10 Ups & 7 Downs For AEW In 2020 (So Far)
Downs...
7. Dark's New Format
It should never be a chore to watch a show once pitched as a quick, digestible web series designed to showcase and highlight wrestlers not fortunate enough to make it to the A-show in quick, snappy pseudo-squashes, but such is the general state of AEW Dark in 2020.
Cramming the show with 9-12 matches and stretching the runtime to upwards of 90 minutes has been to Dark's detriment. The real problem, however, is the lack of variety between bouts. These are not full-on squashes but more balanced enhancement scraps with near-identical layouts, as the enhancers last 4-6 minutes against more established wrestlers, mounting several comebacks before inevitably falling.
Wanting to build the likes of Lee Johnson and Alan Angels up as more than jobbers is a noble endeavour, though watching the same match several times on the same show is tiresome. The few matches that do break the formula stand out as a result.
Dark isn't all bad every week, though it is now a long, long way from its roots, and desperately needs turning up if it is to become AEW's second weekly show on TNT.