AEW Dark Review - October 13, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jungle Boy def. Evil Uno, Frankie Kazarian, The Blade and Frankie Kazarian in a Four-Way Match

While this did technically serve as a good hook for the remainder of the show, I highly question putting the biggest match of the night on first. It featured four guys from different tag teams and it ended up being a blast. You had to know Jungle Boy was winning as soon as the commentators referenced beforehand that he'll be taking part in the upcoming AEW World Championship number one contender's tournament, but this was still chaotic fun. I could have done without the post-match madness, though.

The Lucha Brothers def. Cesar Bononi and Lee Johnson

AEW has been using Bononi a lot lately to the point where I'm starting to think they may sign him eventually. He felt like a top prospect in NXT for a while before being released earlier this year, but I guess his peak was beating Andrade in a random upset on TV three years ago. He's not as notable of a name as Tay Conti, but there could be something there with him. Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable showcase for The Lucha Brothers, who never cease to entertain me.

Brandon Cutler vs. Peter Avalon Ended in a Double Disqualification

My god, it's the feud that will never end. I understand why some people would be into this stuff because they're definitely telling a story. However, it's not a story I personally care for. The battle of the losers is rarely engaging and this has been no exception in my opinion. The double disqualification finish was AEW's way of keeping this thing alive and that makes me sad. Let's please not waste any more time on this.

Matt Sydal def. Sonny Kiss

It's nice that Sydal has remained a regular on Dark recently and I'd be all for AEW signing him to a full-time deal eventually. He has a lot to offer and, aside from his embarrassingly botched debut at All Out, has looked pretty good in the handful of showings he's had. The same can be said for Kiss, who also put in a quality performance here. Sydal was the right winner as Kiss is primarily a tag team competitor currently.

The Dark Order (John "3" Silver, Alex "4" Reynolds and Preston "10" Vance) def. Aaron Solow, Angel Fashion and M'Badu

Silver is hilarious on Being The Elite, but he's been booked like a glorified loser on AEW for so long that his matches tend to do nothing for me. AEW seems to be trying to make him more of a threat by having him win more often on Dark, but he's going to need to beat some bigger stars than the three opponents he faced here in order for people to really buy into that. The match was fine, but I feel like any match involving this combination of Dark Order members isn't going to be great.

Red Velvet def. Elayna Black

Velvet has only been used as an enhancement talent up to this point and has lost to everyone in the AEW women's division that I can think of. Thus, this marked her first victory in the company, which should come as no surprise after she came to the aid of Brandi Rhodes last week on Dark. The match didn't go longer than it needed to and solely existed to give Velvet a victory so it will make sense when she eventually teams with Brandi, so it was a success in that respect.

Ricky Starks def. Fuego Del Sol

As I've said time and time again, Starks just screams "star." It's always awesome to see him come out on this show, do his thing, pick up a win and then join the commentary table with Taz. That was exactly what happened here. His offense looks super smooth and he's even better on the mic. More of Starks, please. He's proven to be one of the company's best signings all year I'd say.

The Gunn Club def. Maxx Stardom and RYZIN

For those keeping track at home, The Gunn Clubb remains undefeated. Hell, they've won so many matches on Dark this year that I'm somewhat shocked they haven't earned themselves a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship yet. And because they haven't, wouldn't that devalue the power rankings and defeat the purpose of win-loss records? There isn't a logical way of explaining it. Their matches are usually below-average and this was more of the same from them.

Darby Allin def. Nick Comoroto

Apparently Comoroto used to be in WWE? I had no idea. From what I saw, he wasn't there very long, but he looks like a guy they would want and I'm surprised they let him go. He was the perfect opponent for Allin as he got to throw him around a bit but it was impressive when Allin was able to fight back and take him down. It had a typical David vs. Goliath type of format and it worked well. Allin attacking Starks at the commentary table afterward was a nice touch.

Colt Cabana def. Griff Garrison

I am begging AEW to get to the next chapter of his Cabana-Dark Order story. It started months ago, and although I was mildly intrigued initially, I've lost all interest in it since then. They're clearly teasing tension between him and some of the other members (most notably Silver), but that's not enough to keep me invested. Garrison sells well for everyone, so this was decent.

Nyla Rose def. KiLynn King

The outcome was never in doubt here, but it was nice that King had the chance to cut a promo earlier in the evening establishing why she wanted to face Rose. Speaking of whom, where the hell has she been lately? I remember her being on Dynamite not too long ago teasing a confrontation with Hikaru Shida, but that's about it. It seems strange that AEW would give her Vickie Guerrero as a manager before drastically curtailing her role on the show.

Joey Janela def. D3

If we already had Kiss in action on this show with Janela in his corner, then there was no need for Janela to have a match on his own. Maybe that's just because I haven't seen what the big deal about Janela is since he joined AEW, but regardless of the reason, I found this to be as mediocre as most of his other matches in the promotion. Yes, Janela dominated a majority of it, but that doesn't mean it should have lasted five minutes.

Wardlow def. Elijah Dean

Wardlow is an absolute freak in the ring, so much so that he gives me Brock Lesnar/Batista vibes. I'm sure AEW feels the same way about him, but it would be a mistake to break him away from MJF any time soon as has been teased for a few months now. I loved how quick this was because not only did it cement Wardlow as a dominant force, it also acted as a blueprint for what the rest of this show should be.

Eddie Kingston def. Baron Black

Kingston is one of if not my favorite talker in the entire company, but I have no clue why a one-sided squash from him closed this show. His promos are obviously his greatest strength, and while his matches are far from bad, they normally aren't main-event worthy and this most certainly wasn't. Then again, I assume AEW figured it didn't matter what went on last after that star-studded opener (by Dark standards). This was a hard-hitting affair for what it was, but it was a weird way of ending a near-two-hour show.

Overall Show

When I saw that this show was almost two hours long and had 14 matches on the card, I couldn't believe it. Then again, Dark has done this a bunch in the past few months, so I should probably just expect this nonsense by now. Hey, I'm all for building people up, but 14 straight squash matches is pure overkill. Thankfully, this edition managed to have some solid stuff, including an exciting opener. I'm really looking forward to the one-year anniversary edition of Dynamite on Wednesday, so I wish this show was used to hype that up more with video packages and whatnot instead of featuring so many meaningless matches.