AEW Dark Review - November 1, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Danhausen def. Jon Cruz

Danhausen is coming off a loss to QT Marshall in the main event of Monday's Halloween edition of Elevation. We've seen Cruz on the Dark shows before, but he's never been as animated as we saw here. I thought he did a great job of playing the bad guy opposite of the extremely popular Danhausen. They had a nice little match designed to get Danhausen back in the winning column.

The Embassy (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony) def. Fuego Del Sol and Waves & Curls

I was beyond pumped to see Waves & Curls get a televised entrance alongside Fuego. They've appeared on Dark before and are the current reigning Northeast Wrestling Tag Team Champions. Traveon Jordan, one-half of the team, also recently won the Northeast Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. It's criminal if they aren't signed soon by AEW or WWE. This was basically a showcase for The Embassy, but Waves & Curls made the most of their opportunity.

Nyla Rose def. Leva Bates

Rose claimed this was an open challenge for "her" AEW TBS Championship belt that she's still carrying around. It wasn't much of a surprise that Bates answered the call because a graphic announced her Rose's opponent beforehand. Oops. Bates is awful, so thankfully, this ended within a minute. The best part about this whole thing was Rose celebrating with the belt afterward like she won the Super Bowl. That was hilarious.

Dante Martin def. Encore

It's a shame Martin has lost as much momentum as he has over the last year, to the point where he's just another guy on the roster that is largely relegated to Dark. If nothing else, he's always a blast to watch in the ring. That was once again the case here (despite it being brief) as he Encore worked well together. On a side note, Encore is a really cool ring name, and I hope we see more of him.

AEW Interim Women's World Champion Toni Storm def. Diamante (Non-Title)

Storm has been on another level since winning the interim title. The only thing she needs now is more promo time on television. All of her matches have great aggression and energy. Diamante was a step up in competition from your average jobber, looking decent in defeat here. I assume Storm's next challenger will be Jamie Hayter at Full Gear next month and Saraya will factor in somehow.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy and Best Friends def. Tony Deppen and The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari and Sonny Kiss)

Daivari made Deppen an honary member of Trustbusters beforehand. If he's lucky, he won't become a full-fledged member because the group as a whole sucks. He's a talented dude, though, as seen during his time in Ring of Honor. Thus, I was happy he got some time in the ring, but this was mostly about Cassidy and Best Friends. This can't be the best the trios division has to offer, right?

Kip Sabian def. Dean Alexander

Sabian was without Penelope Ford here. As I've said before, I'm digging his new look, but the box crap has got to go. It screams amateur and doesn't serve much of a purpose other than making him look dumb. This had a weird dynamic in that Sabian is a heel and Alexander was noticeably bigger than him, but it was a serviceable squash otherwise with nothing out of the ordinary about it.

Marina Shafir def. Kennedi Copeland

I thought we had seen enough of Shafir earlier in the evening during Rose's match, but apparently not. She absolutely bores me to tears and I am genuinely amazed she is getting another opportunity at Jade Cargill's TBS title on Wednesday's Dynamite. I know she's involved in the ongoing Rose vs. Cargill feud, but it's not as if their original encounter was anything other than mediocre. On the bright side, this was over almost immediately.

AEW World Trios Champion Rey Fenix def. AR Fox

Fox shines every time he's in action on the Dark shows and this was no different. This was an absolute blast while it lasted as the action was entertaining and they just did their thing. There wasn't a story told, but that's not going to be the case with every match and that didn't bother me in this instance. I can't imagine Fox will be a free agent for much longer. He'd be a quality addition to either the AEW roster or the ROH roster, provided they actually use him.

Overall Show

This show is worth watching for that fun sprint in the main event alone. I attended this edition of Dark as part of last week's Rampage taping in Connecticut, and honestly, the time flew by even though a majority of the matches were squashes. That's including the second batch of matches they filmed that I assume will air another time. This was your typical Dark show, but the main event definitely stood out.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews