Dynamite may not be until Friday, but Tuesdays are still Dark!

AEW gives us a beefy helping to tide us over, with Brian Cage, Nick Comoroto, Preston Vance and more! Who gains some final momentum before going Double or Nothing on Sunday?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Nick Comoroto w/ The Factory VS Duke Davis; Comoroto wins.
• Aaron Solow w/ The Factory VS Ganon Jones; Solow wins.
• Preston Vance w/ The Dark Order VS Dillon McQueen w/ Cody Rhodes; Vance wins.
• Evil Uno & Colt Cabana w/ The Dark Order VS Simon Lotto & Steven Andrews; Uno & Cabana win.
• Big Swole & KiLynn King VS Madi Wrenkowski & The Bunny w/ The Blade; Swole & King win.
• Gunn Club VS Kal Herro & Liam Grey; Gunn Club wins.
• Leyla Hirsch VS Vertvixen; Hirsch wins.
• Dante Martin VS Jason Hotch; Martin wins.
• Diamante VS Reka Tehaka; Diamante wins.
• Joey Janela w/ Sonny Kiss VS Bear Bronson; Janela wins.
• Angelico VS RYZIN; Angelico wins.
• Julia Hart w/ Varsity Blonds VS Tesha Price; Hart wins.
• Brian Cage w/ Hook VS Sonny Kiss w/ Joey Janela; wins.

MY THOUGHTS

AEW kept this to just over 90 minutes, that’s nice. Comoroto starting the night with just the nastiest of squash matches, not a bad choice. And I love that they went right to Solow’s match since The Factory was all out there. It is just the natural choice, but it was a nice touch that it was because QT Marshall demanded it happen that way. Makes for a great combo for opening the show, I feel like AEW should do this more to help the flow of things when you know multiple parts of a faction is going to be part of the action. Especially when they had Dark Order come out multiple times, instead of just having Uno & Cabana stay ringside for Vance’s match.

Speaking of which, Dillon getting attitude with Vance was a bold character move, and he did bring the fight, but of course Vance wins as Vance needs to go into the Casino Battle Royal with momentum. Same for Uno & Cabana, but they made quicker work of Lotto & Andrews. Swole & King wasn’t the advertised duo (the thumbnail literally has no King but does have Red Velvet) but they’re still a great combo. I don’t think Madi is going to be joining the Hardy Family Office one way or another, though. No Women’s Tag anything in AEW right now makes recruiting a second female wrestler unnecessary for Hardy. But they should consider giving us a second women’s tag tournament for that reason.

After what happened to Austin on Dynamite, of course Gunn Club gets a win. Herro wrestling with a fanny pack on but claiming it’s a belt is pretty funny stuff. I would’ve liked for the Gunns to be a bit more aggressive because of what happened to Austin, but I suppose you could spin it as they know it wasn’t Herro or Grey that did it so they’re saving the anger for The Factory. Billy referencing boxing rules to poke fun at Ogogo was a good touch, though. Cody will be facing Ogogo in hopes of avenging the extended Nightmare Family, but the pacing still feels all off. We should’ve gotten Dustin VS QT before Cody VS QT, and Billy VS Ogogo before Cody VS Ogogo.

Leyla of course wins against Vertvixen, she’s too legit, you gotta quit to that armbar. Naturally Dante Martin wins, he’s been red hot and he needs momentum for his TNT Championship opportunity on the special Friday Night Dynamite. Plus, his new ring gear looks great, he couldn’t lose in that. But Hotch’s swinging back2backbreaker is an awesome move, how is that not a finisher instead of just a signature? Diamante had a decent promo to hype her match with Tehaka, and the match itself was good with Tehaka getting a decent showing. Diamante might find herself in a new Top 5 post Double or Nothing, she’s a solid competitor.

Bear Bronson continues to be a strong example of a tag guy who is doing great in singles competition, similar to Dante Martin. He and Janela have a good match, especially on the character work. Janela wins because he needs momentum going into his match with Hangman Page as the “anniversary” rematch of All In, but like I said before, Bronson could be big time in the near future. Fans certainly thought “This is Awesome!” so definitely give that a watch. Angelico vibing during his promos is a great character detail. But he really is that good at his hybrid technical style, and of course he was going to beat Ryzin.

Tesha Price continues to play crazy well, and she really brought the fight to Julia Hart. The Varsity Blonds may have lost on Dynamite but good to see joining them gets Hart her first win already. Brian Cage and Sonny Kiss as the main event is great for both guys, it was a great match, but with The Machine set to face Hangman at Double or Nothing, of course Cage wins. At some point, the FTW Championship needs to be on the line. If it isn’t going to be on TV or PPV, at least make it the title defended on Dark and Dark: Elevation. It’d be another reason for people to watch these shows, and Cage should be the kind of guy who wants to defend the title over and over, even if AEW doesn’t recognize it as one of theirs.

Hook going after Kiss but Janela NOT doing anything about it was the real shocker. I didn’t think that’d be the way Jersey’s Finest broke up, but that makes it very creative. Kiss will surely confront Janela next week, they argue, then fight, then we have matches for the “Bad Boy Summer.”

My Score: 8.2/10