Dark – July 14, 2020: They’re Kidding Right?
IMG Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Dark
Date: July 14, 2020
Location: Daily’s Place, Jacksonville, Florida
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz
It’s the fallout show from Fyter Fest as well as the go home show for Fight For The Fallen and we even have a title match tonight. This week it’s Brian Cage defending the FTW Title against Brian Pillman Jr. in a match that sounds a bit squashish on paper. Other than that, the show sounds like its usual self. Let’s get to it.
Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.
Rache Chanel/Diamante vs. Allie/Brandi Rhodes
Dustin Rhodes is here with Allie and Brandi, the latter of whom doesn’t like Diamante shoving Allie before the bell. Allie and Diamante lock up to start with the former hitting a Dustin drop down uppercut. Rache comes in, after getting in one final touch of the hair of course. It’s off to Brandi, who snapmares Rache down for a kick to the face and an early two. A Diamante distraction lets Chanel get in a cheap shot from behind to take over on Allie though and the stomping is on in the corner.
We hit the chinlock as Taz talks about the QT Marshall apple necklace Allie is wearing. Allie fights up but Diamante knocks Brandi off the apron to block a tag attempt. Brandi is up to pull Allie out of the way out of a running corner dropkick and the hot tag brings Brandi in. Rache knees Brandi but spends too much time talking trash can gets superkicked down. The spear finishes Chanel at 7:23.
Rating: C-. Brandi and Allie are the stars here of course and they’re not exactly the kind of team that you need to have out there for almost eight minutes. It was a good enough match with no drama on the ending, but how many people are all that interested in seeing Brandi and Allie as wrestlers? Especially when they aren’t exactly likely to be rising up the ranks all that soon in the near future.
Ricky Starks vs. Robert Anthony
They go to the mat to start with neither being able to get anywhere. Back up and Anthony gets in a few shots to the face and a kick to the ribs, only to have Starks come back with a clothesline. The release northern lights suplex drops Anthony and the spear puts him on the apron. Back in and Starks grabs a swinging neckbreaker for two but Anthony gets in a tilt-a-whirl faceplant for a breather. The surfboard into another faceplant gives Anthony two but Starks kicks him in the face. Starks picks him up with a double underhook Dominator for the pin at 4:51.
Rating: C. Anthony got in some offense here and continues to look like someone who could be a player later on. Starks looks like someone who could be a star even sooner though, which makes him one of the best signings that AEW has made in recent weeks. It’s a loss for the NWA, but dang it’s fun to watch Starks, who really does seem like a potential star of the future.
Shawn Spears talks about the history of the glove in wrestling.
Shawn Dean/Will Hobbs/Joe Alonzo vs. Dark Order
3, 4 and 5 for the Order with more of the team watching from the stage. Hobbs and 5 start things off with 5’s right hands in the corner staggering Hobbs early on. The fall away slam sends 5 flying though and it’s 4 coming in, with Hobbs giving him a World’s Strongest Slam. Alonzo comes in and hits a hiptoss but 4 sends him into the corner. 3 comes in for a double dropkick to Alonzo’s head but Dean gets the tag to send 3 face first into the corner. Dean hits a slingshot dive to the floor to take out 3 and 4, only to have 5 send him into the barricade.
5 comes back in for some rapid fire splashes and 4 adds a running kick to the chest for two. Another kick to the face sets up another splash from 5 for two more but Dean kicks 5 away. The hot tag brings in Hobbs to clean house and everything breaks down. Alonzo rolls 4 up for two but it’s a Wing Snapper from 5 into a double flipping Destroyer DDT for the pin on Alonzo at 9:12.
Rating: C-. Another match that just kind of came and went, though it could have been worse. The problem is that it’s still hard to get into three small guys who are relatively interchangeable when they’re all in masks. It doesn’t help that there was no chance of an upset here, because there never is on this show.
Marko Stunt vs. Michael Nakazawa
ARE THEY KIDDING??? I watch this show every single week and they make me watch THIS??? Nakazawa throws the baby oil away to start and drops Stunt with a shoulder. Stunt runs the ropes and bounces off of him again but a dropkick works well enough. There’s a kick to the head (Taz: “Almost like Bruce Lee but not.”) and another kick to send Nakazawa into the corner. The suicide elbow sends Nakazawa into the barricade but he drops Stunt throat first across the top back inside.
A slam gives Nakazawa two and we hit the chinlock. Hold on though as Nakazawa changes his mind and wants the oil, which he pours onto Stunt. Back up and Stunt avoids a charge in the corner so Stunt hits a top rope shot to the back. A Samoan drop cuts Stunt off again and Nakazawa crotches him on top for a slide across the top. The underwear claw is loaded up but Stunt knocks it into Nakazawa’s face. Since Nakazawa can’t let go, Stunt grabs a rollup for the pin at 6:10.
Rating: F. What are you expecting me to think here? This was another dumb match in a series of them from Nakazawa, but his buddy helps run the company and that means he is going to have a job around here as long as he wants to. Or until the rest of the roster revolts against him and chases him off with pitchforks and torches, as they should have done a LONG time ago.
Post match Stunt has to help him get the underwear off of Nakazawa’s face.
Serpentico/Luther vs. Pineapple Pete/Brady Pierce
Serpentico shoots a bunch of webbing out of his hands during the entrances. Cool visual if nothing else. Pete not being sure what to make of Serpentico and Luther is funny. Luther jumps Pete to start and hits a pump kick, followed by Serpentico’s top rope double stomp to the arm. A monkey flip gets Pete out of trouble and it’s Pierce coming in to have no effect on Luther. Brady’s running clothesline in the corner works a bit better but Luther takes Pete into the corner with ease.
Luther grabs a belly to belly for two and there’s a swinging side slam to put Pete down again. Serpentico is slammed down onto Pete for two and a slingshot double stomp sets up Luther’s knee to the face. Pete dropkicks his way out of the corner though and it’s the hot tag bringing in Pierce to clean house. A kick to Pierce’s face sets up the standing Sliced Bread though, with a spinebuster/top rope Meteora finishing Pierce at 7:02.
Rating: D+. Pretty slow match here and that’s not exactly something that makes me want to keep watching any of them. Pete continues to be fun and Serpentico feels like someone who could be a bigger star somewhere else. Then there’s Luther who is fine enough, but that’s about as high as I’m going on him.
Jurassic Express vs. Peter Avalon/Brandon Cutler
Marko Stunt and Leva Bates are at ringside while the Young Bucks are watching from the crowd. Commentary jumps up and down in quality as Cutler and Jungle Boy run the ropes to start. Cutler’s slingshot kick to the head gets two but Luchasaurus comes in and throws Boy into a Downward Spiral to drop Cutler for two. Luchasaurus leaves though and it’s Cutler hitting a springboard uppercut to the face for his own near fall.
Avalon gets two off a suplex and Cutler hits a running legdrop for the same. Boy is back with a heck of a clothesline and it’s back to Luchasaurus to clean house. Kicks to the face drop Cutler and Avalon but the standing moonsault hits Avalon’s knees. Bates gets in a hurricanrana off the apron to Boy and Cutler grabs a tornado DDT on Luchasaurus.
A heck of a springboard elbow gets two with Boy having to make the save. Boy comes in off the tag and starts taking over, including a tiger suplex for two on Avalon. Everything breaks down and some shots to the face rock Luchasaurus again but Boy is back in for the Extinction Level Event to finish Avalon at 8:45.
Rating: C+. They did a good job of making me believe that the upset could happen here, which I never would have bet on coming into this. They’re doing something with the idea of having Avalon and Cutler finally getting their first win and that’s more of a story than anything else has here. Not a great match or anything, but for what it was in this spot, well done.
FTW Title: Brian Cage vs. Brian Pillman Jr.
Pillman is challenging after Taz and Cage make it clear that the title is on the line. Pillman jumps him to start and it promptly sent into the corner for the hard clotheslines. A release German suplex sends Pillman flying again and they head outside. Cage’s powerbomb on the floor is blocked but a flip dive off the apron is countered into a suplex. The toss powerbomb into the post and there’s the apron superplex to make it worse. The Drill Claw finishes Pillman at 2:28.
Post match Cage hits back to back powerbombs into an F5 to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. This was a different format to the show and while I’m still not wild on it, I’ll take it over what they’ve done most of the time. They had some longer matches here but didn’t do as many, which made for a better setup for the whole thing. The matches stood out more and that’s one of the biggest flaws with Dark most of the time. Still longer than it needs to be and burn the Stunt vs. Nakazawa match with fire, but I think I like the altered format a bit more.
Results
Brandi Rhodes/Allie b. Rache Chanel/Diamante – Spear to Chanel
Ricky Starks b. Robert Anthony – Double underhook faceplant
Dark Order b. Joe Alonzo/Shawn Dean/Will Hobbs – Double flip DDT to Alonzo
Marko Stunt b. Michael Nakazawa – Rollup
Serpentico/Luther b. Pineapple Pete/Brady Pierce – Meteora/spinebuster combination to Pierce
Jurassic Express b. Peter Avalon/Brandon Cutler – Extinction Level Event to Avalon
Brian Cage b. Brian Pillman Jr. – Drill Claw
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