6 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Dark (Nov 17)

Britt Baker debuts the Waiting Room, Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin show up, The Acclaimed drop bars.

Anthony Bowens AEW Dark
AEW

Five women's matches took place on last night's AEW Dark, three of which went down in the final four slots on the runsheet.

One shouldn't read too much into card placement on Dark, as the squash-heavy web series isn't supposed to be structured like a regular wrestling weekly, but the volume of women's matches, plus the debut of Britt Baker's Waiting Room segment, illustrates one of Dark's greatest uses.

A lot of these performers are green. Hikaru Shida, Thunder Rosa, Serena Deeb, and a handful of others are slick and well-rounded enough for regular TNT roles. Some of their peers are not. Here, on YouTube, AEW can have these wrestlers get the reps required to hit that level. It is a development platform and audition stage that allows the promotion to refine rough diamonds and trial new ideas without jeopardising quarter-hour numbers, so here's hoping this representation continues.

Representation needs to improve on Dynamite too, though. Let's not get away from that.

Amongst last night's highlighted performers were Penelope Ford, Jurassic Express, Big Swole, and 'The King of AEW Dark', Ricky Starks. Colten Gunn debuted in the opener, Peter Avalon's vignette series continued, and even Cody Rhodes made an appearance.

Let's light the fuse...

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.