Project

Silver has an AEW TNT Championship opportunity coming up on Wednesday against Darby Allin, so while it was nice to give him a minor momentum boost before then, I'm surprised it wasn't in a singles match. That said, Reynolds and Silver work wonderfully together and have turned into one of my favorite teams to watch. Hell, they managed to make a Chaos Project match bearable. That's a miracle in itself.

SCU (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) def. Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson

The NWA returned over the weekend with its Back for the Attack pay-per-view and Isaacs wasn't a part of it, so that pretty much tells you he's done with that promotion. He's been having solid showings here on Dark alongside Nelson in recent weeks, but I doubt they land a contract with how many teams AEW already has. SCU continue to keep their team afloat by racking up wins, but they have to be put in the AEW World Tag Team Championship picture eventually.

Penelope Ford def. Miranda Alize

Alize has been making the rounds on AEW programming lately, but this was all about Ford as it should have been. I'm hoping the end of the Best Friends vs. Kip Sabian and Miro program drawing near means Ford will be getting more of the spotlight going forward. AEW's women's division needs more focus and variety and throwing Ford into the mix wouldn't hurt. For now, it's nice she's getting more experience by working the Dark shows.

Gunn Club (Austin, Colten and Billy Gunn) def. Baron Black, Jake St. Patrick and Adam Priest

It's well-documented that whenever I see Gunn Club in action, I immediately check out. As I've said several times, they're perfectly fine in the ring, but I can't get over Billy still wrestling on the regular at this stage of this career and I don't see how much Austin and Colten are actually benefiting from it at this point. The best thing about the Gunn Club matches is that they're typically kept on the shorter side. This was no exception.

Dante Martin def. Jack Evans

We're clearly headed for a Top Flight vs. The Hybrid2 match at some point, which could be a ton of fun. Did we see that when Top Flight first arrived in AEW? I believe so, but I can't remember. Either way, I'm sure it's inevitable once Darius Martin is completely cleared. He came out afterward to make the save for Dante, but I don't think he's ready to return just yet. These two worked well together, though I probably would have put Evans over Dante because Evans is more established on his own.

FTW Champion Brian Cage def. Brandon Cutler

Yes, this was apparently contested for the FTW Championship, but I'm not sure if that makes much of a difference because the title is a pointless prop. Cage has held it for months, but it really hasn't added anything to his act whatsoever. As for Cutler, although he's picked up a number of wins on Dark since last year, I still look at him as the ultimate enhancement talent. It did make this more than a complete squash, but I'm glad it didn't last longer than five minutes.

Ashley Vox def. Alex Gracia

Vox has been on a handful of Dark shows, but I'm most familiar with her work on NWA Powerrr. I hope she'll still be involved with them going forward because I see her getting more of a chance there than she will in AEW. That said, she looked good here. Gracia is still very green, but she held her own in this bout. I was actually surprised by the result because Gracia has been around in AEW a lot longer than Vox has, but I'm not complaining.

Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela def. Vary Morales and Seth Gargis

I honestly forget that Kiss and Janela are a team sometimes. I feel like they don't wrestle enough as a team in order to garner momentum, which might be why they're headed for a split. Remember, Janela teased tension with Kiss following their loss the week before, but they were back to being on the same page here. It was almost like it never happened. Uhm, okay. The match was whatever, but the lack of follow-up with the Janela angle was puzzling.

JD Drake def. Fuego Del Sol

Similar with Vox vs. Gracia, this was another case of both guys not having any wins in AEW coming into this contest. Fuego is a fan favorite, but this was not his night as Drake picked up the victory. His appearances on Dark and Dark: Elevation are becoming more frequent and it's cool to see. He has skills and can work well with just about anyone. This was a nice sprint. I don't love the idea of Drake being partnered with Ryan Nemeth, but if it gets him on the shows more, so be it.

QT Marshall def. Shawn Dean

The fact Marshall has not been beaten once this year is astounding, and I don't say that as a positive thing. It further proves that a lot of these wins mean absolutely nothing, especially if they come on Dark and Dark: Elevation. The win-loss records can be deceiving in AEW in that way. Dean excites me way more, but at least he sold Marshall's offense well. I'll also give Marshall props for getting better with his execution of the Diamond Cutter.

The Bunny def. Jazmin Allure

Allie is officially going by just The Bunny now. She's a weird case because I was stoked when she signed with AEW two years ago, but she has yet to have a single memorable match in the company. If anything, I feel like she's actually regressed in the ring. I'd love to be wrong, but her matches are not only forgettable but they're subpar, too. This was one of her better showings in recent memory, likely because it was under three minutes.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Colt Cabana) def. Carlie Bravo, Brick Aldridge and Dean Alexander

Dark Order having so many members means we're subjected to seeing them in at least one multi-man match a week. They've grown on me over the last year and are perfectly cast as babyfaces, but most of the matches tend to blend together. They hit their signature spots and that's about it. I'm glad this didn't overstay its welcome because for it to be competitive would have been unnecessary.

Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow def. Angel Fashion and D3

Comoroto is one of the few people in The Nightmare Family I actually think can go far. He's not amazing in the ring by any stretch, but he has size and has impressed me thus far. He's certainly impressed me more than Solow, who just continues to exist. That isn't to say he's bad, but he screams generic. Keeping this short and sweet was for the best. Giving these guys some character development would help fans connect with them more.

Cezar Bononi def. John Skyler

I'm sorry but a match involving Cezar Bononi is not a "main event" in my opinion. Saving this for last was certainly questionable, but the best thing I can say about it was that it didn't overstay its welcome. Booking Bononi to be dominant is a smart move, but he can never seem to win whenever it matters most. He's also pretty green despite being in WWE's developmental system for years, so I'm not sure how much better he's going to get.

Overall Show

Remember when we all thought Dark would be shorter once Elevation debuted? Not only is that not the case, but both shows have been almost two hours in length almost every week so far. If you dig seeing the same squash matches every week, then Dark and Elevation are you. In all seriousness, this was a perfectly fine episode with a flat main event. Everything else was decent and it was nice to see some fresh faces pick up wins for a change.