AEW Dark Review - September 29, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SCU (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian) def. Ray Rosas and RYZIN

Shawn Spears sat in on commentary for this match. It was teased on last week's Tuesday night Dynamite that Spears could be headed for a clash with Sky soon as Sky came to the aid of Spears' opponent that night Matt Sydal. As for this match, it was a nice showcase for not only Sky but SCU on the whole before they challenge FTR for the AEW World Tag Team Championship on Wednesday's Dynamite. I'm glad Sky isn't completely separate from SCU after doing his own thing lately.

Penelope Ford def. Alex Garcia

I'm still stunned how AEW did nothing with Ford after her stellar performance against Hikaru Shida two months ago. She feels like a total afterthought at the moment with Miro becoming Kip Sabian's best man, but I'm glad she had the spotlight to herself here. She continues to improve weekly and matches like this will help with that. Lord knows AEW's women's division could use all the star power it can get.

Best Friends def. BSHP King and M'Badu

Best Friends are coming off a huge Parking Lot Brawl victory over Santana and Ortiz two weeks ago on Dynamite. They looked good here, but I don't think they'll gain any more momentum by winning squash matches on Dark. Obviously, it doesn't hurt, and this was fine. BSHP King and M'Badu scored some offense, but this was ultimately a decisive win for Best Friends.

Jurassic Express def. The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels and Preston "10" Vance)

I know Angels and Vance have won here and there, but they've never been positioned as anyone important in Dark Order. They simply exist to lose to other teams in the division. That said, they aren't bad and I liked how these teams had a similar dynamic (one bigger guy, one smaller guy). I didn't have an issue with Dark Order taking Jurassic Express to the limit before predictably losing.

The Gunn Club def. Shawn Dean and Cezar Bononi

You would think Gunn Club are an unstoppable team based on their win-loss record, but it's only because they face nothing but enhancement talent on Dark. In fact, I don't think I've seen them wrestle a single tag match on Dynamite yet. This was decent, but that's about all I can say about it. I'm glad Austin is improving, but Billy being in there makes me roll my eyes every time. Dean is a good hand to have for these squashes and Bononi showed signs of potential while in NXT. Perhaps AEW can capitalize on that the same way they signed Tay Conti a few weeks ago.

Tay Conti def. Red Velvet

Conti hasn't been wrestling very long but has all the tools to be successful with more seasoning. She's a great pickup for AEW, though I thought it was odd her first match on Dynamite as a member of the roster was a loss to Nyla Rose on Dynamite. Despite that, she had a solid showing here and I liked the submission maneuver she used to win. Anna Jay, her tag team partner in The Deadly Draw, congratulated her afterward, but I don't see the need for Conti in Dark Order. Hell, I don't see the need for Jay in Dark Order aside from the faction wanting a female member.

Chaos Project def. Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison

Chaos Project is apparently the new team name for Luther and Serpentico. I don't understand what brought them together in the first place. I mean, is Serpentico even signed? Because I don't remember seeing an official announcement. I find Pillman and Garrison to be a better duo than them as they made this thing bearable. Less of Luther, please.

Nyla Rose def. Rache Chanel

Sometimes I forget Rose is a part of the AEW women's division because her presence on Dynamite has drastically declined in the last few months. I feel like she's gotten less television time since debuting Vickie Guerrero as hew new manager, and I still don't agree putting Vickie with her was the right move. She needed this dominant win and thus the match was exactly what it needed to be, but Chanel was just terrible.

The Natural Nightmares def. John "4" Silver and Colt Cabana

The Nightmare Family's rivalry with Dark Order isn't over yet, unfortunately. I was shocked Allie wasn't ringside for QT Marshall, but maybe that was for the best. The match was less about the in-ring action and more about telling a story with Silver and Cabana. Silver clearly isn't sold on Cabana being a member of Dark Order and their lack of cohesion led to them losing. I'm glad they're finally furthering the Cabana angle because he was randomly a part of the group for a while with no additional development. Thus, this worked in that respect.

Overall Show

The show featured nine matches this week yet still almost went 90 minutes. How the hell does that happen? Yes, some of the matches were given more time, but none of them were remotely memorable (at least last week had Ben Carter vs. Lee Johnson), so what was the point? One thing I will say that I liked about this episode was that it featured more backstage promos setting up some of the matches, giving them more purpose in the process. I appreciated that. It was a fairly ho-hum edition of Dark other than that, though.