By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 23)
Taped February 29, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois at Wintrust Arena
Streamed March 3, 2020 on the AEW YouTube Page
Excalibur and Taz welcomed us ringside from AEW Revolution and showed the clip from the AEW Buy In pre-show of The Dark Order beating down SCU, which featured Colt Cabana making his debut… Backstage, Cabana cut a promo on joining AEW…
Briar’s Take: A nice way to introduce Cabana with a backstage segment for those who don’t really know him. Backstage interviewer Lexi Nair interviewed Christopher Daniels and asked what prompted him to attack The Dark Order. Daniels said The Dark Order is full of lies and broken promises. Daniels added that they are a cancer and he hopes to end them once and for all…
Excalibur and Taz brought up the AEW Women’s Championship match between Kris Statlander and Nyla Rose, then highlights were shown of the AEW Revolution match…
Backstage, Nair is interviewing Statlander about her loss to Rose. Statlander said it wasn’t her day to win the title, but maybe next time she would be a little more down to Earth on such a big event… Briar’s Take: A really short segment when Statlander is interviewed, though it was short and to the point.
After the segment, clips aired from the Orange Cassidy vs. Pac match from Revolution…
Pac was interviewed about his relationship with the Lucha Brothers. He said it was none of her business. He said the AEW matchmakers should be ashamed of themselves for making the match with Cassidy and said what happened to him is on their conscience. He ended the interview by telling Nair to keep her nose out of his business…
Briar’s Take: Once again, short and to the point. I actually like these as it really shows their character. They can be overplayed, but as long as it’s not drawn out, it can work for the time being.
Ring entrances for the tag match took place along with the introductions for Justin Roberts…
1. Yuka Sakazaki and Riho vs. Britt Baker and Penelope Ford (w/Kip Sabian). Once Baker got in the ring, Sakazaki attacked Baker before the bell could even ring. Ford and Riho were also fighting each other. The bell finally rang. Sakazaki and Riho double teamed on each other as Baker sits in the corner and Sakazaki got a quick two-count. Ford put Riho in a side headlock, but Riho takes her down with a dropkick. Sakazaki was tagged in again and both her, and Riho pulled a double elbow on Ford. Sakazaki then hits a northern lights bomb to Ford. Sakazaki tried running the ropes, but Sabian got involved and tripped her. Baker got back in the ring and started gaining momentum and hit Sakazaki with a couple of suplexes, which led to a couple of two-counts. Ford tagged in and managed to hit Sakazaki with a big back elbow strike. Sabian got involved in the match by distracting the ref. Sakazaki fought back and hit a diving missile dropkick to Baker. Riho got back in the match and managed to hit a crucifix on Ford, which caused Ford to roll out of the ring. Riho tried to go to the top rope to perform a diving body drop on to Ford and Baker, but Sabian once again got involved. Sakazaki came to save the day and hit the move instead. Riho performed her move from the top rope to take down Sabian. A short time later, Riho hit Baker with a double-knee strike and covered Baker, who kicked out at two. Meanwhile, the ref was distracted by Ford. Baker got back up to hit Riho with a corkscrew. Riho tried to counter with a roll-up pin while she was in Baker’s submission hold, but Sabian got in the ring to help Baker put Riho back in a submission. Seconds later, Riho tapped out to Baker’s hold and lost the match… Britt Baker and Penelope Ford defeated Yuka Sakazaki and Riho via submission.
Briar’s Take: This was your classic heel vs. face match, but I was quite surprised that Baker and Ford picked up the win. With that being said, there were too many interruptions from Sabian in the match and it got old real quick. I actually got really tired of Sabian interfering. I guess he did his job by being a heel, but it took away from trying to enjoy the match. Overall, there’s not much to say about this episode with just one match taking place, as the rest of the show was a clip show from Revolution. The post-match interview segments were nice, but easily skippable. I was quite surprised there was going to be an episode taped this week especially with a tight turnaround. There was a lot of wrestling that took place on last week’s show, which aired streamed over the weekend. I actually kind of wished Dark would have taken the week off by not airing any episodes to give fans a break. All in all, an easily skippable episode. Final Score: 5.0 out of 10.
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