6 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dark (Oct 29)
Finally, MJF gets a live mic on AEW television. Sort of.
Last week saw AEW advertise the matches they'd be filming for this episode of Dark before the tapings. It was the first time they'd done this and was presumably intended to drive ticket sales, though it's odd that they chose this specific Dark lineup for promotion. Yes, it featured Dustin Rhodes, Darby Allin, and others, but on paper, this was comfortably the last enticing card since the first episode.
The main event saw Allin reprise his rivalry with Jimmy Havoc in a match also featuring The Hybrid 2's Jack Evans, who was bumped from last week's Dynamite in favour of Joey Janela. Emi Sakura, Allie, Sadie Gibbs, and Penelope Ford met in a four-way, Peter Avalon teamed with producer QT Marshall to face Rhodes and Sonny Kiss, and Cody interviewed his biggest From Undesirable to Undeniable guest yet in MJF. You can probably tell how that went.
While little on this show deserves effusive praise, nothing earned scathing criticism either. Dark is fine. It's telling that this week's crowd was considerably quieter (despite the audio mix clearly de-emphasising the audience and ring mics) and there are a number of ways AEW could spice their B-show up, but it's a perfectly watchable hour of wrestling for anyone craving some pre-Dynamite action.
Let's dive into it...