AEW Dark Review - May 5, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

10 def. Ryan Pyles

10 is The Dark Order's newest recruit (formerly known as Preston Vance) who was shown on Dynamite recently. Apparently he comes from the football world and has a good look. This was a solid squash as he made quick work of Pyles while Brodie Lee watched from ringside. If anyone is going to take the group to the next level, it just might be him, especially since Stu Grayson and Evil Uno have been absent from AEW programming lately.

Sammy Guevara def. Shawn Dean

Guevara has been a recurring highlight on these empty arena shows because of how his entertaining antics make him such a blast to watch. That was once again the case here as he took his time dominating Dean. I don't think this needed to last over six minutes, but other than that, this worked as a showcase for Guevara ahead of his huge tag team match with Chris Jericho against Kenny Omega and "Broken" Matt Hardy on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Kip Sabian def. Colt Cabana

The bad blood between Cabana and Sabian dates back to the March 18th episode of Dynamite when they had a run-in at ringside. It was teased that Cabana was driving a wedge between Sabian and Penelope Ford, but obviously, it was revealed to be a ruse from the start. As a match, this was solid and filled the time well. The finish could have been better executed, though.

Overall Show

It was refreshing to get three matches on this week's NXT compared to the two we've come to expect we've gotten in recent weeks, including one that was more than a simple squash. I won't say this show is worth sitting through in its entirety if you missed it, but at least all three matches were effective in their own way and the 30 minutes flew by. The last-minute hype for Dynamite this week was also well done.