By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 37)
Taped in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place
Streamed June 9, 2020 on the AEW YouTube Page
Without an official live premiere (which seems like they are doing away with), the broadcast team of Excalibur and Taz welcomed us to AEW Dark and ran down the card lineup…
1. Low Rida and Fuego Del Sol vs. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. Low Rida and Del Sol made their AEW debut. Kazarian and Del Sol started out the match with a collar elbow tie up. Kazarian hits a Russian Leg Sweep to Del Sol, then makes a tag to Scorpio Sky. Kazarian and Sky hit a few combination moves. Sky went for a cover on Del Sol, but only got a two count. Del Sol got up hit knee to the mid-section of Sky and a shooting star press. Del Sol finally makes the tag to Low Rida.
Low Rida uses the rope for an assistance springboard dropkick. Del Sol and Low Rida have a miscommunication, which allows Kazarian to tag in and get an advantage and lays them down with a clothesline, and a hip toss. Sky makes the tag and uses Kazarian for an assist to hit the SCU later on Del Sol to pick up the victory.
Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky defeated Low Rida and Fuego Del Sol via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A good tag team match to begin Dark. Del Sol impressed more than Low Rida, because he has a great upside to him and has a great move set. All in all, a solid match and SCU never disappoint.
Backstage, the unnamed spokesperson of The Dark Order was shown with Brodie Lee, along with other members of the team. The spokesperson and Lee welcomed “5” to The Dark Order…
2. Lee Johnson vs. 5 (a//k/a Alan Angels). 5 was accompanied by other members of the group. 5 started the match with several fists to Johnson. Johnson then followed with a few arm drags and a dropkick. Angels went to the outside for a quick breather, Johnson followed him, but Angels threw Johnson into the ringside post. Angels went for a cover inside the ring, only got a two count. After the kickout, Angels was targeting the arm of Johnson. Angels picked Johnson up and planted him in the center. Johnson kicked out another two count.
Johnson started to get some momentum and hit a single leg kick to Angels. Angels then went to the outside, which allowed Johnson to jump to the outside with a flying moonsault. He rushed Angels back in and hit a powerbomb. Afterwards, Angels hit a DDT on the ring apron. Shortly thereafter, Angles used the knees to finish off Johnson after Brodie Lee came out.
5 (Alan Angels) defeated Lee Johnson via pinfall.
Afterwards, The Dark Order came to the ring and beat Johnson down more…
Briar’s Take: This felt predictable. Excalibur and Taz were really laying it on thick that, if Angels couldn’t win, this might upset Brodie Lee, who could kick Angels out of the group from the get-go. The match was so-so. The moral of the story was about Angels trying to get momentum back on his side.
3. Musa and Brady Pierce vs. Santana and Ortiz. Ortiz hit a head to the midsection to Musa to begin the match. Ortiz followed up with a lariat to Musa. Musa tried to get a couple of moves in, but Ortiz caught him and planted him with a sitdown powerbomb. Santana then hit a big kick from the outside.
Pierce tried coming into the match to save his partner, but Santana threw him over the top. Santana then laid them both out with a backward flying moonsault. Pierce wanted to tag in, so Santana threw Musa to his corner so Pierce could tag himself in. Though, Santana and Ortiz outsmarted Pierce, who tried to go for a flying moonsault but missed.
Musa and Pierce were caught up in the corner, and with the assistance of Ortiz, Santana hit a cannonball senton. After the senton, Santana and Ortiz finished off with The Street Sweeper for the victory.
Santana and Ortiz defeated Musa and Brady Pierce via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Another showcase win for Santana and Ortiz to keep their record rolling. Interesting to see both wrestlers on another week of Dark.
The cameras were backstage showing QT Marshall walking to Dustin and Brandi Rhodes. Marshall said the match was not a tag match, but a singles match for him. Marshall said Allie told Dustin that he don’t need to wrestle every week. Marshall also said Allie made new Natural Nightmares shirts for them. The shirt had just Marshall on it without Brandi and Dustin. Both Brandi and Dustin cussed, and asked Marshall what was wrong with him. Marshall ended the segment by saying just support me…
Briar’s Take: So…. Will the shirt be available on the merchandise store? No?
4. Pineapple Pete and Anthony Catena vs. The Butcher and The Blade. Anthony Catena made his AEW debut. The Butcher dominated Pete after the match started, but tagged in The Blade. With the ref distracted, The Butcher illegally used a hold on Pete who was sitting in the corner. The Butcher and The Blade then double teamed on Pete with some headbutts. Pete tried to hit a kick on The Blade, but The Blade hit a fisherman neckbreaker twice.
Catena is tagged in, but the Blade continues to dominate. The Blade made a tag to The Butcher, but before the Butcher came in, The Blade hit a stunner as Butcher followed with a clothesline taking Catena down. The Butcher laid down Catena with a running powerslam and went for the cover, but Pete broke the attempted pin up. After throwing Pete out of the ring, Butcher and Blade hit a combination move to win the match.
The Butcher and The Blade defeated Pineapple Pete and Anthony Catena via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: An impressive win for Butcher and Blade, which gives them momentum for Wednesday’s night match against FTR.
5. Zack Clayton vs. QT Marshall and Dustin Rhodes (w/Brandi Rhodes, Allie). Zack Clayton made his AEW debut. Clayton dominated the match early on, but Marshall managed to throw Clayton outside with a running clothesline. Marshall attempted to fly from the ropes, but Clayton countered with a dropkick. Clayton then hit a few stomp kicks to Marshall, who was laying in the corner.
Clayton then hit a suplex to Marshall in the middle of the ring and followed with a running knee drop. However, Marshall tried for a cutter, but Clayton reversed with a powerslam. Clayton tried to take off the turnbuckle pad, but Brandi got on the apron to distract Clayton. Marshall was going to use that for an advantage, but Clayton saw the attack from Marshall coming and made Marshall run into Brandi, which sent Brandi to the floor.
Clayton was going to jump from the top rope for a finishing move, though Allie caught Clayton’s foot. This allowed Marshall to use that distraction and hit a cutter, and win the match…
QT Marshall defeated Zack Clayton via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: I couldn’t care less about the Allie storyline. It’s too cartoony for me with her drooling all over Marshall at the commentary table. This makes for a lot of eye rollers.
6. Sonny Kiss vs. Christopher Daniels. Daniels planted Kiss down with a pickup slam. Kiss then hit a few moves on Daniels with arm drags takedowns. Kiss would do an arm drag into a submission on Daniels, but Daniels countered with a full exploder suplex. Daniels then hit Kiss with a backdrop. Daniels followed up with a couple of suplexes.
Daniels put Kiss in a submission hold, though Kiss used the ropes to break the hold. Kiss started to gain momentum with an elbow strike and a kick. Kiss managed to hit the splits, but Daniels kicked out. Kiss followed with a standing moonsault, only to get another two count. Kiss went to go for a spinning leg drop, but Daniels countered and rolled up Kiss into a pin. Both would kick out of each other’s pin attempts. Wasn’t too long after that Daniels got the win after hitting the Angel’s Wings.
Christopher Daniels defeated Sonny Kiss via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: This match felt really random and thrown together. With that said, it was a good competitive outing that went back and forth. It was probably my favorite match of the night thus far. Great in-ring action. Kudos to both who brought their A-game.
7. Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler vs. “Jurassic Express” Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt. On a side-note. It feels random that Jurassic Express have pyro as part of their ring entrance. Anyway, Luchasaurus and Avalon started the match between the two. Luchasaurus laid Avalon down with a chop. Right away, Avalon made the tag to Cutler. Cutler hit a high roundhouse kick to Luchasaurus and attempted a springboard. Though, Luchasaurus countered with another chop and a big dropkick to Cutler as well. Luchasaurus, who continues to dominate, hit a wheel barrel which turned into a suplex.
Luchasaurus tagged Stunt in and threw Stunt onto Cutler. Stunt hit a dropkick to Avalon and a hurricanrana. Avalon though, planted Stunt down onto the ring after a Leva Bates distraction. Cutler tagged back in and started to get the upper hand on Stunt. Stunt then spiked Avalon on the mat.
Luchasaurus came in and started to take down both Avalon, and Cutler. Luchasaurus hit a roundhouse kick to both Avalon and Cutler. Afterward, Luchasaurus would follow up with an extension level to Avalon. Stunt went for an advantage after a distraction, but was caught by Avalon and Cutler. Both Avalon and Cutler threw Stunt, but Luchasaurus caught him and threw Stunt back into the team of Cutler and Avalon.
Avalon countered with a DDT and almost got a victory. Avalon hit a sunset flip powerbomb. Cutler tagged in and hit a springboard, and almost got another pinfall. After the short momentum, Luchasaurus hit both Cutler and Avalon with a couple of kicks. Luchasaurus hit a backward moonsault on Avalon to score the pinfall win…
Jurassic Express defeated Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler.
Briar’s Take: A good effort by Cutler and Avalon, who were close on getting the victory a couple of times. However, both of them remain winless unfortunately.
8. AEW Champion Jon Moxley vs. Robert Anthony in a non-title match. Brian Cage made his entrance and went over to the announce table to stand with Taz. So what’s weird is that we didn’t have any cheering for the whole show until the Moxley match.
Anyway, the collar elbow tie up once again started the match. There were also a lot of mat moves between Moxley and Anthony. Moxley took Anthony down with a side headlock. Moxley then followed up with a bulldog. Though, Anthony was able to get some moves in, which made Moxley take a breather. Afterward, Moxley sent Anthony to the outside with a jumping suicida. Moxley hit a few leg sweeps to Anthony, once they were back in the ring.
Moxley then used the ring post to put Anthony in a figure four leg hold on the outside. The AEW Champion went to the top rope afterward, but was staggered as Anthony came for him. Anthony countered with a submission and went for a pinfall.
Afterward, Moxley hit a running clothesline and tried for a piledriver. Anthony though hit a death valley driver and almost got an upset. Anthony went for a leaping hurricanrana, but Moxley caught Anthony for a powerbomb. Moxley put Anthony into a cloverleaf submission and made Anthony tap out.
AEW Champion Jon Moxley defeated Robert Anthony in a non-title match via submission.
Briar’s Take: The match was fine for what it was. Mainly, this was to forward the Cage and Moxley storyline. Taz was obnoxiously annoying during the match when he was doing commentary, as he kept trying to build Cage up as a dominant opponent for their match at Fyter Fest. I have to agree with Taz though. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes to beat Robert Anthony. The randomness of a crowd that was there for the final match of Dark was weird, as they were not there for the previous seven matches.
I thought this Dark was good for what it was with a mix of different matches. Seems as though, we are seeing more tag team matches recently on the show to feature more action and rightfully so. I do like the tag team division, as they bring some great action to the ring. As for the episode, it felt like your basic show of Dark with the usual teams going over and picking up victories to move forward with their record. They really made a big deal about Moxley coming over to wrestle on Dark and they should, since he is the champion.
I would be a little bit worried if they didn’t make a big deal about Moxley coming over to this show. My only problem with Moxley’s match is, he didn’t finish Anthony off in a hurry like he should have, as Anthony isn’t too featured in AEW. As I stated earlier in the show, I would have to say my favorite match of the night was between Christopher Daniels vs. Sonny Kiss. For being 50-years old, Daniels can still go and brought the best out of Sonny Kiss. These two had some hard hitting action inside the ring. I would definitely go out of your way to watch this match. I continue to have a problem with the Allie and The Natural Nightmares story. We know at some point, she will be the cause for the breakup of that team. My problem with the story is that Allie just drools all over QT Marshall whenever he wrestles. It just makes your eyes roll.
I found it interesting Taz asked Allie about her situation between The Butcher and The Blade. The story to me leaves me feeling uninterested, but kudos to AEW for having a continuing storyline on Dark, which we rarely see. On a final note, I am not sure why AEW continues to go back and forth between nine matches three weeks in a row to five matches last week, back to eight matches this week. It kind of feels inconsistent. I don’t think Dark needs to be an hour and a half with matches that are short and sometimes feel predictable. As I stated last week, I feel like five matches is the perfect number for Dark in that it’s not too long, not too short. Final Score: 7.5 out of 10. Episode 37 clocked in at 1 hour and 24 minutes.
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