AEW Dark Review - October 4, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Marina Shafir def. Sio Nieves

I've been very critical of Shafir in my past reviews, so I'm well aware that I sound like a broken record at this point, but it's almost comical that you could hear a pin drop during her matches regardless of whether it's at Universal Studios or in an actual arena. She simply hasn't shown enough improvement to justify her current push and this match was evident of that. At least she didn't cut another promo screaming about nothing.

Ari Daivari def. AR Fox

I know this meant to serve as a showcase for Daivari, but I was actually more interested by what Fox could do. He's been featured on AEW programming before and the guy is a terrific talent. That isn't to say Daivari is bad by any means, but he's painfully average and nothing about him has ever stood out as exciting. Daivari winning was a no-brainer, but I was happy that Fox had a chance to shine before eating defeat.

Tony Nese and Josh Woods def. Rohit Raju and Invictus Kash

What's funny about the duo of Nese and Woods is that they took Swerve In Our Glory to the limit in a Street Fight main event on Rampage not too long ago (when Swerve In Our Glory were still AEW World Tag team Champions), and yet they were squashed within minutes on the Grand Slam episode. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but how is anyone supposed to take them seriously? This was fine, but I continue to wish Woods would be spotlighted as a singles competitor. Same goes for Raju.

Abadon def. Freya States

Abadon had her first match in a few months this past Monday on Elevation, so between that and her match here, I'm worried she might be in action more often going forward. Is her undefeated streak on the Dark shows finally going to amount to something? This would have been better off on the shorter side like Abadon's Elevation matchup, but to give credit where it's due, her offense here was more impressive than I was expecting.

Slim J def. Blake Christian

I'm sure I've said it before, but Slim J is such a random addition to The Trustbusters. Personally, I know nothing about him from his Ring of Honor days, and although he can obviously hold his own at this stage of his career, I have no idea why I'm supposed to give a crap about him. I can't recall a single time he cut a promo. This was similar to Daivari vs. Fox in that I thought Christian had the stronger showing than Slim, but it was a nice match, nonetheless.

The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth and Cezar Bononi) def. Eli Isom and Chris Farrow

I assume Bononi's alliance with Tiger Ruas is over considering we haven't seen them team in ages. I thought that was an improvement for Bononi because he was more intimidating in that team. Regardless, he's abysmal in the ring and Nemeth isn't much more than basic. I don't understand the point of giving teams like The Wingmen wins and wasting time if it isn't going to lead to anything, especially when they never beat anyone of note. This was inoffensive but meaningless.

Parker Boudreaux def. Terry Kid

I maintain Boudreaux isn't going to gain a ton in the long-term from being with The Trustbusters, though I suppose it's better than shoving him down the throats of fans because he has a chance to develop in the ring and as a character. On the bright side, this was a serviceable squash that established his dominance. Hopefully he can stay the course and hone his skills because he has the most potential of anyone in The Trustbusters in my opinion.

Skye Blue def. Robyn Renegade

The Renegade Twins received some mic time earlier in the evening to hype this up. It was an effort, I'll say that much. The match was what you'd expect. I haven't seen a single match from The Renegade Twins that was above decent and Blue isn't the person that's going to get an instant classic out of them. Blue picking up a win was encouraging, but the quality of the contest was subpar.

Iron Savages def. Vary Morales and Levy Valenzuela

For those who may have forgotten (like I did), Iron Savages is the new name for Bear Country. I'm not sure why they were rebranded, but it's not like Bear Country was a great name to begin with. I'm all for giving them a mouthpiece, but we'll see if this leads to them becoming an actual force on Dynamite or Rampage one of these days. This was a straightforward squash, and I was honestly surprised to see Valenzuela (the former No Way Jose from WWE) relegated to such a spot.

Dante Martin and Matt Sydal def. The Workhorsemen

This main event has been building for a few weeks on Dark, a rare example of consistent storytelling on the show. The outcome was never in doubt, of course, but it definitely delivered from an in-ring standpoint and the action was entertaining. Martin just teamed with Tony Deppen in the main event of Monday's Elevation, and although Deppen isn't as established as Sydal, he might be a better partner for him at this point until his brother Darius returns. Nonetheless, this was a fun sprint.

Overall Show

Any edition of Dark under an hour long automatically gets a thumbs-up up from me. Okay, so this was the far from the greatest Dark episode I've ever seen and there wasn't much about it worth checking out, but the main event was one of the better bouts I've seen on this show in a while. Otherwise, this was a pretty "mid" Dark. It's nice they're showcasing some of the undercard competitors, but there's quite a few of them I couldn't care less about. That's especially true for The Trustbusters.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews