Tony Nese looks to put out Fuego’s fire!

The Premier Athlete makes his AEW Dark debut, and he’s looking to make a huge splash! Will he extinguish Fuego Del Sol and show he’s All Elite?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Santana & Ortiz VS Joe Coleman & Idris Abraham; Santana & Ortiz win.
• Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero VS Viva Van; Nyla wins.
• Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson VS Eli Knight & Malik Bosede; Johnson & Anderson win.
• Daniel Garcia w/ 2point0 VS Ricky Shane Page; Garcia wins.
• John Silver & Alex Reynolds w/ The Dark Order VS Sean Carr & Marcus Kross; Silver & Reynolds win.
• The Acclaimed VS Ishmael Vaughn & Dontae Smiley; The Acclaimed win.
• Santana Garrett VS The Bunny w/ The Butcher; The Bunny wins.
• 2point0 w/ Daniel Garcia VS Bison XL & Toa Liona; 2point0 wins.
• Red Velvet VS Sholance Royal; Velvet wins.
• Bobby Fish VS Ryzin; Fish wins.
• Tony Nese VS Fuego Del Sol; Nese wins.
• PAC VS Tiger Ruas; PAC wins.

QUICK NOTES

Dark’s back to a dozen, so this is probably going to be an hour long episode. A lot of fresh faces featured against the established names, and I’m very interested in Pac VS Ruas. Ruas just made his return to AEW under this new name, him going against The Bastard so soon is quite the surprise. Nese taking on a fan favorite in Fuego Del Sol, that is definitely a move for some big Heel heat. Just as he was in WWE, Nese will be a great in-ring asset but I’m not sure about his character stuff. Maybe he’ll team up with someone, just as he did in WWE with Buddy Murphy and Ariya Daivari.

AFTER WATCHING

An hour and 14, that’s definitely a good sized episode. FTR opens with a promo video to show off Dax’s home, and also to establish that tomorrow night for Dynamite, they are holding an open challenge for their AAA Tag Team Championships, open to any team that isn’t Penta & Fenix. A natural move for Heels like these guys, and part of me hopes Penta & Fenix get even by pretending to be another team the way FTR did. Vickie shrieks- I mean, talks for the first time in awhile, she hypes Nyla up and of course wins here tonight.

The main thing of interest in Johnson & Anderson VS Knight & Bosede was that the teams set up in different corners. Usually it is foreground right and background left but it was foreground left and background right this time. That was also how The Acclaimed did their tag match, oddly. Great Universal Studios rap from Caster, and another good win for The Acclaimed. Good matches for everyone else, as is the usual Dark formula. Bunny and Red Velvet each win to get momentum going into their TBS Championship tournament match against each other, and after Bunny jumps Velvet here, I’m thinking Velvet wins to get another match with Jade Cargill.

A little surprised Nese VS Fuego wasn’t main event, but still a really good match. Nese still has all his moves from WWE, to where you’d think this match was from the best days of 205 Live. Hell, Pac was there for some of those days, I hope Pac and Nese interact at some point. Pac VS Ruas being the main event definitely made Ruas look like a big deal, and he definitely has the martial arts training and accolades to back that up. It was a great match, but Pac wins to keep momentum in his growing story with Andrade, Malakai Black and Cody Rhodes. As for Ruas, he and a lot of these other midcard talents almost constitute a reason for AEW to make another midcard title, or at least have the FTW Championship be defended more.