AEW Dark Review - March 4, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Acclaimed def. The Workhorsemen

It was nice to see Workhorsemen receive an entrance for a change, and Acclaimed received a loud reaction when they came out. Hopefully they can maintain this level of popularity even if they don't win the AEW World Tag Team Championship back at Revolution. Workhorsemen always put in a quality performance before losing and this was the usual fun sprint from them. It was basically an extended showcase for Acclaimed, though a bit more competitive than your average squash.

Daniel Garcia def. Aaron Solo

I completely forgot Solo was a thing until he showed up here. Apparently he hasn't wrestled for AEW since December, but it made sense for him to compete on this show given he's from the Bay Area I believe and thus he was a fan favorite. That said, I don't think it should have taken Garcia as long as it did to defeat him. Garcia is just another dude at this point, so I probably shouldn't care, but it was weird seeing Solo take him to the limit despite Solo being slotted in The Factory for the past two years.

FTW Champion Hook def. "Pretty" Peter Avalon (Non-Title)

I'm not the biggest Avalon fan by any stretch, but I would've been fine with this had Avalon not played the babyface role against Chris Jericho three days ago on Dynamite. His pre-match promo established he was back to being a heel, but why not put a different heel in there all together? Avalon was a walk in the park for Hook after he beat Matt Hardy on Dynamite, so I'm glad this was kept short and sweet with Hook winning decisively.

ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe and The Lucha Brothers def. The Firm (Lee Moriarty, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy)

Apparently Briscoe is filling in for Death Triangle's Pac in his absence. They have terrific chemistry as a trio, so it's hardly a problem. I know Briscoe is currently feuding with Josh Woods and that's why he and Lucha Brothers are facing Ari Daivari and The Varsity Athletes on the Revolution pre-show, but this felt like a bigger match. It was enjoyable, though the Hardy and Kassidy stuff didn't have the same dynamic as it usually does due to Ethan Page not being there.

Overall Show

AEW tends to hold a special edition of Dark the day before each pay-per-view and they're never really worth checking out. This was no exception. It was obviously taped before Friday's Rampage and the crowd was lively throughout, but none of the matches stood out at all or served much of a purpose. The best thing I can say about the episode is that it was only 38 minutes long and only featured four matches. It was a quick watch and a fine appetizer ahead of Revolution, if nothing else.

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