AEW Dark Review - September 4, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

2point0 def. Rosario Grillo and Hunter Knott

2point0 opening the show like they have a time or two before is an interesting choice. I'm a big fan of theirs as I find them very entertaining, but their matches on Dark have been as basic as can be. I'd love if they got some mic time beforehand similar to The Acclaimed, I think that would help them and their matches feel a little less generic. Daniel Garcia helped them attack their opponents afterward.

Wheeler Yuta def. Baron Black

Yuta has mostly teamed up with Best Friends up to this point in his AEW run and has seemingly lost more than he's won, so this was a necessary singles win for him against a familiar face to anyone who has been watching Dark during the pandemic. Yuta is damn good and I like that he's becoming more and more of a regular on AEW programming. This was a nice little match while it lasted.

Julia Hart def. Heather Reckless

Reckless has stood out any time I've seen her in action lately on the Dark shows and I thought she had another solid showing in this match. Obviously, it was all about Hart, but she sold well for offense. Hart is getting better and better with each outing, but her in-ring work remains rough around the edges. I believe she suffered an injury in this match that caused her to be pulled from the Casino Battle Royale at All Out, which is a shame.

Hikaru Shida def. Missa Kate

Shida has been a staple on Dark since the start of the summer, but it'd be great if AEW actually bothered to book her on Dynamite one of these days. I know they don't want to feature people they probably have no plans for, but my point is that they should have plans for the former AEW Women's World Champion. If nothing else, she's been able to maintain momentum with wins on Dark, work with unknown names and help them gain experience. She's not winning the Casino Battle Royale, but hopefully she lasts more than a few minutes.

Skye Blue def. Red Velvet

I'm familiar with Blue from the appearances she's made in the NWA and on AEW programming over the last year, but I didn't know she'd be as beloved here as she was, apparently because she's a Chicago native. Not only that, but the crowd gave Velvet the total heel treatment as well. She's getting better in the ring, but I think she'd be better positioned as a heel, so hopefully AEW plays into that, assuming it continues. This was a fun back-and-forth bout with Blue looking impressive in defeat and earning herself a spot in the Casino Battle Royale in the process.

The Pinnacle (Shawn Spears and Wardlow) def. Brandon Gore and JDX

Everyone outside of MJF feels like they're spinning their wheels now that their feud with Inner Circle is over. I'm not clamoring for more matches by any means, but I think it's safe to say we'll be seeing more matches pitting Spears and Wardlow against enhancement talent on the Dark shows for the foreseeable future. Spears playing up his Perfect 10 gimmick from WWE was weird, in addition to him tagging in only to get the pinfall win.

The Dark Order (John Silver and Preston "10" Vance) def. Zachariah and Ren Jones

Silver typically teams with Alex Reynolds while Vance typically teams with Alan Angels, but because Dark Order is in disarray at the moment, we're getting combinations that are more random than usual. I actually didn't mind this pairing as they had quality chemistry together. They didn't show any signs of dissension, so this seemed to serve as a straightforward showcase for the two of them.

Penelope Ford def. Queen Aminata

Ford's singles showings have largely been decent. This was more of the same in that it wasn't terrible but there wasn't anything overly memorable about it, either. I suppose it's worth noting that The Bunny accompanied her to ringside, so it's obvious that they'll be colliding with Tay Conti and Anna Jay in tag team action eventually. Beyond that, I see no reason for Ford and The Bunny to remain a unit.

Frankie Kazarian def. Dean Alexander

Is Kazarian still doing the Elite Hunter stuff? It made sense at first and I was fine with it for a few months, but it's run its course by this point. I'd rather see Kazarian establish his own identity as a singles competitor. At any rate, this was a fairly standard squash for him. In racking up more and more victories, I hope we can still him enter the AEW TNT Championship picture at some point. He's 44 and can still very much go.

Jade Cargill def. Blair Onyx

I can't remember one competitive match Cargill has had on her own since coming to AEW other than her outing against Red Velvet, and even that was relatively brief. She's going to need to be in longer matches eventually so we can get a grasp of what she's capable of, but for now, she's coming across well in these short-and-sweet squashes. She completely destroyed Onyx here in under a minute and won with ease.

Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. Chaos Project

Luther in a main event of any kind, even if its on Dark or Elevation, automatically gets a thumbs-down from me. Okay, I kid, I kid, but still, I maintain that Luther is abysmal and wouldn't have a spot on the roster if Chris Jericho wasn't around. At least Serpentico is skilled enough to make the team passable. Jurassic Express are very much over with the audience, so they made this a bit more enjoyable than most of the matches on this show. The surprise appearance from CM Punk was the best part of the whole episode and planted the seeds for Punk vs. Jungle Boy down the line, which I'm highly anticipating.

Overall Show

These matches were taped prior to Friday's episode of Rampage in Chicago along with a bunch of other matches set to air on Tuesday's Dark. I was there in attendance and the squash matches got old after a while, but the crowd was into most of them. The main event was saved until after Rampage finished airing. On the whole, this was a solid show designed to give certain stars showcase wins ahead of All Out on Sunday. As noted, the Punk promo was a great way to end the night and I'm glad they included it in the actual airing of the episode.

SEE MORE: Dark Reviews