By Briar Starr, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@briarstarrtv)
AEW Dark (Episode 111)
Taped in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios
Streamed October 5, 2021 on the AEW YouTube Page
1. Austin Green, Dean Alexander, Baron Black, and Aaron Frye vs. “The Pinnacle” Wardlow, FTR, Shawn Spears in an eight-man tag team match. Wheeler and Black began the match for their respective teams. Alexander quickly tagged in and worked on the shoulder of Wheeler before Wheeler tagged out. Spears traded chops with Alexander, but Alexander hit a dropkick that planted Spears down.
Frye made his way into the ring and hit a dropkick in addition to an arm drag takedown to Harwood. Green and Wardlow had a stare off with each other until Wardlow planted Green with the scoop slam. Hardwood returned to the ring and planted Black with the backbreaker. Frye leaped off the middle rope with an elbow drop to Wheeler, but Wheeler hit a powerslam thereafter to Frye. Spears lifted Frye up on his shoulders and won the match with the C4.
The Pinnacle defeated Austin Green, Dean Alexander, Baron Black, and Aaron Frye via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A good and solid tag team match by The Pinnacle. Wasn’t chaotic or a cluster, which is a good thing. Speaking of The Pinnacle, the team came out with some new entrance music, so be on the lookout for that on a future episode of Dynamite.
An ad aired for Full Gear slated for November 13.
2. Valentina Rossi vs. Abadon. Abadon laid out Rossi with the back elbow and face planted her on the outside of the ring. Once back in the ring, Abadon hit the swinging neckbreaker on Rossi and eventually finished her with a face first maneuver.
Abadon defeated Valentina Rossi via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Abadon has her typical style match.
3. Michael Martinez and Vary Morales vs. “The Acclaimed” Max Caster and Anthony Bowens. Morales started the match hot by trading blows to Bowens until Bowens planted him down and tagged in Caster. Morales hit a low blow to Caster as the ref was distracted and came off the top rope with the dropkick. Martinez then hit a Samoan Drop on Caster, but Caster came back with a backdrop shortly thereafter while Bowens performed a twisted DDT on Morales. The Acclaimed won with Caster landing the Mic Drop on Martinez.
The Acclaimed defeated Michael Martinez and Vary Morales via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Good showing here from The Acclaimed. They never fail to disappoint after picking up another victory.
An All Elite General Manager game ad was shown.
4. Kal Herro vs. Sonny Kiss. Kiss landed an enzuigiri that sent Herro down and followed up with the corkscrew kick. Kiss won the match quickly with the TKO splits.
Sonny Kiss defeated Kal Heero via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A quick match from Kiss, who was determined in the ring. It’s hard to really write anything about matches that last so short and are brief in nature.
5. Zeda Zhang vs. Kris Statlander. Statlander performed a scoop slam on Zhang, who countered with the senton. Zhang also hit a kick to the face of Statlander and nearly got a pinfall victory. Statlander regained momentum with a kick to the jaw. Statlander made Zhang tap out to the Spider Crawl submission.
Kris Statlander defeated Zeda Zhang via submission.
Briar’s Take: Statlander continues to have a solid 2021 with this being win number 23.
6. Madi Wrenkowski vs. Skye Blue. Wrenkowski came in with the scissors kick. Blue attempted to gain momentum with a leg lariat to Wrenkowski in the corner and landed the diving crossbody off the top rope. Blue won the match by landing a fisherman suplex on Wrenkowski.
Skye Blue defeated Madi Wrenkowski via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: I’m actually quite surprised by Blue winning. I was expected Wrenkowski to pick up the win, as she’s been solid in her AEW matches. However, Blue won the competitive match.
7. Anthony Henry vs. Eddie Kingston. Henry hit the figure four dragonscrew to Kingston that sent Kingston to the outside of the ring. As Kingston was on the outside, Henry drove Kingston into the barricade. When the two returned to the ring, Henry continued targeting Kingston’s leg and dominated Kingston. Kingston threw chops to Henry, who took Kingston off his feet again with a kick. Henry then locked in a figure four on Kingston, but Henry quickly broke out of the submission. Kingston returned with a catch exploder. After some back and forth battles from the two, Kingston spiked Henry with a DDT for the win.
Eddie Kingston defeated Anthony Henry via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Hell of a match between Kingston and Henry here. Henry got a lot of offense in and apparently, both have battled before on the independent circuit as noted by Excalibur. Awesome stuff.
8. Rosario Grillo, Hunter Knott, and Cameron Stewart vs. “The Gunn Club” Austin, Billy, and Colten Gunn. Billy threw a right hand to the face of Grillo and tagged out. Colten wrestled briefly before Billy returned to the ring and threw a powerful right hand to Grillo. After being dominated, Grillo eventually tagged out. Knott had a chance to win the match, but The Gunn Club broke the pinfall up. Austin rolled up Knott and grabbed the quick victory.
The Gunn Club defeated Rosario Grilo, Hunter Knott, and Cameron Stewart via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: While Billy looks impressive for his age, there was nothing to write home about when it came this match, which was too brief in nature.
9. Santana Garrett vs. Diamante. Diamante landed the Russian leg sweep on Garrett and hit a running chop to the corner. Diamante bounced off the ropes and landed a splash on Garrett to continue her early domination. Garrett looked for a rip cord, but Diamante spiked her with a DDT. Diamante then went for the dropkick, but Garrett avoided it by moving at the last second. Garrett leaped off the top rope for a high crossbody block. Diamante then won with Sliced Bread.
Diamante defeated Santana Garrett via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: I expected the match to be back and forth just because of the hype building up to it, but Diamante absolutely dominated Garrett.
10. “The Wingmen” Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth vs. “The Varsity Blonds” Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison. Garrison hit a shoulder block on Avalon, but Avalon and Nemeth hit a double dropkick to Garrison after Nemeth was tagged in. Avalon then landed the knee drop to Garrison and threw a right hand. Garrison found a breakthrough with a backdrop on Nemeth and tagged in Pillman, who hit a rolling back elbow to Nemeth in the corner and landed on both Nemeth/Avalon with a crossbody block. Shortly thereafter, Pillman hit a flying clothesline on Avalon to pick up the win.
The Varsity Blonds defeated The Wingmen via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A back and forth match until The Varsity Blonds gained another win over The Wingmen.
11. Erik Lockhart vs. Daniel Garcia. Garcia planted a knee drop across the back of Lockhart. Garcia continued with multiple stomps to Lockhart in the corner. Lockhart fought back with a rising knee strike. Garcia countered with a massive elbow strike. Garcia locked in the Scorpion Death Lock and made Lockhart tap out.
Daniel Garcia defeated Erik Lockhart via submission.
Briar’s Take: Garcia continued his momentum by dominating this match and making quick work of Lockhart.
12. Serpentinco vs. Marko Stunt. Stunt jumped over the top rope and planted himself on Serpentinco. He then threw Serpentinco into the barricade. Thereafter, Stunt hit the backbody drop on Serpentinco on the outside. The two returned to the ring were Serpentinco planted Stunt with a slam. Luther encouraged Serpentinco to hit a flying snake off the top rope, but he missed in doing so. Stunt performed a gutwrench move and once again hit a jumping suicida on Serpentinco. Serpentinco then rolled up Stunt and got the victory.
Serpentinco defeated Marko Stunt via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: A surprise win for Serpentinco. Stunt had the upper hand early and it looked as though the match was going to go his way, but Serpentinco got the upset with the quick rollup to pick up his 12th overall victory.
13. Nick Comoroto (w/QT Marshall) vs. Orange Cassidy. Comoroto was on top of Cassidy early after the two fought outside of the ring. Cassidy looked for the DDT, but Comoroto stopped him in his tracks by landing the delayed vertical suplex. Comoroto picked up Cassidy for a powerbomb, though Cassidy finally hit the DDT to Comoroto. Cassidy looked for the crossbody, but Comoroto planted him with the running stampede. Cassidy built momentum with a jumping suicida. Comoroto was distracted with the knee brace after QT Marshall tried using it, but Cassidy got the win by hitting two Orange Punches and the Beach Break.
Orange Cassidy defeated Nick Comoroto via pinfall.
Briar’s Take: Somewhat of a clunky match with the size difference. Overall, another solid showing for Dark. The matches were solid and we were really flying in the early going before we got to the last half of the episode. Some of the matches were pointless in terms of being so brief. The match of the night pick goes to Anthony Henry vs. Eddie Kingston. They had a hell of an outing and went back and forth. The Acclaimed also had a solid showing as well. A sleeper of a match was Skye Blue vs. Madi Wrenkowski, while I thought Diamante vs. Santana Garrett was somewhat disappointing. Episode 111 clocked in at 1 hour, 24 minutes, 48 seconds. Final Score: 8.2 out of 10.
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