AEW Dark paves the way towards a Dynamite Saturday!

Abadon, Brian Cage, Lance Archer and The Dark Order are in action as AEW prepares for a super Saturday Night Dynamite!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Lance Archer VS Rex Lawless; Archer wins.
• Brian Pillman Jr. w/ Julia Hart VS Bear Bronson; BPJ wins.
• Brian Cage VS Chandler Hopkins; Cage wins.
• Diamante VS Ashley D’Amboise; Diamante wins.
• Colt Cabana w/ The Dark Order VS Kit Sackett; Cabana wins.
• Chuck Taylor w/ Best Friends VS Dan Barry; Chuck wins.
• Abadon VS Ashley Vox; Abadon wins.
• Marko Stunt VS Griff Garrison w/ Julia Hart; Griff wins.
• The Bunny w/ The Blade VS Reka Tehaka; The Bunny wins.
• Stu Grayson w/ The Dark Order VS Serpentico w/ Luther; Grayson wins.

MY THOUGHTS

Wow, only ten matches and only 48 minutes? Now these are numbers for Dark I can get behind. Varsity Blonds having a promo to open to respond to what happened with Miro on Dynamite was good, and the promo itself was good. BPJ’s match being second on the card is a bit odd, why not just go right to him? It was still a strong match because Bear Bronson is doing great stuff even though he’s on his own. BPJ wins, of course, because he’s headed for that match with Miro. Lance Archer going right after Lawless from his entrance was good stuff and keeps with the promo he and Jake the Snake had last Dynamite. I’m thinking All Out is when Archer finally “wins the big one.”

Brian Cage being third was definitely more for the sake of having Ricky Starks on commentary so he could be bitter. Taz added good character to this with his frustrations about Starks and Cage not getting along. Hopkins got a really good showing against Cage, but Cage wins all the same. Cage chasing Starks backstage was a good detail, too. Hopefully Starks will be healthy by All Out, that makes the perfect place for this to blow off. Then Diamante gets a good and fast win off D’Amboise, really showing that fire. I still wonder what her route will be with Ivelisse and those women’s tag medals gone. There are still a few factions that have no female presence, I wonder if she’d be open to joining up with one.

Colt Cabana starts off strong and wins fast against Sackett, I feel like they could’ve again had a case where another faction member on the card just has their match right after. Stu Grayson being the main event with Serpentico was both good for them, and made for a really good match. The Dark Order is going to maintain this midcard momentum, but I really wonder if any of them will ever get titles. Maybe as AEW enters year three, and maybe as Hangman finally “wins the big one,” the Dark Order will make that breakthrough to get gold again.

Just as I was wondering when the other Best Friends would return to action, Chuck is here to get a win off the debuting “Detective” Dan Barry, but Barry had a great showing. Abadon still scares me but that goes to show her character work is top tier. And she just keeps winning so she’s gonna be sticking around. Griff keeps the Blonds strong winning against Marko Stunt but Marko is always fun to watch. Bunny Allie and Reka Tehaka getting the penultimate match is great for both of them, really builds the women’s division as a whole, too. Bunny of course wins, HFO needs to be strong in all title chases and she’s a very complete character so she’s a natural choice.

My Score: 8.2/10