By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 20)
Taped February 12, 2020 in Austin, Texas at HEB Center
Streamed February 18, 2020 on the AEW YouTube Page
Tony Schiavone welcomed us from the HEB Center. Schiavone ran down the match card for this episode of Dark. Taz and Excalibur were on commentary…
1. Kris Statlander vs. Diamante. Statlander knocked Diamante to her feet and then picked her up to clotheslined her to the ground. Statlander successfully did a backbreaker to Diamante. Statlander sent Diamante to the floor with a running knee strike. Statlander attempted to pick Diamante, but Diamante countered and powerbombed Statlander, which almost got the early pin. Statlander then hit a German suplex to Diamante, then followed that up with the Big Bang Theory to pick up the win…
Kris Statlander defeated Diamante via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Short match to really write anything home about. Basically a showcase win for Statlander. Before the match started, it felt a little cartoony when Statlander did an ET like taunt to the ref in order to start the match. She tried doing the same thing to Diamante, but thankfully, Diamante countered it. While the alien character certainly feels cartoony as well, I really hope AEW doesn’t carry that down the road.
An AEW Revolution ad aired…
2. “Hybrid 2” Jack Evans and Angelico vs. “Best Friends” Chuck Taylor and Trent (w/Orange Cassidy). Jack Evans took down Trent with a hammer lock. Evans got caught in the ropes, but Trent countered with a northern lights suplex for a pin count, which only got a two count. Chuck Taylor is tagged in and the two did the drop elbow to Evans. Angelico was eventually tagged shortly after and slapped Cassidy to the ground. Best Friends doubled team on Angelico, but Evans came running to the outside with a suicide dive. The Hybrid 2 attempted their signature move to Best Friends and Evans did a moonsault to both of them. Trent spiked Angelico to the ground after a failed attempt for a powerbomb. Taylor was back in the ring and popup powerbombed Evans onto Angelico. Taylor hit Evans with a spinning liger bomb and almost got the win. Angelico assisted Evans a 450 splash to Trent, but Taylor saved the day and broke the pinfall. Taylor and Trent then hit the strong zero, and got the win…
Best Friends defeated The Hybrid 2 via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Not a bad match. This was actually pretty good and the most entertaining tag team match on Dark thus far. Nice win for Best Friends, who are really over with the crowd. Solid action in the ring from these two teams.
Back in the control center, Schiavone ran down the cities where AEW would be visiting…
3. Christi Jaynes vs. Big Swole. Jaynes made her AEW debut. Swole got Jaynes in a tight headlock to start. Swole hit Jaynes with a hip toss after a failed attempt by Jaynes, who tried doing the same thing. Jaynes successfully hit a step-up enziguri, which sent Swole to the outside. Back in the ring, Swole built up momentum and hit Jaynes with the dirty dancing to score the pinfall victory…
Big Swole defeated Christi Jaynes via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: It’s great to see Big Swole back in the ring. She’s a really underrated wrestler. Other than that, this match was quick and Jaynes got very little offense in. As I’ve said in the past, it would be nice to have a video package on wrestlers who are making their AEW debut, whether on Dark or on TV. That’s the one thing missing. I would like to know more about Christi Jaynes. Who is she? What does she do? Where did she wrestle? Little stuff like that can go a long way. Nice win for Swole. I hope to see more in future events. She could quickly build up a strong fan base.
4. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson vs. QT Marshall and Peter Avalon (w/Leva Bates). Nick Jackson and QT Marshall did a little segment, where both of them missed each others move before they finally stopped. Avalon grabbed a mic and booed, and questioned, what is this flippy-dippy?Avalon was frustrated with no wrestling action in the ring, so he tagged himself in and told Marshall, he’s going to show him what wrestling is about. Avalon ran into a drop toe hold and Matt Jackson jumped from the rope to do a leg drop. He then grabbed the mic and asked the fans if they wanted to see a double hip toss to Avalon? He said, let’s do it and that it’s one of their greatest hits.
Matt Jackson did a flipping neckbreaker to Avalon in the middle of the ring. Matt Jackson hit Avalon with eight northern light suplexes in a row. Nick Jackson is tagged in with a lot of momentum and hit a running bulldog to both Marshall and Avalon. Nick got Avalon into a long scorpion deathlock, but Avalon made it to the ropes to break the submission. Both Matt and Nick hit their finisher on Avalon and attempted a pin, but Marshall came to break it up. Avalon rolled up Matt and almost got the upset win. Upset, Avalon hit his own partner, grabbed the apple only to turnaround to a superkick from the Young Bucks. The Bucks then put Avalon away with the Meltzer Driver for the win…
The Young Bucks defeated QT Marshall and Peter Avalon via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Predictable. If you thought for a second that the Young Bucks were going to lose to Marshall and Avalon, then you’re crazy. Anyway, this was your typical send the fans home happy match after a two hour show. Great work from The Young Bucks who know how to get the fans rolling. On another note, I just can’t take Marshall and Avalon seriously anymore. When you know they’re in a match, it’s almost expected they will lose. Sure, they might pick up a win here or there, but I think it would be a good break from using Marshall, especially Avalon for a while. That way, it’s not predictable.
Overall, this was another solid episode of Dark, which clocked in at 48:05. I actually like the shorter episodes more than hour-plus shows. There’s just so much wrestling out there nowadays that it’s hard to keep up, along with the podcasts that anyone may listen to as well. Short attention spans don’t help either in this generation. As for the episode, the matches were solid and had some good in-ring action with them. My favorite match on this show would probably have been Kris Statlander vs. Diamante. Statlander is over huge and she is destined to have a title run at some point, and she had a nice showing here. All in all, not a bad episode of Dark. Final Score: 8.3 out of 10.
I hope they feature Christi Jaynes more, and it wasn’t just a one off. I thought she had a cool thing going.
I don’t get the hype behind Swole, but that’s just me. I mean she’s alright, but I don’t know…