6 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dark (Dec 15)
Ricky Starks, Brian Cage, and Scorpio Sky stand out on a largely skippable episode of AEW Dark.
To cut to the chase, this was the most skippable episode of Dark in months. The show has been trending in this direction for several weeks now, of course, but Tony Khan's idea of splitting the show in two can't come quick enough. Dark, in its current format, is often a labour rather than a joy, with the bulk of this week's Ups negligible and the pseudo squashes really dragging.
Yes, yes, the usual caveats apply - it's a development show, indie wrestlers are getting work, etc. - but the viewing experience isn't a lot of fun a lot of the time. That can't be ignored.
Referee Bryce Remsburg hyped last night's Dark Order vs. Bear Country tag as the best he'd ever seen on AEW's YouTube series. This built an unusual level of hype for a Dark match, so seeing how the debutants fared was one of the biggest hooks heading into the show.
Elsewhere, we had the usual array of competitive squashes, with the likes of Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, Jurassic Express, Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss, and more all getting spotlighted. Best Friends and Chaos Project contested the only competitive bout between full-time AEW wrestlers.
Let's light the fuse...