AEW Dark Review - October 22, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Joey Janela def. Brandon Cutler

Janela actually entered to Jurassic Express' theme music, which was apparently an accident because Marko Stunt was originally supposed to compete in this match before Luchasaurus got hurt and Stunt had to replace him. That's why this felt so random. Nonetheless, this was perfectly fine for what it was with both men having solid showings. Janela finally scores his first win in AEW.

Nyla Rose def. Leva Bates

You don't need me to tell you that the librarian gimmick sucks. It's been evident since Day 1, which is why I'm shocked it's still around. Bates and Peter Avalon are trying to make the most of it, but it's just not working. It doesn't help that their matches are terrible and this was no exception. Rose was a poor opponent for the equally unexciting Bates, making for a really lousy match. I'm not sure how AEW expected the crowd to react to this since it was clearly intended to be throwaway.

Cody Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes and The Young Bucks def. Private Party and strong Hearts

Strong Hearts consisted of CIMA and T-Hawk. There was no way that the Rhodes brothers and the Bucks were losing, but this was very entertaining for the time it was given. Private Party are fresh off their win over the Bucks two weeks ago on Dynamite, so they were hardly hurt by losing here. This was all action and the crowd ate it up. I think AEW tends to go a bit overboard with the multi-person matches most weeks (it's difficult to get anyone over that way), but this was a blast.

Overall Show

I continue to like the format of Tony Schiavone recapping the previous edition of Dynamite before previewing the upcoming one, even if it isn't anything must-see. This was easily the weakest episode of Dynamite so far, but it was worth checking out for that excellent main event alone. The first two matches were fairly forgettable, but the eight-man tag team match was every bit as fun as it looked on paper.