AEW Dark Review - October 29, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Dustin Rhodes and Sonny Kiss def. Peter Avalon and QT Marshall

No explanation was given for why Rhodes decided to form a friendship with Kiss. They made for a good pairing, but it just didn't make any sense and felt random. On the bright side, at least we were given an introduction to who Marshall was last week on AEW Dark as part of Cody's Undesirable to Undeniable segment. Granted, he did nothing here to make me want to see him more often in the ring, but he did well. It was a fine tag match on the whole with Rhodes pinning Avalon for the victory after Avalon inadvertently collided with Leva Bates in the turnbuckle.

Emi Sakura def. Allie, Sadie Gibbs and Penelope Ford in a Four-Way Match

AEW has a lot of very talented women, but you would never know because most of them are never on Dynamite. Sakura is the only one of the four to have wrestled on Dynamite in the past month, and fans were given zero reason to care about her aside from how she's skilled in the ring. They put together a pretty good four-way here and I liked what I saw from Gibbs and Ford. Gibbs has been under contract for months but has only wrestled here and in the Casino Battle Royale at All Out. It's high time she gets spotlighted more.

Darby Allin def. Jimmy Havoc and Jack Evans in a Three-Way Falls Count Anywhere Match

I thought Allin and Havoc wrapped up their rivalry when Allin beat Havoc on Dynamite three weeks ago, but apparently not. Also, is it really necessary for almost all of their encounters to carry some sort of stipulation? I get that's their shtick and they're trying to draw people into watching AEW Dark, but it's going to reach a point where these gimmick matches (assuming they haven't already) if they keep doing them so often. With all of that said, this was a very fun match with all three guys getting to shine. Allin is the biggest singles star of the three and thus was the right choice to go over.

Overall Show

Most of the matches that air on this program aren't anything I'd classify as being overly special or must-see, but it's an enjoyable hour of action, nonetheless. The main event was easily the best thing on this episode and the other two matches were solid. There was also plenty of recap of last week's Dynamite as well as hype for Wednesday's show. Additionally, Cody's Undesirable to Undeniable segment continues to be an excellent use of time and this week's installment with MJF was a blast.