By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 152)
Taped in Sheffield, England, Tokyo, Japan, and Orlando, Florida
Streamed July 12, 2022 on the AEW YouTube Page
1. AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita in an eliminator match. Yamashita went to the arm bar for Rosa until Rosa locked in the side head submission briefly. Afterward, Yamashita and Rosa went back and forth with arm bar lockups. Yamashita performed a deep arm drag to gain an early advantage on Rosa. Rosa came back with a snap mere and a sliding lariat on Yamashita.
A short time later, Rosa went for the pin after a scoop slam, but Yamashita kicked out at two. Yamashita followed through with quick kicks to Rosa in the corner. Rosa came in hot with a dropkick that sent Yamashita to the outside. Yamashita missed a high roundhouse kick, which allowed Rosa to hit a Stunner. Shortly thereafter, Rosa hit a double stomp on Yamashita and got a kick out at two. Rosa executed a Death Valley Driver and nearly got the victory. After going back and forth, Yamashita rolled up Rosa and pinned her to win the match.
Miyu Yamashita defeated AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa via pinfall to earn a future title shot.
Briar’s Take:: Quality stuff between Yamashita and Rosa. The atmosphere was different being in Japan, but the two wrestlers were well received with Yamashita obviously being over with the Japanese crowd. It’ll be interesting to see what AEW will do with Yamashita moving forward.
2. “Bear Country” Bear Boulder and Bear Bronson” vs. “Private Party” Isaiah Kassidy and Marq Quen. Back in Universal Studios, Kassidy and Bronson started the match. Bronson planted Kassidy with a spinebuster. Both men tagged out Boulder threw Quen across the ring and began striking him in the corner. Quen and Kassidy made cohesive tags to stay on top of Bronson.
Bronson found a breakthrough by laying out Kassidy with a clothesline and tagged out. Boulder hit a splash in the corner, doubling up on Private Party. Bear Country attempted the cannonball, but Kassidy broke it up. Kassidy came off the top rope with the springboard cutter on Bronson, and Quen picked up the win with a Shooting Star Press.
Private Party defeated Bear Country via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: A solid match that felt like it could’ve gone either way. Bear Bronson has been looking great after losing some weight.
3. Conan Lycan vs. Capt. Shawn Dean. Dean got caught by a Flatliner. Dean fired back with a jawbreaker and multiple clotheslines. Lycan powerbombed Dean and nearly scored the upset victory. Lycan missed a 450 splash and then Dean put him away with the Military Splash.
Capt. Shawn Dean defeated Conan Lycan via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: While it was predictable that Dean would win, Lycan has tremendous upside and I would not be surprised if AEW brought him back.
4. Jake St. Partick and Sage Scott vs. Matt Menard and Angelo Parker. Shortly after the bell rang, Menard and Parker doubled up on St. Patrick, then laid out Scott with a tandem DDT to make it a short night.
Matt Menard and Angelo Parker defeated Jake St. Patrick and Sage Scott via pinfall.
5. Mila Moore vs. Willow Nightingale. Nightingale flattened Moore with the scoop slam early and hit the hip thrust to Moore in the corner. Following the sequence, Nightingale hit the suplex on Moore to continue her momentum. Nightingale planted Moore once again and Moore hit the backstabber instead. Despite the backstabber, Nightingale landed the cannonball senton and followed up with the doctor bomb for the win.
Willow Nightingale defeated Mila Moore via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: Nightingale improves her record to 2-0 after a dominating victory over Moore. To note, Moore made her AEW debut here as well.
6. Baron Black vs. Rohit Raju. Black locked in a stretch submission to begin the match and then rolled up Raju early. Raju fought back with a flying kick to Black. The two then traded strikes until Raju hit a powerful lariat to the back of Black’s head. Black took down Raju with a back elbow and a gut-wrench suplex. Raju came off the top rope with a diving foot stomp to win the match.
Rohit Raju defeated Baron Black via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: A competitive back and forth match. It’s been fun seeing Raju’s work outside Impact Wrestling and he continues to improve in his matches. Black also had some solid flashes.
7. Logan Laroux vs. Angelico. As usual, Angelico started the match in a very technical manner on Laroux. Angelico and Laroux switched back and forth with each other until Angelico got the strike. However, Laroux countered with the flying forearm to Angelico and followed up with a spear. Laroux missed a dropkick. Angelico made him tap out to the Navarro Death Roll for the victory.
Angelico defeated Logan Laroux via submission.
Briar’s Take:: More solid stuff from Angelico in this brief match. It wasn’t a total squash as Laroux had some offense, but Angelico was dominant in the end.
8. Nick Comoroto (w/QT Marshall) vs. Dante Martin (w/Matt Sydal). With a distraction from Marshall, Comoroto blindsided Martin to gain the early advantage. Martin used his quick styles and a dropkick to send Comoroto to the outside where Comoroto ended up throwing Martin into the apron. A short time later, Comoroto rolled over from the top rope with a diving elbow splash on Martin and gained a two count. Comoroto followed with a neckbreaker. Martin eventually connected with a missile dropkick. Comoroto attempted a waterwheel drop, but Martin rolled him up for the quick victory.
Dante Martin defeated Nick Comoroto via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: Martin was dominated by Comoroto for most of the match, even though Martin had some flashes to shine and ultimately got the win. Comoroto is a great big man and I wish he didn’t lose so often.
9. Pac vs. Shota Umino for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. The match was taped in England. Pac and Umino traded shots with shoulder tackles. Pac then dropped Umino with the scoop slam. Umino caught Pac and landed a diving uppercut. The two then fought on the outside with Umino throwing Pac into the barricade. Back in the ring, Umino used the ropes for a diving DDT that resulted in a two count.
Later, Umino hit a missile dropkick and almost got the victory. Eventually, Pac did the same maneuver to Umino. Pac and Umino traded blows with each other until Umino hit an enzuigiri. Umino dropped Pac with a reverse DDT and nearly got the pin. Pac made Umino drop to his knees and tapped him out to retain the championship.
Pac defeated Shota Umino to retain the AEW All-Atlantic Championship via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:: Another unique setting for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship match. I actually thought this was really cool, as you got to see another promotion featuring an AEW star and I hope AEW continues to do this in the future by having Pac in different promotions. The match started slow and somewhat picked up toward the end with the expected outcome.
Overall, a very unique AEW Dark show tonight with one match in Japan, another in England, and the rest in Florida. It was a two-match show with Rosa and Pac bookending the episode. The other matches that took place in between were typical AEW Dark matches. If you’re short on time this week, I suggest watching the Rosa and Pac matches. Episode 152 clocked in at 1 hour, 49 minutes, and 02 seconds. Final Score: 7.5 out of 10.
Just an FYI it’s Miyu, not Mayu.
Corrected. Thank you.
Which promotion was the Pac match for? Sheffield is close to my home town.
Cool to watch the different atmosphere and crowd reactions from different countries….
Shaun, Pac’s match was for Rev Pro