AEW Dark Review - September 6, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Tony Nese and Josh Woods def. Storm Grayson and Brandon Gore

As I mentioned in this week's Elevation review, I'd expect to see Nese and Woods relegated to the Dark shows for the foreseeable future, at least until ROH TV gets going again. I assume that's why Woods was signed in the first place since he was with Ring of Honor before the company closed its doors last year, not because he has actual singles potential that should be realized. This was fine albeit forgettable.

Marina Shafir def. Laynie Luck

I was going to say that the only thing worse than a Shafir and Nyla Rose tag team match is a Shafir singles match, but this might have actually been an improvement over their match from Monday's Elevation, if only  because it was shorter and there was less time for botches and awkward spots. The silence Shafir gets upon entering a packed building is actually quite incredible. This wasn't as abysmal as I thought it'd be, but it was still as boring as watching grass grow. Shafir is "The Problem" indeed.

Zack Clayton def. Serpentico

Serpentico almost never wins singles matches, and although Clayton isn't as established, he's been on AEW TV more in recent months than Serpentico. Thus, I wasn't at all surprised by the outcome. We know nothing about Clayton other than how he's a former reality show star (or something along those lines), but he can hold his own in the ring. This was a decent, competitive contest, though the crowd was quiet because it's hard to care about either guy.

Julia Hart def. Missa Kate

A majority of Hart's matches are the same and this was no exception. That's not necessarily a bad thing because they aren't awful (and I applaud her for improving), but they aren't exactly interesting, either, especially when we see her in action on the Dark shows so often. Hell, she wrestled an almost-identical match on Monday's Elevation! As I've said before, I'm very curious to see how House of Black is affected by Malakai Black's rumored hiatus.

Serena Deeb def. Sierra

Similar to Hart, Deeb has the same squash almost every time, but the biggest difference is that I love watching Deeb pick apart her unknown opponents. She's a technical wizard and is criminally underutilized by this company. She really should be involved in a non-title feud on TV right now. This was straight-up domination from Deeb and she once again used that awesome-looking submission finisher to win like she did on Elevation.

Private Party def. Robert Anthony and GPA

You can copy and paste what I said about Private Party's match on Elevation and apply it here because it was pretty much the exact same thing. They made quick work of their opponents (including the returning Robert Anthony, who was featured on those early episodes of Dark) and that was about it. We just didn't see Matt Hardy make an appearance this time to further that storyline they have going.

ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli def. Ari Daivari

The ROH Women's World Championship and the ROH Pure Championship have both been defended multiple times on Dark and Elevation this year, so it's possible the same thing happens with the ROH World Championship. Of course, Castagnoli belongs on Dynamite and Rampage, but the occasional Elevation title defense works for me. He's also probably the only person who can get me interested in an Ari Daivari match. This was enjoyable stuff and one of the better bouts I've seen on this show in a while.

Overall Show

I am not kidding when I say that this was virtually a repeat of Monday's edition of Elevation. Seriously, most of the same stars were in action and we got most of the same squashes as a result. I assume that's because this was taped in Chicago over All Out weekend and not at Universal Studios, but they absolutely should have switched up the card from Elevation so it wasn't so similar. On the bright side, the main event is worth checking out, and normally never say that about an Ari Daivari match. That's the magic of Castagnoli.

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