By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 166)
Taped in October 15 in Toronto, Ontario at Coca-Cola Coliseum
Streamed October 18, 2022 on the AEW YouTube Page
Excalibur and Taz were on commentary…
1. Vanessa Kraven vs. Hikaru Shida. Shida took down Kraven with a huracanrana that sent her to the outside. Shida was intercepted by attempting a knee strike to Kraven, who then hoisted her up and planted her on the ring apron. Back in the ring, Kraven hit a running cannonball and got a two count. Kraven continued her attack on Shida in the ring. Shida hit an uppercut across the jaw to Kraven. Shida performed a missile dropkick. Shortly thereafter, Shida planted Kraven with a falcon arrow and then finished her off with Katana.
Hikaru Shida defeated Vanessa Kraven via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: An interesting back-and-forth match between Shida and Kraven. It wasn’t a total squash, as Kraven was given offense and even kicked out of the falcon arrow finisher in her AEW debut match.
2. Shayne Hawke, Tyler Tirva, and Zak Patterson vs. “The Dark Order” Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, John Silver, and Preston “10” Vance. Reynolds and Silver hit a combination maneuver on Hawke. 10 hit a vertical suplex on Hawke. Dark Order then laid out the entire team of Hawke, Tirva, and Patterson. Hawke found a breakthrough and tagged out. Patterson had a brief flash on Silver with a gut-wrench throw across the ring. Uno returned to the ring with lefts jabs to Patterson. Uno hit a diving senton on Patterson and didn’t go for the cover. Hawke then was treated to multiple finishers by the Dark Order, who then finished him off with Something Evil.
The Dark Order defeated Shayne Hawke, Tyler Tirva, and Zak Patterson via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: This match was hard to keep up with, specifically because Excalibur and Taz didn’t do a good job of identifying Hawke, Tirva, and Patterson. Otherwise, the Dark Order duo was certainly over with the Canadian crowd.
3. Jake O’Reilly and Mo Jabri vs. Eddie Kingston and Ortiz. Ortiz and Jabri began the match respectively for their teams. Ortiz hit a gut-wrench suplex on Jabri to gain early momentum. Kingston tagged in and hit a running bulldog to Jabri after an assist from Ortiz. After being dominated, Jabri tagged out to O’Reilly, who got the knee up on Ortiz and then charged in with a clothesline. O’Reilly’s night was short-lived, as Ortiz finished him off with a fisherman’s buster suplex.
Eddie Kingston and Ortiz defeated Jake O’Reilly and Mo Jabri via pinfall.
4. Jessie V, Kobe Durst, and Steven Mainz vs. “Best Friends” Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy. Durst was taken off his feet with a running back elbow from Beretta. Taylor then planted Mainz in the middle of the ring. Jessie V was hit with a soul food combination from Beretta and Taylor. Cassidy tagged in and hit an Orange punch on V, Durst, and Mainz and then won the match quickly.
Best Friends defeated Jessie V, Kobe Durst, and Steven Mainz via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Not much from the last two matches as they were pretty much just showcase matches for Kingston/Ortiz and the Best Friends. They also told the story that Kingston nearly cost his team the match because he locked in a submission hold on O’Reilly after the bell rang and Excalibur cautioned him on commentary not to hold it in much longer or it would lead to a disqualification.
5. Ari Daivari (w/Sonny Kiss) vs. Brandon Cutler. Daivari threw a kick to Cutler that laid him out. Looking for his finisher, Daivari missed the splash and was caught by forearms from Cutler, who then did the airplane spin on Daivari. Cutler went for the cover, but Daivari kicked out at two. Kiss distracted Cutler, allowing Daivari to hit a powerful clothesline to finish Cutler off.
Ari Daivari defeated Brandon Cutler via pinfall.
Daivari spoke after the match before being interrupted by Hook, who walked down to the ring and then made his way back up the entrance.
Briar’s Take: Daivari won the match based on two distractions from Kiss, which I believe was unnecessary. The match was fine for what it was and we saw the typical comedy from Cutler as well.
6. Seleziya Sparx vs. Willow Nightingale. Nightingale hit a running crossbody to Sparx after the bell rang. Sparx rallied with a diving clothesline. Sparx and Nightingale hit simultaneous clotheslines Shortly thereafter, Sparx was planted by Nightingale with a spinebuster for a two count. Sparx threw a running boot to the face. Nightingale came back and hit a gut-wrench powerbomb for the victory.
Willow Nightingale defeated Seleziya Sparx via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A nice showing by both women. Sparx has some great upside to her and was able to show some flashy moves. Nightingale was also good.
7. Q.T. Marshall vs. Dante Martin. Marshall grabbed the mic and told the Canadian people to ‘shut the hell up.” He said that when he goes back across the border, you’ll never see him again. The crowd then cheered and rejoiced. Afterward, Marshall hit a running shoulder tackle before Martin hit multiple arm drags. Martin was caught by Marshall by planting him on the ropes.
Marshall hit a back elbow before doing the Ric Flair strut. Martin got up and hit a nice dropkick. Martin regained his momentum with a diving dropkick from the top rope that sent Marshall crashing down. Marshall popped up Martin with a strike. Martin faked Marshall, causing Marshall to fall down after attempting a cutter. Martin landed a splash for a two count. After dodging each other’s moves, Martin rolled up Marshall for the victory.
Dante Martin defeated Q.T. Marshall via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Man, what a match. This was definitely the highlight of the night. Marshall has really improved on his heel work over the last couple of matches and he’s been a joy to watch recently against Action Andretti and now this week with Martin. Great stuff from both men.
Overall, not a bad episode of Dark. It wouldn’t have been a bad thing to run the show at 6CT/7ET since it would have limited the show to an hour max and given the audience some lead into the Tuesday edition of Dynamite. As for the show itself, the Canadian crowd ate it up and made it a much more fun episode to watch instead of the normal universal crowd in Orlando.
I certainly like this format of running in front of arena crowds more than the studio shows better because the show is much more enjoyable with a more active live crowd. Based on reports I’ve seen, there are still seven more matches from this event in Canada that have yet to be televised, so I assume we’ll see those next week. I’m sure we’ll get back to the Universal Studios crowd at some point, but I hope we’re back on the road with Dark tapings.
Most of the matches on this episode felt missable. Shida and Kraven had a surprising opener and Nightingale vs. Sparx also was solid in its own right. The show really picked up with Ari Daivari/Cutler and the main event with Marshall and Martin. I believe those four matches would fulfill this episode if you’re short on time. Episode 166 clocked in at 57 minutes and 14 seconds. Final Score: 7.5 out of 10.
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