AEW Dark Review - October 5, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Pinnacle (Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR) def. Austin Green, Dean Alexander, Baron Black and Aaron Frye

I believe this marked the first time we've seen almost all of The Pinnacle (sans MJF) in one match since Double or Nothing when they lost to Inner Circle in Stadium Stampede 2. Of all the factions AEW has at the moment, I don't mind them sticking together while also doing their own thing. This was a fairly standard showcase for them with each member getting their time to shine. My only complaint is that this lasted as long as it did.

Abadon def. Valentina Rossi

Abadon feels like one of those acts AEW brought in last year before the company started to get more serious with its stars and now she's lost in the shuffle with nothing to do except squash independent wrestlers on the Dark shows. She's doing more in-ring stuff compared to the character crap she was doing previously, but I still have no use for her matches, especially if these wins aren't leading anywhere.

The Acclaimed def. Michael Martinez and Vary Morales

The Acclaimed are quickly rising up the power rankings and are bound to get a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship sooner rather than later. This was a pretty basic bout for The Acclaimed, who were on offense throughout and won decisively in a matter of minutes. Their raps continue to be among the best parts of the program, and so far, they aren't completely watered down compared to what Max Caster was doing prior to his suspension.

Sonny Kiss def. Kal Herro

Herro is best known as the dude with the fanny pack. He usually wrestles in tag team matches for AEW, so I was interested to see how he'd do on his own here. However, this was all about Kiss, who dominated the entire match. As I noted in my Elevation review, Kiss' new entrance music is a massive upgrade over his last one. Considering he's still feuding with Joey Janela and Kayla Rossi, I like that he's been more aggressive in his matches.

Kris Statlander def. Zeda Zhang

Zhang was under a developmental deal with WWE for about a year or so before being released in 2018. She was also with MLW for a time and has competed for AEW on its Dark shows in the past. She looked decent in this match and Statlander was on point as always. This was as long as it should have been around three minutes. The fact she won with a submission was a nice change of pace.

Skye Blue def. Madi Wrenkowski

Wrenkowski was a regular on Dark and Elevation for a while throughout the pandemic, but her appearances have been far and few between as of late. Blue's stock, on the other hand, has never been higher. She got a lot of people talking about her over All Out weekend and she's getting more and more over with each appearance she makes for AEW. I'm sure it's more a matter of when and not if she'll be signed to a deal. Considering both of these ladies are relatively inexperienced, this was solid stuff and gave Blue her first win in AEW.

Eddie Kingston def. Anthony Henry

Henry is fresh off a run in WWE NXT (specifically 205 Live) where he went by the name Asher Hale. I believe he was a regular in EVOLVE prior to that point, where Kingston spent a considerable amount of time as well before signing with AEW. Thus, it must have been cool for them to go one-on-one again here. Hale wasn't given too many opportunities in WWE, but he made a terrific first impression in AEW with the showing he had against Kingston. This was a competitive contest with Henry looking credible in defeat.

Gunn Club (Billy, Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Hunter Knott, Rosario Grillo and Cameron Stewart

Gunn Club have appeared in a vignette or two on Dynamite recently, but I still couldn't care less about the trio. They turned heel on Paul Wight over a month ago and there's been barely any follow-up on that since. I'm not clamoring for a Wight vs. Gunn match in 2021, of course, but then why do the angle in the first place? They're slightly less annoying as heels, but I just don't see where they fit into the current roster that's growing by the day. This was fine for what it was.

Diamante def. Santana Garrett

I liked that this was advertised a week out with Diamante interrupting Garrett's backstage promo on last week's show. Garrett is very familiar with Universal Studios as she's made many appearances for IMPACT in that building over the years. She was never given a real chance in WWE, so hopefully she can pick up where she left off in the independent scene. Other than Diamante struggling to hit her finisher on Diamante at the end, this was a quality contest.

Varsity Blonds def. The Wingmen (Ryan Nemeth and "Pretty" Peter Avalon)

The Wingmen are the definition of jobbers, so while they do absolutely nothing for me because I find them to be complete goofs, I will admit that they play their roles well. They were just another team for Varsity Blonds to beat. I feel like we haven't seen a lot of Varsity Blonds in action recently, but that's probably because Brian Pillman Jr. was busy with MJF in September. They got back to their winning ways here following an average outing with The Wingmen.

Daniel Garcia def. Erik Lockhart

Garcia just keeps rolling. It's not hard to see why AEW is so high on him. He brings a different type of intensity and legitimacy to his matches that a majority of the roster does not. And, of course, having 2point0 in his corner is a huge help because they're so damn entertaining. Garcia took his time dismantling Lockhart here before putting him away with that brutal submission of his. I wonder if he's being built up for another big match on Dynamite or Rampage one of these days.

Serpentico def. Marko Stunt

I'm positive I've asked this before, but can we please keep the Stunt stuff to a minimum? He's unbelievable to watch in the ring, even up against someone such as Serpentico, and that isn't meant to be a compliment. He's athletic, I'll give him that, but that's about it. His matches are meaningless, but at least they're relegated to the Dark shows most of the time. Thank the lord Serpentico won, but Stunt's involvement combined with Luther's screaming at ringside throughout made this one of the worst things I've seen on this show in a while.

Orange Cassidy def. Nick Comoroto

Cassidy did his usual shtick to start off, which begs the question of why Comoroto didn't try to steamroll over him sooner. He showed more personality than usual, which I appreciated, and it was a well-wrestled main event aside from the overbooked interference at ringside. I will say that Comoroto is gaining nothing from his association with The Factory. They've been firmly established as losers, so it's going to be difficult to take Comoroto seriously the longer he's involved with them.

Overall Show

I maintain that the show emanating from Universal Studios is a step up from its previous format of being taped before and after Dynamite (the crowds were almost always quiet due to being exhausted), but I'm also still of the mindset that a show with 13 enhancement matches is way too much, especially if they're on the longer side. Although this was under 90 minutes, it felt a lot longer. I thought this was the weakest edition of Dark since it started filming at Universal Studios, but Kingston vs. Henry is worth seeking out and should have been positioned as the main event instead of Cassidy vs. Comoroto.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews