AEW Dark Review - March 24, 2020

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jake Hager def. Joe Alonzo

Hager is perfect in matches where he gets to completely dominate and showcase his skills as an MMA fighter. I don't have a strong desire to see him in competitive matches at this point after what we saw from him and Dustin Rhodes at Revolution last month. This was exactly what it needed to be with Hager decimating Alonzo in under a minute. More straightforward squashes like this will establish him as a force to be reckoned with.

Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall def. Matt Sells and Jon Cruz

I still don't get the pairing of Rhodes and Marshall, and although there are much better teams in the tag division, they've worked well together thus far. Cruz and Sells sold well (how could I not make that pun?) for them but didn't really stand out as anything special. I will say, though, that Brandi Rhodes is in her element as a valet (especially if her one-night return to ring announcing last week was any indication). If she isn't going to accompany Cody to the ring anymore, his brother Dustin is probably the next best option.

SCU (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) def. Shawn Spears and Robert Anthony

Spears found a partner in some random local athlete. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work out too well. I was slightly surprised that this was the longest match on the entire show by a wide margin, just because the outcome was never in doubt. Then again, I guess you could say the same about any other matchup on this show, but 10 minutes seemed a little lengthy. Spears laid out Anthony afterward. I'd love if he actually chose Simon from WhatCulture (who submitted a video online campaigning for Spears to choose him), but I don't think that's where they're going with this.

Kip Sabian def. Suge D

Looking at Suge D's Twitter, this match clearly meant a lot to him. It was nice to see him score more offense than most of the indie guys on this show and I thought he looked good in defeat. As for Sabian, he continues to perform well, but the interference from Penelope Ford is way too overdone. The bigger issue is that he scores a decent amount of wins on Dark and yet I struggle to take him seriously because he never seems to win when it matters most.

Colt Cabana def. Brandon Cutler

As I've said before, Cabana has been smartly utilized so far in AEW and it's cool that he's been undefeated. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'm glad they're not making him a stepping stone to the stars straight from the get-go. Him and Cutler are both babyfaces, but they had fun with this and their antics early on were entertaining. If what we saw on Dynamite last week with Cabana and Sabian was any indication, I assume a match between them is imminent.

Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss def. Corey Hollis and Mike Reed

I didn't know what to expect from the oddball tag team of Janela and Spears, but they actually had quality chemistry together. Kiss winning is rare, so that was a pleasant surprise (even if it was against two indie dudes). There wasn't a ton to this, but it was a decent main event where both Janela and Kiss got to shine. Janela isn't doing much of note at the moment, so I wouldn't mind them continuing to team for the foreseeable future.

Overall Show

Every match on this week's Dark was an enhancement match, and while it didn't make for must-see programming, it made sense given the current circumstances. Plus, Tony Khan noted on Twitter that he brought in so many independent wrestlers to give them a paycheck during these trying times, which is super cool of him to do. It's not an hour of wrestling I'd recommend you go out of your way to watch, but for what it was, the show served its purpose and gave a handful of people some needed wins.