By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 170)
Taped in October 28, 2022 in Uncasville, Connecticut at Mohegan Sun
Streamed November 15, 2022 on the AEW YouTube Page
Excalibur and Taz were on commentary…
1. Paris Van Dale vs. Skye Blue. Dale and Blue dodged each other’s moves to start. Blue threw a kick to the face of Dale. Afterward, Dale threw Blue face first into the turnbuckle. Blue hit a rising knee strike followed by a dropkick to the side of the head. Blue won the match with a Flatliner.
Skye Blue defeated Paris Van Dale via pinfall.
2. Brando Lee and Lucas Chase vs. “Iron Savages” Boulder and Bronson (w/JT Davidson). Bronson and Boulder doubled up on Chas, who tagged out. Boulder hoisted Lee up and threw him onto Chase. Shortly thereafter, Bronson splashed himself on Chase and Lee repeatedly. Lee was then chokeslammed by Boulder and Bronson. Eventually, the match ended with a double cannonball to Lee/Chase by the Iron Savages.
Iron Savages defeated Brando Lee and Lucas Chase via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: The first two matches were nothing more than showcases that lasted under two minutes it seems. Excalibur noted that Iron Savages remained undefeated since starting their new gimmick.
3. Kennedi Copeland vs. Kiera Hogan. Copeland hit a running bulldog. Hogan came in with a leg drop to the back of the head. Hogan threw a kick to Copeland’s back. Copeland took down Hogan with an arm breaker. Hogan fired back with a sliding kick before finishing Copeland off with a roundhouse kick that led to the pin.
Kiera Hogan defeated Kennedi Copeland via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Nothing against Hogan, but ever since she left Impact Wrestling, she hasn’t done much of anything in AEW other than being in Dark or Dark Elevation matches. Well, I guess aside from being Jade Cargill’s “Baddies” sidekicks. Here’s hoping she can get into a meaningful program in 2023.
4. Zack Clayton vs. Frankie Kazarian. Kazarian started the match with an arm-drag takedown. Kazarian hit a leg lariat. Clayton started to get some momentum by hitting a forearm to take down Kazarian and followed it up with a vertical suplex. Kazarian regained momentum with a forearm of his own to Clayton and quickly made Clayton tap out to the crossface chicken wing for the victory.
Frankie Kazarian defeated Zack Clayton via submission.
Briar’s Take: A good match while it lasted. I wished these two had been given more time because they can go. I hope one day we can see another match between the two on Rampage. On a side note, I’m looking forward to Kazarian challenging Josh Alexander for the Impact Wrestling Championship on Friday night on the OverDrive event. It should be a good match.
Lexy Nair interviewed Arn Anderson about the ROH Pure Title match that features his son Brock challenging Daniel Garcia for the championship.
5. Channing Thomas, Jake Manning, and Teddy Goodz vs. “The Factory” Cole Karter, Lee Johnson, and Q.T. Marshall. Johnson hit a boot to the midsection of Thomas before making a quick tag. Karter drove a knee to the midsection of Thomas and landed a dropkick. Karter made another tag to Johnson and then they both hit a double back elbow on Thomas. Marshall took a cheap shot to Goodz.
Eventually, Thomas found a breakthrough with a backdrop to Johnson and tagged out. Goodz laid out Johnson and Karter before he was blindsided from behind by Marshall., Goodz hit a running-back elbow to Marshall in the corner. Marshall came back and hit a cutter with assistance from Karter and Johnson.
“The Factory” Cole Karter, Lee Johnson, and Q.T. Marshall defeated Channing Thomas, Jake Manning, and Teddy Goodz via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Man, that ended quickly. Just when it looked like Goodz was getting momentum, his night was ended before it got started. Goodz was over with the crowd though.
6. LMK vs. Athena. LMK caught Athena off guard with a huracanrana and then bit her arm. Athena countered with a back elbow strike and a running senton. Athena targeted the back after LMK escaped out of the abdominal stretch. Athena caught LMK and spiked her on the mat. Athena got the victory with a lariat to the side of the head of LMK.
Athena defeated LMK via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: That was an awkward finish for sure. Athena looked as though she wanted to dive off the top rope for the win, but LMK was taking a long time to get in that position to take the finisher. Part of me wonders if there was some miscommunication.
7. Arjun Singh, BRG, and Mike Magnum vs. “Dark Order” Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, and John Silver. Singh was dominated by the Dark Order trio early on. Magnum struck with a kick to the back of Uno and then Singh tagged out. Magnum threw a big right hook at Uno. More cohesive tags were made out by the team of Singh, BRG, and Magnum to take down Uno.
Uno tagged in Reynolds, who hit a spinning back elbow to BRG. Reynolds laid out BRG with a clothesline. Silver threw BRG on top of the knees of Reynolds. Singh was hit with multiple finishers from each member of Dark Order, who then hit a Pendulum Bomb on BRG.
“Dark Order” Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno, and John Silver defeated Arjun Singh, BRG, and Mike Magnum via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: The match and outcome were pretty much what you would expect from Dark Order on Dark or Dark Elevation these days.
Lexy Nair was shown backstage hoping to get a word with Athena, who cornered Nair and eventually made her runoff.
8. Daniel Garcia vs. Brock Anderson (w/Arn Anderson) for the ROH Pure Championship. Frankie Kazarian, Christopher Daniels, and another person served as the judges. Anderson brought Garcia down with a side headlock takeover until Garcia used his first rope break. Shortly thereafter, Anderson began targeting the left arm and ankle. Garcia hit a dragon screw leg whip to turn the match around. Garcia targeted the left ankle of Anderson too.
Garcia swept out the left knee of Anderson. Garcia stomped down both knees to Anderson, who was issued a warning for using a closed fist on Garcia. Later, Anderson attempted a DDT, but Garcia sat out Anderson with a pump handle slam. Anderson eventually spiked Garcia with a DDT. Anderson looked for a spinebuster, but his knee gave out, allowing Garcia to hit a spike piledriver to retain the championship.
Daniel Garcia defeated Brock Anderson to retain the ROH Pure Championship via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A solid back and forth match between Garcia and Anderson. I never felt the outcome was ever in question, as AEW went into this match cold without any buildup or storyline.Even a brief video package of some sort would have helped. The interview Nair did with Brock was short and didn’t really dive into anything. Still, a solid technical match despite the predictable outcome.
This week’s Dark was overall a passable show. There were lot of brief matches early on. The show was mainly highlighted by Kazarian vs. Clayton, and Anderson vs. Garcia for the ROH Pure Championship. If given a little more time, I think Kazarian and Clayton could’ve really stolen the show, though they still did have the best match of the night. Episode 170 clocked in at 53 minutes and 41 seconds. Final Score: 6.0 out of 10.
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