AEW Dark Review - October 19, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jamie Hayter def. Tiffany Nieves

It feels like we haven't seen much of Hayter in the ring as of late, at least not on her own. She's lost a handful of matches to Ruby Soho and in tag team action, but it was nice to see her get the singles spotlight back here. She's someone that will become a bigger star in time and aligning with Britt Baker from the get-go will only help her cause. This was over in nearly a minute and gave Hayter some needed credibility.

Gunn Club (Billy, Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Alex Chamberlain, Dean Mercer and Diamond Sheik

As I've said before, it's bizarre to me that Gunn Club would involved in that angle on Dynamite almost two months ago that turned them heel and they've barely (if at all) been featured on the show since. It's not a major complaint because I couldn't care less about the trio (though they are better off as heels), but it's oddly inconsistent from a company that's usually better with that sort of stuff. On the bright side, this was on the shorter side and didn't overstay its welcome.

Thunder Rosa, Kris Statlander and Red Velvet def. Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura and Diamante

I believe this was a rematch from a recent match that was held on Elevation, though Rosa replaced KiLynn King. When I saw that, I immediately knew the babyfaces were winning. In all seriousness, this was a solid showcase for the women ahead of the upcoming AEW TBS Championship, which I assume most (if not all) of these women will be participating in. It could have gone a little longer given the star power in there, but what we got was good enough.

Mark Sterling Demanded Jade Cargill Be Awarded the AEW TBS Championship

We'll be finding out the bracket for the tournament to crown an inaugural AEW TBS Championship this Friday on Rampage, but before then, we had Sterling complaining that Cargill should be just given the title because of how she's undefeated one-on-one and has demolished everyone in her path. This promo effectively hyped up the tourney and Cargill's involvement in it. She's definitely a frontrunner to win the whole thing.

Lance Archer def. OT Fernandez

Archer remains in the middle of no man's land, and it feels like he's been residing there for the better part of the past year. On the bright side, he's been announced for the AEW World Championship Eliminator, and even though he most likely isn't winning, hopefully we can get a few fun matches from him out of it. Speaking of fun, it will never not be fun to watch him kill dudes like he did Fernandez here. This was vintage Archer.

Frankie Kazarian def. Aaron Solo

Kazarian is back to undercard status now that his feud with The Elite is seemingly over. He never gave them their comeuppance, but he can't keep losing to them forever. As for Solo, he's perfectly competent in the ring (even though The Factory does nothing for me), so this was pretty decent in the five or so minutes it was given. QT Marshall bores me as a character, but at least he's more bearable on commentary than he is in the ring.

The Dark Order (Stu Grayson, Colt Cabana, Alan Angels and Preston "10" Vance) def. Daniel Garcia, 2point0 and Serpentico

I guess Angels isn't technically "5" anymore if he's no longer wearing the mask, which is a nice step forward for his character. Can Vance please be next? At any rate, this was a fun little main event while it lasted. It was basically Dark Order doing their thing while working with quality opponents. I thought Serpentico was a random partner for Garcia and 2point0, but then it became clear that he was only in there to get beat. By the way, congrats to Garcia for his AEW signing finally being made official.

Overall Show

This edition of Dark was filmed this past weekend, either before Rampage or Dynamite, because the next batch of Universal Studios tapings kicks off this coming weekend. It was nice to have Dark back in front of a full crowd for a change and for the show to only be around 40 minutes long. There weren't any instant classics, but all the matches served their purpose and it was an easy watch. This is what Dark should be all the time (regardless of where it's held).

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