5 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dark (Jun 2)
Stories! Dominant squashes! The Butcher's power lunges! A strong episode of Dark.
Thank goodness for AEW Dark's change in format.
With the previous configuration of 8-10 near-identical sort-of-squashes wearing thin, AEW made some significant alterations to last night's episode, resulting in the most easily-consumable Dark of the year thus far. Four matches were spread over just 44 minutes as the show's runtime was chopped in half. The agenting was stronger too, as two of the clashes were pure one-sided poundings, not the more competitive scraps we've come to expect from the web series lately. There was genuine storyline development up and down the card as well and sure, these aren't the kind of narratives that sell big pay-per-view matches, but they brought variety and it's nice seeing the likes of Allie, the Librarians, and QT Marshall spotlighted regardless.
These week's squashers were the returning Butcher and the Blade, Santana and Ortiz, and Christi Jaynes, who has graduated from pure enhancement status. The main event was a more fitting affair pitting The Natural Nightmares against Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler built almost entirely around two separate storylines.
Nothing groundbreaking here, but a fun, light-hearted show, and well worth watching for anyone who wants to escape an increasingly nightmarish outside world. Let's light the fuse...