It’s a Dark Homecoming at Daily’s Place!

Just because Dark hit 100 doesn’t mean they’re stopping now! AEW’s homecoming at Daily’s Place continues, and it’s Freshly Squeezed!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Jurassic Express VS Ryzin & D3; Jurassic Express wins.
• Kris Statlander w/ Orange Cassidy VS Leila Grey; Statlander wins.
• The Lucha Brothers w/ Alex Abrahantes VS Sage Scott & Jake St. Patrick; The Lucha Bros win.
• Julia Hart w/ Varsity Blonds VS Angelica Risk; Julia wins.
• Ethan Page VS Baron Black; Ethan wins.
• Gunn Club VS Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto w/ QT Marshall; Gun Club wins.
• Frankie Kazarian VS “Pretty” Peter Avalon w/ The Wingmen; Kaz wins.
• Dante Martin & The Sydal Brothers VS Vary Morales, Aaron Frye & Darian Bengston; Dante & the Sydals win.
• Lance Archer w/ Jake the Snake Roberts VS Tre’ Lamar; Archer wins.
• Abadon VS Kelsey Heather; Abadon wins.
• Orange Cassidy w/ Best Friends VS Jora Johl w/ The Hardy Family Office; Cassidy wins.

MY THOUGHTS

Apologies for getting to this late, but there was no way to clear time on Friday. But again, this is free on YouTube. And in a surprising and disappointing turn, there weren’t fans for this 101st Dark, even though this would be for the Daily’s Place Homecoming episode. Still got 71 minutes out of all this, and Jurassic Express give us a good opener to get going in the tag division again. And glad to finally hear a name for the back suplex to powerbomb finisher between Luchasaurus and JB: Thorassic Express, cuz it hits you in the thorax like a train.

Also, that is one big thing AEW is doing that WWE just gave up even trying: cross division wrestlers. Jungle Boy is a top contender in the singles division, Jurassic Express as him and Luchasaurus are still going strong in the tag division, and there is still the Trios Division that could arise, and then Jurassic Express as a whole could take the lead in that.

Statlander and Grey have a good match, with Grey starting to show some personality now, but Statlander wins and stays strong as AEW is building her back up. Lucha Brothers of course win, they’ve got the story with Andrade building up, but they had a lot of fun with Scott and JSP. Mark Henry interviewing Big Swole and Diamante at the same time was a great surprise and a really good segment. It’s also a good detail that Swole called Bunny “Allie” since we all know those are the same people anyway. Now of course it turns into an argument and security keeps it from becoming a brawl, but that’s just good pro-wrestling.

Julia Hart gets a good match out of Angelica Risk, and wins again to get just under 50-50 in her record. Also pretty sure Risk wasn’t wearing orange, but I like that Starks sarcastically agreed with Taz that she was, per the “Only Team Taz can have orange” running gag on commentary. All Ego Ethan Page makes his in-ring return from the Coffin Match with Darby, and it seems unceremonious that it’s just on Dark. But given that, the match has a good story of Ethan trying to get back into things, and he of course does to get a big return win.

Gunn Club VS The Factory was a strong halfway point on the card and perhaps the one match I couldn’t outright call. Good banter from QT with commentary, really good match for Billy & Colten VS Solo & Comoroto, and these teams should’ve been feuding this whole time because of what happened to Austin Gunn at the literal hands of Anthony Ogogo. I do like that they kayfabe’d Ogogo’s injury as being Billy’s fault, even if it is just as QT’s biased opinion. I hope that whenever and wherever QT Marshall finally “apologizes” to Tony Schiavone, it is Gunn Club that comes to Schiavone’s aid. The “controversial” end is great for keeping this going, too, and maybe the feud moves up to Elevation next.

It’s good that Peter Avalon returns to in-ring action, and of course he was losing his return. It didn’t even have to be to Kaz, but it helps Kaz get back up after swinging and missing in his attack on The Elite at Homecoming. Then AEW creates perhaps one of the most agile trios possible putting the Sydal Brothers with Dante Martin, and that’s also great continuity from the great matches Dante and Matt Sydal have had. As such, there was no way they were losing, and it was a great showing for all three of them. Jake the Snake is great on commentary for Archer’s match, and Archer just tears into Lamar. Not that he takes it easy on any opponent. Archer VS Tanahashi at NJPW’s Resurgence is going to be an awesome match, definitely gonna need to watch that event.

Yes, Abadon still scares me, but her being later in the card is another great sign that AEW sees how strong she is. Kelsey Heather does a great job in being afraid of her, though that’s not hard because of how scary Abadon is! And of course, Cassidy VS Johl in the main event is great for Johl, and the match was a great next part for the growing feud of Freshly Squeezed Best Friends VS Hardy Family Office. Johl shows his moves, Private Party do a good job of being overbearing, and in a way, that’s why Johl lost. Good momentum for Cassidy going into the Six Man with the other members of HFO, if only Trent was here for an 8 Man.

My Score: 8.3/10