By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 129)
Taped in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios
Streamed February 8, 2022 on the AEW YouTube Page
Excalibur and Taz were on commentary…
1. Kelsey Heather vs. Julia Hart (w/Brian Pillman Jr., Griff Garrison). Heather hip-tossed Hart to begin the match. Hart came back and performed a flapjack with a backward moonsault flip on Heather. Hart followed up with a sit-out bulldog and eventually made Heather tap out to a leg scissors submission.
Julia Hart defeated Kelsey Heather via submission.
Afterward, Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison got into the ring to celebrate with Hart, who left to celebrate on her own.
Briar’s Take: A good enhancement match from Hart to open up Dark. Excalibur brought up the mist again from Maliki Black, which leads to me guessing that we’re not done with that storyline yet.
2. Gus De La Vega vs. Powerhouse Hobbs. Hobbs hit a powerful squash into the corner. Vega was then sent to the outside and was run over by Hobbs with a clothesline. Hobbs quickly ended the match with the Torture Rack.
Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Gus De La Vega.
Tony Schiavone interviewed Hobbs following the match. Hobbs put Vega in the Torture Rack again, but Dante Martin came to the rescue. Martin and Hobbs fought until the refs split them up.
Briar’s Take: Typical AEW Dark match that you always see from Hobbs, but a good storyline follow up with Martin after the match, so props to AEW for that.
3. Liam Gray and Adrian Alanis vs. “Gunn Club” Colten and Austin Gunn. The Gunn Club was on top of Gray and Alanis early on. Shortly thereafter, Colten and Austin doubled up on Gray, preventing him from making the tag, until Colten missed the splash and Gray made the tag out to Alanis. However, the Gunn Club also doubled up on Alanis and quickly finished Alanis off with a flip over maneuver.
Gunn Club defeated Liam Gray and Adrian Alanis via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Gunn Club picked up another dominating win on Dark and gained momentum heading into their AEW Tag Team Championship match on Friday’s Rampage.
An AEW Revolution ad was aired..
4. Queen Aminata vs. Mercedes Martinez. Aminata and Martinez went back and forth after the bell rang, but Martinez took down Aminata with the back throw. Aminata hit a jaw breaker only to then be hit with spinebuster. Martinez then planted Aminata with a fisherman’s buster suplex to pick up the victory.
Mercedes Martinez defeated Queen Aminata via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: The crowd was quiet for this match. Nevertheless, Martinez picked up a dominating victory.
Tony Schiavone interviewed Wheeler Yuta about his match with Aaron Solo and congratulated him with his match on Jon Moxley…
5. Tony Vincita vs. Anthony Ogogo. Ogogo isolated the wrist of Vincita as soon as the match started and landed the back elbow. Ogogo then threw Vincita over the back that sent Vincita into the turnbuckle. Vincita looked for the missile dropkick, but missed Ogogo in doing so. Ogogo then threw the right hand knockout shot to Vincita to gain the victory.
Anthony Ogogo defeated Tony Vincita via knockout.
6. Anthony Henry vs. Lee Moriarty. Henry hit a shoulder tackle on Moriarty to get the early advantage. Moriarty stopped him with a kick. Henry swept Moriarty off his feet with a kick and the neck hold. Henry wrenched the legs of Moriarty into a submission, but Moriarty got to the ropes to break the hold. Moriarty regained momentum with a big stomp to Henry and nearly had the victory. Henry planted Moriarty with a brainbuster. Moriarty put lights out with a flatliner to get the victory.
Lee Moriarty defeated Anthony Henry via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A great back and forth match. Moriarty continues to pick up steam in AEW while adding to his fan base. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him in a TNT Championship match somewhere down the road this year.
7. Kaci Lennox vs. Anna Jay. Jay walked into a high boot of Lennox, but then Lennox was swept off the turnbuckle. Jay then threw a thrust kick and the dangerous kick, which turned into the Queen Slayer.
Anna Jay defeated Kaci Lennox via submission.
Briar’s Take: Quick work from Jay once again on Dark. I hope she’ll get into some kind of program soon to get things going.
8. Serpentinco (w/Luther) vs. Fuego Del Sol. This match was taped on January 15, 2022. Del Sol performed a step up huracanrana on Serpentinco and then came off the ropes with the moonsault. Serpentinco spiked Del Sol with a DDT and got a two count. Del Sol regained momentum with a hanging neckbreaker to Serpentinco. Del Sol continued with a spear to the midsection in the turnbuckle.
Luther provided a distraction, which allowed Serpentinco to plant Del Sol with a piledriver on the apron. Del Sol took out Luther on the outside with a jumping sucida and an arm drag takedown to Serpentinco. Del Sol eventually got the victory with a double foot stomp to the back of the head of Serpentinco.
Fuego Del Sol defeated Serpentinco via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: One of the better matches of the show thus far. With Del Sol winning, this should be the end of the short feud with Serpentinco. It should be interesting to see what’s next for both wrestlers.
A Lee Moriarty video package was shown.
9. Aaron Solo (w/QT Marshall, Nick Comoroto) vs. Wheeler Yuta. Yuta threw a dropkick to Solo and quickly went for the cover. Yuta was distracted shortly by Marshall, which allowed Solo to get an advantage with a backward suplex. Solo followed up with a snap suplex to Yuta. After the suplex, then Yuta locked in the flying octopus hold submission, but Solo countered by throwing him into the turnbuckle.
Yuta fought back with a big lariat, a Manhattan drop, and a diving elbow strike from the top rope. Yuta then planted himself on Solo with the jumping sucidia. Solo caught Yuta with the corkscrew kick, but Yuta performed a release German suplex. In the end, Yuta rolled up Solo and scored the victory.
Wheeler Yuta defeated Aaron Solo via pinfall.
After the match, Comoroto came to the ring and attempted a powerbomb on Yuta. Orange Cassidy came to the rescue and saved Yuta from any further beatdown.
Briar’s Take: A solid and unique pairing between Yuta and Solo to close the show. They busted their butts and it paid off in the end. Great stuff.
Overall, a quick and painless episode of Dark. This is one of the shows where if you caught the episode then great, but if you missed the episode, then you didn’t miss much at all. The show was really a two match show toward the end with Fuego Del Sol vs. Serpentinco and Wheeler Yuta vs. Aaron Solo. Lee Moriarty continues to shine on Dark every week and it seems like we’ll be hearing a lot more from him in the future. We also did see a storyline followup with Dante Martin and Powerhouse Hobbs, which is always nice to have on Dark. Episode 129 clocked in at 1 hour and 12 seconds Final Score: 6.0 out of 10.
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