By Drew Ortman @DrewOrtman
Quick Results and Segments
- Billy Gunn w/ Austin Gunn def. John Skyler
- Parking Lot Interview with Dustin Rhodes. Brandi Rhodes and QT Marshall
- The Butcher & The Blade def. Jon Cruz & Joe Alonzo
- Backstage Interview with Brandon Cutler, Peter Avalon, and Leva Bates
- Christi Jaynes def. Kilynn King
- Santana & Ortiz def. Big Game Leroy w/ Switch & EJ Lewis
- The Natural Nightmares w/ Brandi Rhodes def. Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon
Another great, action-packed episode of AEW Dark this week packed into 45 minutes with what seemed to be a huge emphasis on the tag team division. 3 out of the 5 matches on this week’s episode were tag team matches and one of the singles matches included a heavy emphasis on the team Gunn Club. It was amazing to not only see some of AEW’s top teams like The Butcher & The Blade and Santana & Ortiz back in action but also we were treated to a singles match with some of the Women’s divisions more unknown rising stars. AEW knows how to produce a B show with so much to gain. Let’s not waste any more time and get right to the action. Our accustomed AEW Dark commentary team of Excalibur and Taz has the call.
Billy Gunn w/ Austin Gunn vs. “Southern Savior” John Skyler
Taz on Billy Gunn: “Super talented, super professional, super annoying…and his son is super annoying”.
I noticed right from the start that the crowd size was much much smaller for this taping of Dark. With that said, having Austin Gunn outside the ring shows you how much his voice contributes to the roster crowds every week on Dynamite with at one point Taz saying “is Austin mic’d up?”. A slow-paced match with lots of character work from the Gunn Club. Skyler gets a little offense, but this is mostly an exhibition for Billy Gunn. An unnamed move on commentary, Gunn uses the Fameasser to pick up the quick victory. Good to see Gunn Club getting some air time.
Back in the parking lot, Alex Marvez is interviewing Dustin Rhodes and Brandi. Quickly into the interview, the other Natural Nightmare member QT Marshall pulls up with his main squeeze Allie in a new Corvette (Shad Khan collection?). I think we can all see the manipulation Allie is putting on Marshall with his tag team cohorts seeing right through it. An interesting storyline that I hope ends in the ring with The Bunny’s other friends, who happen to be up next.
The Butcher & The Blade vs. Jon Cruz & Joe Alonzo
If you have ever been looking for a dominant tag team squash match, then this one’s for you!. Very little offense from the new talent of Cruz and Alonzo showing the punishment that Butcher and Blade can dish out. Funny enough, it was the little bit of offense from the underdogs that backfired and led to a dominant finish. The Butcher hit a massive backbreaker followed by the team finisher Full Death, a Butcher suplex into the waiting knees of The Blade. Cruz and Alonzo never stood a chance. So great to see this dominate tag team back in action.
Backstage we have an interview with the two most losing men in AEW history, Brandon Cutler and Peter Avalon. Librarian Leva Bates has set up a match for them in the main event tonight to hopefully help counteract the duos losing records. Leva figures if they are teamed up, they have a better chance of getting that win, right?
Christi Jaynes vs. Kilynn King
I didn’t know who Jaynes was before her match last week with AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida, but I am very impressed with her work in AEW thus far. Even yelling at referee Rick Knox in Portuguese I found to be a great personality trait. A somewhat slow-paced match with lots of mat work early on. A great showcase for both young talents giving them valuable screen time as they look to move closer to the main cards. After a couple of nice clotheslines, kicks, back suplex, and a cutter, King looks to have the match put away, but Jaynes unexpectedly reverses the pinfall with a roll-up to get the win.
Santana & Ortiz vs. Big Game Leroy & EJ Lewis
Leroy disgusts Proud and Powerful from the beginning not taking his eyes off his Nintendo Switch, sound familiar parents? Santana proceeds to kick the Switch from his hands and the kicks him in the head prompting an immediate tag to Lewis. This match is a total squash beat down by the Inner Circle members which I believe to be the perfect momentum builder for the team at the moment. Amazing in-ring action with mild comedy spots is what Santana and Ortiz are all about. The match ends with Big Game Leroy getting the Street Sweeper for the pinfall. If anyone is concerned, the Nintendo Switch looks to be unharmed but a little shook post-match.
Main Event
The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall) w/ Brandi Rhodes vs. Brandon Cutler & Peter Avalon w/ Leva Bates.
This is undercard wrestling and wrestling in general at its best! One tag match with two long term, underlying storylines busting open before our eyes. Before the match, QT walks Allie over to join Excalibur and Taz on commentary. Allie’s commentary the whole match gushing over QT was perfect. Her lines like “he is eating smoothie bowls now, can’t you tell” are funny and adds to the story. My favorite line of the match came with Allie talking about how great Marshall’s tights look to which Taz replies “he looks like he went to Vegas and lost his ass!”. This is a decent in-ring match as far as the action goes, but the storylines interweaving throughout is what makes this more enjoyable than anything. The Natural Nightmares pick up the win with Brandi taking out Leva followed by Dustin hitting a Canadian destroyer on Cutler followed by a cutter from QT for the pinfall win. For a B show main event, this was fantastic.
