AEW Dark Review - September 1, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Shawn Spears def. Eddie Taurus

I had no idea who this Taurus dude was, but it didn't matter as Spears made short work of him as he should have. Having not lost since Double or Nothing in May, Spears should be maintaining his winning ways and going over these unknown competitors quickly and decisively. For what it's worth, Tully Blanchard accompanied him to the ring, so it seems Blanchard will be splitting his time between Spears and FTR going forward.

Santana and Ortiz def. Faboo Andre and RYZIN

RYZIN is a good friend of Matt Hardy's and I'd love to see him incorporated into Hardy's Broken Universe on AEW TV at some point. For now, he's doing what he can in the enhancement role on Dark. He and Andre got their asses kicked for a few minutes while Satana and Ortiz dominated. Their post-match brawl with Best Friends after they walked out of the arena was an effective way of hyping their rematch for Wednesday's Dynamite.

Allie def. Cassandra Golden

I honestly don't think we've seen Allie in singles action in AEW in over a year. Apparently she had a few matches on Chris Jericho's cruise back in January, but I don't remember any of them being televised. As I've said before, I feel like she's regressed in the ring since coming to AEW. This wasn't the best bout by any means, but I'll take Allie by himself over The Nightmare Sisters any day.

Frankie Kazarian def. Angelico

Both of these guys are normally tag team wrestlers, so it was nice to see them branch off on their own for a change. Kazarian has wrestled a handful of singles matches recently, but he'll also frequently team with Christopher Daniels. These two worked well together here and produced a pretty good match. Of all the matches on this show, I'm glad this one received more time than most.

Brandi Rhodes Addressed Anna Jay

It looked like Brandi was turning heel a few weeks ago and she definitely gave off heel vibes here, but wouldn't she be a babyface if she's trying to exact revenge against Anna Jay and the rest of The Dark Order? I've never been a big Brandi fan, but she's been especially intolerable lately. With 11 matches already booked for this show, there was no need for this pointless promo.

Billy and Austin Gunn def. Donnie Primetime and Ryan Rembrandt

Austin is coming along nicely, but I can't stress enough how I couldn't care less about Billy being in the ring at this stage of his career. The fact he's a regular on Dark at this point is depressing. Yes, it's better than him being on Dynamite, but I'd rather see him managing Austin than teaming with him. Billy brought up how they're undefeated, which makes me worried they'll be getting a shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship sometime soon. That's the last thing we need. The match was a total dud.

Abadon def. Dani Jordyn

I've seen enough of Jordyn in the NWA as well as in AEW that I can safely say she should have been signed somewhere by now. This match made me realize how ridiculous it is that someone such as Abadon is in AEW's women's division but not Jordyn. Abadon continues to do nothing for me as her matches bore me to tears. I just think her gimmick has a supremely short shelf life.

Ricky Starks def. Tony Donati

Starks' matches could be subpar and he'd be able to get away with it because his charisma is through the roof. Seriously, the dude screams star. This was a pretty simple and straightforward squash with Starks shining as always. He has the gift of gab and has been doing top-notch work in his current rivalry with Darby Allin. I just wish they were facing off one-on-one at All Out instead of participating in the the unnecessary Casino Battle Royale.

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. Jon Cruz and David Ali

Jurassic Express never cease to entertain me, even in squash match situations like this one. The match itself was nothing of note whatsoever, but it was fun while it lasted and didn't last much longer than it needed to. Jurassic Express will be a part of that big eight-man tag team match on Dynamite this week (which I assume they'll win), so this was a decent momentum-booster for them.

Anna Jay def. Red Velvet

Do we know yet why Jay is even with Dark Order or what her deal is? She attacked Brandi at the end of the Saturday night edition of Dynamite, but that's about all she's done so far. She has plenty of potential from what I've seen and at least having more matches like this one will give her the experience she needs. It wasn't the most exciting squash, but it served its purpose.

Kip Sabian def. Shawn Dean

Something still seems to be missing from Sabian's act in my opinion and I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's how Penelope Ford overshadows him at times, but he's a competent wrestler either way. This was a straightforward showcase for him, though there wasn't anything overly special about it. He feels directionless at the moment and the fact he can never win whenever it matters most doesn't help his cause any.

Private Party def. The Initiative

Dark has hosted some quality main events over the last few weeks, but this wasn't one of them. There wasn't anything wrong with it technically and it succeeded from a storytelling standpoint as far as teasing tension between Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon, but it was just sort of there. Although the outcome was never in doubt, this served as a simple warm-up for Private Party before their big eight-man tag team match tomorrow night on Dynamite, where if they win, they'll face SCU at All Out for a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship. By the way, are fans supposed to give a crap about Avalon turning on Cutler? Because the idea of them feuding puts me to sleep just thinking about it.

Overall Show

I was hopeful that when AEW started welcoming fans back into the building (which is highly debatable even though it helps the atmosphere of the shows tremendously), fans would be there for when they taped Dark, meaning the company couldn't get away with filming an abundance of enhancement matches anymore. Sadly, that was not the case, and no fans were in attendance for the taping. You could clearly tell because there was minimal reaction to most of these matches. It was one of the weaker episodes in recent memory and the 11-match lineup was a major reason why. Seven or eight would be acceptable with this current format, but 11 is way too much and drags after a while.