6 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dark (Mar 17)

4. Nakazawa & Cutler Slip To Defeat

That half of Dark's matches were so comedy-based will likely turn some viewers away, though both were well-executed and, crucially, more over than anything else on the show. It's hard to consider something an objective Down when a guy like Michael Nakazawa is getting such strong crowd reactions.

Nakazawa's a guy who should probably be on Dark more often. He's an effective jobber character with fun shtick that the audience enjoys, as evidenced by their hands here. Battling fruitlessly against Angelico's llave style, he got the better of the lanky South African by lubing himself up to escape a submission, then spraying his calf to slip out of the bigger man's grasp for a tag to Cutler. Cutler battled The Hybrid 2 two-on-one for a bit, looking solid in the process, though ended up eating a faceful of oily mist as Nakazawa accidentally gobbed him out, leading to Michael's isolation and TH2 picking up the win.

Peppered with athletic explosions from the ever watchable Jack Evans, this was a good little bout. TH2's pattern is beating a team lower on the totem pole before stepping up and getting knocked down again. AEW will likely use this as a warm-up for a bigger match as a result, continuing TH2's positioning as jobbers to the stars - a role they play well.