13 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dark (Nov 3)
A welcome two-hour distraction from the rest of the world.
With the outside world hollowing out into a giant cauldron of bubbling tensions and anxieties, political or otherwise, AEW Dark took on a different tone last night. For once, the colossal two-hour runtime was a welcome break and distraction from everything else. Escapism is important.
It helps that this represented the second straight week AEW has used the bumper to better effect than usual. These shows are usually stuffed with identikit pseudo squashes, which makes watching them from start to finish a chore when it should be a breeze, but not at the moment. Having delivered one of the best Darks of the year thus far on 27 October, AEW came through with another well laid-out episode yesterday.
Sammy Guevara vs. Lee Johnson was the obvious highlight coming into the show, given Guevara's dynamism and his opponent's new Nightmare Family status, though Chaos Project vs. Private Party looked interesting as well. Elsewhere, the newly-signed Max Caster/Anthony Bowens tandem, former TNA wrestler Lei'D Tapa's debut, and regular weekly highlights like Will Hobbs, The Butcher and The Blade, and Ricky Starks provided additional intrigue.
Let's light the fuse on AEW's latest YouTube marathon...