7 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dark (Jan 5)
Brodie Lee Jr. cuts promos on Marko Stunt and Luther, Ashley Vox debuts, Nyla Rose kills.
The first episode of AEW Dark filmed after the tragic, premature passing of Mr. Brodie Lee wasn't as tributary as last week's special Celebration of Life on Dynamite, but still made time to honour 'The Exalted One' across its lengthy runtime.
Lee's son, -1, cutting self-written promos on two separate All Elite Wrestling stars highlighted this. Elsewhere, Brandon Cutler promised to be a good father in Brodie's honour, having overcome Louie Valle in a squash match taped on the same night as the Celebration of Life. The emotion of it all laid heavy on Valle, a close friend of the late Jon Huber.
Remove the wrestlers paying their respects to the beloved fallen father, husband, and pro wrestler, and this was a relatively routine episode of Dark. The runtime stretched beyond two hours populated largely by samey pseudo squashes, with a handful of more competitive bouts between established full-timers breaking up the layout spam. Wrestlers set to compete on tonight's Dynamite warmed up, Taz and Excalibur cut loose on commentary, and Jungle Boy debuted a new theme song in the form of Balitmora's 'Tarzan Boy'.
Rey Fenix, Nyla Rose, Jungle Boy, The Acclaimed, Frankie Kazarian, and Thunder Rosa were amongst the highlighted stars.
Let's light the fuse...