By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 55)
Taped in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place
Streamed October 6, 2020 on the AEW YouTube Page
Excalibur welcomed us to AEW Dark. Taz and Ricky Starks joined Excalibur on commentary…
1. Kenzie Page vs. Brandi Rhodes (w/Dustin Rhodes). Rhodes put Page in a collar elbow tie up, and hit a shoulder tackle once the match started. Rhodes then threw a kick to the head of Page. Afterward, Page was able to get a dropkick to Rhodes, and hit strikes to Brandi. Page followed with a knee to the midsection, but Rhodes hit numerous clotheslines to Page. Brandi would plant Page down with a running bulldog, and a modified stunner. The match was quickly over after Brandi hit her signature move, the “Shot of Brandi.”
Brandi Rhodes defeated Kenzie Page via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: After the match was over, Anna Jay came to the ring, and began attacking Brandi. Jay could only get a few moves in, before Red Velvet came to Brandi’s aid.
2. Ray Rosas and Eric Watts vs. Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus (w/Marko Stunt). Rosas and Jungle Boy dodged each other’s moves once the bell rang. Jungle Boy tagged Luchasaurus in the match, and Luchasaurus threw right and left to Rosas. Jungle Boy was tagged in again, and landed a senton to Rosas. Watts made his first appearance in the match, and threw Jungle Boy into the corner. Watts then laid Jungle Boy with an overhead release slam.
Rosas is tagged in again, and began beating down Jungle Boy. Jungle Boy tagged Luchasaurus, and hit a knee strike to Rosas as well a chokeslam including a standing moonsault. Luchasaurus and Watts went head to head for a short while, which allowed a distraction for Luchasaurus, allowing Rosas to hit a diving elbow drop. Watts pulled Luchasaurus from the ring, and Rosas rolled Jungle Boy up for the pin, only to get a two count.
Watts lifted Jungle Boy for a chokeslam and powerbomb combination. Luchasaurus made the blind side tag, and hit a roundhouse kick to Watts, while both Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy landed the flattening roses for the victory.
Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus defeated Ray Rosas and Eric Watts via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Typical AEW Dark match, with Rosas and Watts getting little offense in, before Jurassic Express put them away. Excalibur did give the audience details that both Watts, and Rosas were from Southern California.
A Jericho vs. Luther promo for Dynamite was shown…
3. Anthony Bowens and Lee Johnson vs. “Chaos Project” Luther and Serpentinco. As the match got underway, Luther and Serpentinco didn’t waste long to take down Johnson, and Bowens. However, Johnson laid a dropkick to Serpentinco, and tagged Bowens in the match. Bowens, and Johnson would hit a double suplex to Serpentinco.
Serpentinco laid a kick to Johnson, and tagged Luther in the match. Once in the ring, Luther lifted Johnson up for a powerslam, and picked up Serpentinco for a diving combination move Luther put Johnson in for a submission hold, but Johnson broke the hold with a sunset flip before Luther would hit a clothesline. Luther followed with a back elbow to Johnson, and then hit a snap suplex.
Serpentinco is tagged in, and Luther threw Serpentinco onto Johnson for a double team move. Johnson found his break, and tagged Bowens into the match. Bowens hit a superkick to Serpentinco, and a dropkick to Luther. Bowens put Serpentinco into a torture rack move, before planting Serpentinco down on the mat. However, Luther and Serpentinco began hitting numerous double team moves, until Serpentinco got the victory for the team with the knees to the face of Johnson.
Chaos Project defeated Anthony Bowens and Lee Johnson via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Good match for what it was. Seems as though Serpentinco, and Luther are starting to gel really well with each other. Nice momentum victory for Luther ahead of his match with Jericho on Wednesday night.
4. Ryzin vs. Will Hobbs. Hobbs took Ryzin down with a big clothesline when the match started. Ryzin started talking trash to Hobbs, but Hobbs picked up Ryzin for a delayed vertical suplex. Hobbs followed with another suplex. Ryzin was able to get a leg lariat, though Hobbs hit a leaping shoulder tackle to Ryzin. Hobbs got the quick victory with the spinebuster powerslam to Ryzin.
Will Hobbs defeated Ryzin via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: There was no question or doubt Hobbs was ever going to lose this match. With that said, it’s been really neat to see how far Hobbs has come since his first match on Dark.
An Eddie Kingston segment was shown, where Kingston was targeting Joey Janela, and Sonny Kiss.
5. John Silver vs. QT Marshall (w/Dustin Rhodes). Marshall put Silver into a waist lock when the bell rang, then a head-scissors. Both would then hit chops to each other, before Marshall hit a back elbow to Silver to lay him out. Marshall then followed with a suplex to Silver in the middle of the ring. Evil Uno provided a distraction, where Uno held onto Marshall’s foot. Afterward, both wrestlers would fight onto the outside of the ring, before Silver rolled Marshall into the ring again.
Back in the ring, Silver put Marshall into a crossface submission hold until Marshall grabbed the ropes. After breaking the submission, Marshall successfully landed a superplex to Silver. Marshall went for the cover, but Silver kicked out at two. Silver followed with a high kick, and a back stabber to Marshall. Silver tried lifting Marshall up on his back, but Marshall countered with a move of his own. Uno tried interfering in the match, however Dustin fought Uno back to the backstage area. After the two fight each other out, Stu Grayson, Preston Vance, Alan Angels tried to take Marshall out. Though, Marshall hit cutters to Vance, and Angels. Silver won the match with a sit-out powerbomb.
John Silver defeated QT Marshall via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: I’d like to say I’m surprised with the outcome, but I’m kind of not honestly. The team had to get heat in some type of way ahead of their TNT Championship match with Cody on Wednesday night. There have also been numerous annoying ads tonight making the show really unwatchable.
6. Cezar Bononi and David Ali vs. Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr. Pillman hit Ali with a dropkick in the middle of the ring, and a clothesline into the corner to Ali. Garrison hit a leg drop to Ali. After failing to hit a suplex, Ali made the tag to Bononi. Pillman tagged back in again, threw kicks to Bononi, but Bononi was too powerful for Pillman Jr. Despite Bononi’ s toughness,
Pillman laid kicks to Bononi, before Bononi planted Pillman on the mat. Ali is back in the match, and used an illegal submission hold by using the ropes to Pillman. Another tag was made to Bononi, and Bononi would drive Pillman into the corner. After being dominated in most of the match, Pillman made the tag to Garrison. Garrison came into the match, and hit a diving splash to Ali and tossed Ali onto Bononi. Pillman and Garrison hit a clothesline and powerbomb combination to finally score their first victory as a team…
Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison defeated Cezar Bononi and David Ali via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Finally, we get to see a Brian Pillman Jr victory, and Garrison as well. It’s about damn time.
7. Skyler Moore vs. Big Swole. The match started slow, before Moore threw elbow strikes to Swole. Moore went for pinfall attempts, but Swole kicked out at two. After the pinfall attempts, Swole followed with a snap suplex, and hit clotheslines as well. Swole came through the ropes, and hit a springboard cutter to Moore. Before too long, Swole hit followed with the dirty dancing to end the match with the victory.
Big Swole defeated Skyler Moore via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Quick match for Swole, giving her momentum for whatever is coming next for her…
A Matt Sydal promo was shown…
8. Michael Nakazawa vs. Matt Sydal. Sydal hit the question mark kick to Nakazawa. After Sydal hit the kick, he tried going to the top rope, but the top rope was covered in baby oil. With Sydal being distracted from the oil, Nakazawa got up and (unfortunately) sprayed oil on Sydal. Nakazawa then planted Sydal down to the mat. Nakazawa used his underwear, and planted it on the face of Sydal. Quickly after, Sydal made Nakazawa tap out to a crossface submission hold.
Matt Sydal defeated Michael Nakazawa via submission.
Briar’s Take: Thank god this match was short lived.
9. M’ Badu vs. Eddie Kingston. Badu made a leaping splash onto Kingston into the corner. Kingston racked the eyes of Badu. Though, Badu would hit the powerslam to Kingston. Afterward, Kingston hit the kitchen sink, and a back fist to Badu. Kingston then made Badu tap out with Jon Moxley’s submission type move.
Eddie Kingston defeated M’Badu via submission.
Briar’s Take: Nice storyline continuation on Dark with Kingston using Moxley’s submission move to win the match. When the match was over, Kingston cut a promo on Moxley about never losing in his championship match several weeks ago, and following up from last week’s segment with Moxley.
10. Shawn Dean vs. Angelico (w/Jack Evans). Dean hit a dropkick to Angelico shortly after the match started. Angelico followed with a kick to Dean, and put Dean into a submission hold. Dean broke the hold with the ropes, but Angelico continued to wrap Dean into submission holds. Dean then threw a forearm to Angelico, and a couple of clotheslines followed by a release german suplex. Afterward, Dean made the leaping dropkick to Angelico in the corner. Dean tried lifting Angelico into a double underhook, but Angelico made Dean tap out to the ankle lock.
Angelico defeated Shawn Dean via submission.
Briar’s Take: Good match for what it was, but the match was really slow for the most part, could never get into high gear.
11. “The New Jersey Connection” Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss vs. “Lucha Brothers” Pentagon Jr and Rey Fenix (w/Eddie Kingston). Fenix laid everybody out with a jumping suicida right before the bell rang. Pentagon Jr and Janela started the match with their respective teams. Fenix hit a dropkick to Janela, and with assistance from Fenix, Pentagon Jr hit the double boots to Janela lower body. Janela made the tag to Kiss, and Kiss hit a dropkick to Fenix. Kiss made another tag to Janela, and both hit a double team combination to Fenix.
Pentagon Jr hit a diving crossbody, as did Fenix onto Janela. Pentagon Jr then threw a sharp kick to the back of Janela. Janela however rolled Pentagon Jr into an inside cradle.Janela tagged Kiss into the match, and hit a leaping dropkick before following with a suplex to Pentagon Jr. Kiss hit the 450 splash, and went for the pin on Pentagon Jr, until Fenix made the save with a splash from the top rope.
Fenix would hit the rolling cutter to Janela, before Pentagon Jr hit two kicks to both Janela and Kiss. Pentagon Jr won the match with the assistance piledriver.
Lucha Brothers defeated The New Jersey Connection via pinfall.
Once Dark concluded, Excalibur hyped Chris Jericho’s 30th anniversary celebration, and the TNT Championship match between Cody vs. Brodie Lee…
Briar’s Take: As in most cases, Lucha Brothers don’t disappoint in their respective matches. I know some may say Lucha Brothers are a “spot fest” team, but Fenix and Pentagon Jr. are so good with what they do.
Overall, this week’s show was decent for what it was. I’m not saying you should go out of your way to watch the show, but the episode flowed smoothly, was easy to follow along. It was nice to see there were storyline follow ups or continuation between wrestlers, which as many of you know at the beginning of this show at Episode 1, that was clearly not the case. But seems as though, AEW is trying to include more storyline inclusion onto Dark the last few weeks, or perhaps smaller storylines that may not have time to air on Dynamite weekly.
It was very cool to see a Jericho vs. Luther promo with Jericho’s thoughts, followed by Luther winning the tag team match for Chaos Project. As for the matches themselves, can’t say none of them really stood out, as they continue to be very random, but if you’re looking for storyline follow up then I’d recommend watching Brandi Rhodes vs. Kenzie Page (with Anna Jay interfering after the match), more Dark Order storyline with The Natural Nightmares of Silver and Marshall, and Eddie Kingston’s promo after the match toward Moxley. Episode 55 clocked in at 1 hour, and 31 minutes. Final Score: 7.8 out of 10.
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