By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 113)
Taped in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios
Streamed October 19, 2021 on the AEW YouTube Page
1. Tiffany Nieves vs. Jamie Hayter. Early on, Hayter was right on top of Nieves hitting a quick suplex. Hayter won quickly with a short-arm lariat on Nieves.
Jamie Hayter defeated Tiffany Nieves via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: This was an enhancement match victory for Hayter and really nothing more.
2. Alex Chamberlain, Dean Mercer, and Diamond Sheik vs. “The Gunn Club” Colten, Austin, and Billy Gunn. The Gunn Club made quick tags early with Colten and Austin trading tags. Both Colten and Austin dropped multiple elbows on Alexander until he found an opening and tagged to Chamberlain. Austin hit the backdrop suplex on Chamberlain and then tagged in Billy. Chamberlain was dropped by Billy with a lateral press. Austin planted Chamberlain with the Colt45 for the victory.
The Gunn Club defeated Alex Chamberlain, Dean Mercer, and Diamond Sheik via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Nice teamwork by The Gunn Club here, especially Austin and Colten who made quick tags back and forth. As Excalibur noted, Colten remains undefeated in his AEW career. Good match overall.
3. Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura, and Diamante vs. Thunder Rosa, Kris Statlander, and Red Velvet. Velvet traded shots to Diamante before tagging in Statlander, who perfomred arm drags to Diamante. Rose entered the ring and took a dropkick to the side of the head. Rose came back with a back body drop on Statlander. Diamante got an assist from Rose with a splash from the ropes. Rosa came into the ring with multiple dropkicks to Diamante. Rose made the tag, but Rosa hit the flying clothesline in the corner and a leaping dropkick. Sakura laid out Velvet with a double underhook suplex, but the pinfall was broken up by Statlander. In return, Velvet finished Sakura with the Final Slice.
Thunder Rosa, Kris Statlander, and Red Velvet defeated Nyla Rose, Emi Sakura, and Diamante via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: The women did their best here and the match was okay for what it was. However, does everyone have to get their finisher in during the match? To me, everyone trying to hit their finisher on everyone is counterintuitive and brings the match quality down some.
An All Elite General Manager ad was shown.
Afterward, Excalibur and Taz were hyping Rampage and Saturday Night Dynamite before being interrupted by Smart Mark Sterling with Jade Cargill. Sterling was introducing Cargill as the future TBS Champion. Sterling said when the tournament is over they’ll be seeing the baddest bitch.
4. OT Fernandez vs. Lance Archer. Archer executed a ripcord uranage and chopped Fernandez briefly. Fernandez tried turning the tables with the crossbody from the top rope, but his night ended early with Archer planting a Blackout.
Lance Archer defeated OT Fernandez via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Is it sad that Archer’s entrances and matches are starting to become predictable? Nothing against Archer, but it’s the same thing every time he wrestles. He drags the opponent to the ring and finishes them off with the Blackout.
5. Aaron Solo vs. Frankie Kazarian. Kazarian locked in side headlocks on Solo and went for the cover early. Kazarian was distracted by Comoroto, who tripped him on the apron. Solo jumped over the rope and the two fought briefly on the outside. Kazarian and Solo got back in the ring where Solo delivered a leaping stomp. Kazarian fired back with a leaping forearm, but Solo hit a corkscrew kick. Kazarian looked for the pinfall after landing the springboard leg drop. Eventually, Kazarian made Solo tap out to the crossface chicken wing.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Aaron Solo via submission.
Briar’s Take: One of the better matches of the night on this card. Kazarian wrestles a technical style and we saw that in this match with Solo. Despite that, I thought the match was a little clumsy or slow early, but eventually they picked up the pace and turned out to be a good one.
6. Daniel Garcia, Serpentinco, and “2point0” Matt Lee and Jeff Parker vs. Dark Order’s Stu Grayson, Colton Cabana, Preston “10” Vance, and Alan “5” Angels. As the match began, Cabana hi a springboard moonsault on 2point0. Angels went to hit the crossbody, but Parker moved out, allowing Angels to miss. Parker followed up with a snap suplex before tagging Lee. 2point0 would make cohesive tags and beat down Angels with Garcia hitting foot stomps repeatedly. Serpentico was caught with the standing Spanish Fly by Angels and tagged in Vance.
Vance came in with tons of momentum and planted the punt kick to Garcia and flattened Jeff Parker. Garcia caught Grayson with the kitchen sink, but Grayson planted Garcia with the pop up powerslam. Matt nearly got the victory with the spear before Grayson kicked out at two. Vance hit the spinebuster on Serpentinco, while Cabana hit the bionic elbow on Garcia. Finally, Vance locked in the full nelson and made Serpentinco tap out.
Dark Order’s Stu Grayson, Colton Cabana, and Alan Angels defeated 2point0 via submission.
Briar’s Take: A solid match. 2point0 had their moments to shine and came close to putting Dark Order away multiple times, but Dark Order ended up with the victory in what was a competitive match between the two teams.
Overall, another solid edition of AEW Dark. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, these shows are much better when they don’t go an hour and a half or two hours (like we had a lot of the time). There wasn’t a bad match on the card as most of them were enjoyable to watch. The match of the nigh goes to the main event with Frankie Kazarian vs. Aaron Solo in a close second. I don’t feel like you would miss anything storyline wise from this show, but obviously with no Dynamite on Wednesday again this week, perhaps this will give you something to watch as the show lasted under an hour. Episode 113 clocked in at 40 minutes. Final Score: 7.8 out of 10.
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