SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
AEW DARK TV REPORT
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
TAPED 10/30 IN CHARLESTOWN, W.V.
AIRED LIVE ON YOUTUBE.COM
REPORT BY ZACH GRAHAM, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Excalibur, MJF
Host: Tony Schiavone, Dasha Gonzalez
– Tony Schiavone opened the show from the studio by introducing Dasha Gonzalez (AKA Dasha Fuentes from her WWE days) and saying that she is going to be cohosting AEW Dark in studio with Schiavone every week. They promoted the matches on AEW Dark before throwing it to ringside for the first match of the evening.
(1) SHAWN SPEARS (w/Tully Blanchard) vs. MICHAEL NAKAZAWA
As the match started, MJF joked about Nakazawa’s love for baby oil and mocked Spears’ haircut. Spears and Nakazawa started by attempting submissions and Spears stopped to admire his handiwork after locking in a submission hold and flashed the ten fingers at Nakazawa. As Spears had Nakazawa in a bear hug, Nakazawa pulled out a bottle of baby oil and rubbed it all over himself to escape. Spears then began slipping and falling around the ring on the oil and Nakazawa hit Spears with a senton where his feet slipped across the stomach of Spears before landing on him. Spears regained control and used the ropes for leverage as he stepped on the throat of Nakazawa. Spears and Nakazawa exchanged blows before Spears rolled to the outside. Blanchard threw Spears back in the ring and Nakazawa got a two count on a small package roll up. Nakazawa took off his underwear from inside his shorts and wrapped it around his hand and charged at Spears, but was unsuccessful. Spears pinned Nakazawa after a slingshot brain buster for the win.
WINNER: Shawn Spears in 9:00
– Schiavone and Gonzalez were back in studio and reacted quickly to the first match before sending it back to Excalibur and MJF for the second match of the evening.
(2) SADIE GIBBS & ALLIE vs. MERCEDES MARTINEZ & BIG SWOLE
Swole and Gibbs started the match and took turns controlling the arm of one another before Gibbs put Swole in a headlock. Swole and Gibbs then tried to shoulder tackle one another multiple times before Gibbs was finally able to knock Swole down. Martinez tagged in and took control of Gibbs before Allie tagged in off a blind tag. Allie quickly tagged back out as Gibbs slammed Allie onto Martinez. Gibbs controlled Martinez shortly until Martinez caught Gibbs on the ground and grabbed her arms and stomped Gibbs’ face into the mat. Big Swole tagged back in and locked on a chokehold and wrapped her legs around Gibbs so she had to hold up Swole while in the submission. Gibbs managed to adjust the hands of Swole and turned the submission into a powerslam. After both teams exchanged two counts, Martinez hit the three amigos suplexes on Allie, but put Allie in a vertical suplex position and held it for a long time and even let go with one arm to play to the crowd momentarily. After Allie and Martinez both laid on the ring, they both managed to tag in their partners. Gibbs took control taking out Swole and Martinez. Gibbs then did a back handspring over the top rope and onto the three competitors. At this point, all four women started exchanging moves on one another. MJF criticized the referee at this point for allowing all four women to be in the ring instead of following the rules. Martinez and Swole hit a powerbomb and neck breaker combination on Gibbs, who kicked out. Swole and Martinez went to set up another combination move, but Allie broke it up. Gibbs then hit a moonsault off the top rope and pinned Swole for the win.
WINNERS: Sadie Gibbs & Allie in14:00
– Schiavone and Gonzalez were back in the studio to promote AEW Full Gear this coming Saturday. Gonzalez threw to a video package on Britt Baker and Bea Priestly.
– Britt Baker called Priestly unprofessional and pointed to their match at Fight for the Fallen where Priestly stomped on the back of her head causing a concussion. Baker said she received calls and texts from everyone in AEW, except Priestly. Baker said it’s an unwritten rule that, when you hurt someone in this business, you check on them. Baker threatened to rip Priestley’s jaw off, but would she do that? She said she isn’t sure at the moment.
– Schiavone and Gonzalez confirmed that Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestley is official for Full Gear. They also ran down the rest of the current card including The Young Bucks vs. Santana & Ortiz, Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega in a “Lights Out” match, Hangman Page vs. Pac, and Chris Jericho vs. Cody for the AEW Championship. Schiavone then threw to a video package of the Cody and Jericho contract signing last week. Schiavone then noted where people can buy tickets as well as all the places to watch Full Gear throughout the world.
– Schiavone then said that on AEW Dynamite tomorrow, Cody will make a special announcement. Schiavone then threw to the next edition of Undesirable to Undeniable with Cody. This episode featured Jimmy Havoc.
– Cody and Jimmy Havoc were shown sitting in the bleachers of an empty arena as Cody said Havoc is one of the first people AEW signed. Havoc talked about the hate he receives on social media making him feel undesirable even to this day, but how that motivates him. Havoc talked about getting to where he is by being himself and he won’t change. Cody talked about how great it feels to prove people wrong and Havoc agreed noting that people said he wouldn’t get signed. Havoc then smiled and flipped off the camera sending a message to the people who’ve doubted him. Suddenly Cody and Havoc were shown in the arena concourse and Cody said that the sound people were doing a sound check, so they decided to change locations as to not interrupt the sound crew. Havoc talked about his definition of being undeniable and he talked about being signed by AEW and how this has been proof that he’s undeniable because he was wanted by a wrestling company and he has signed with a major wrestling company.
– Gonzalez and Schiavone then threw to the main event of the evening.
(3) JURRASIC EXPRESS (JUNGLE BOY & MARKO STUNT) vs. JOEY JANELA & JIMMY HAVOC
Havoc and Jungle Boy started the match by locking up. Havoc pushed Jungle Boy back into the corner and immediately stepped back to the surprise of Jungle Boy and the announcers. MJF noted that Havoc was trained by the same trainer as Zack Sabre Jr. so he does have excellent wrestling technique, just chooses to be violent instead. Havoc had Jungle Boy in a wrist lock and Jungle Boy did three kip ups before rolling through to relieve the pressure from the hold, Havoc responded by biting Havoc on the arm before he tagged in Janela. Jungle Boy put Janela in a headlock and tagged in Marko Stunt. Janela no sold Stunt’s offense and Jungle boy tagged back in quickly. Janela tagged Havoc back in quickly. Janela held Jungle Boy in the ropes while Havoc came from the other side for a kick. Jungle Boy managed to move out of the way and Havoc knocked Janela off the apron. Jungle Boy followed up with a Hurricanrana to Havoc that sent him over the top rope. Marko Stunt then hit a tope suicida through the ropes onto Janela and Havoc, followed by Jungle Boy hitting a moonsault onto Janela. Excalibur noted that Luchasaurus is listed as “day to day” and should be returning to action soon. Havoc tagged in and used the tag rope to choke Stunt until the referee began the count. MJF praised Havoc as he beat down Marko Stunt. Havoc then bit Stunt on the neck as Jungle Boy reached out his leg in an attempt to get the tag from Stunt. Jungle Boy then bit Havoc on the hand as retribution for being bit earlier. Janela attempted to break up a pinfall, but Jungle Boy managed to avoid the attack and Janela hit Havoc instead. Jungle Boy then hit Janela with an Atomic Drop as soon as Janela tagged in and Janela screamed and yelled in pain while the announcers laughed. Janela recovered slightly and Jungle Boy hit him with another atomic drop. Stunt and Jungle Boy then hit a splash and leg drop combination, but the pin was broken up by Havoc. After a kickout by Stunt, Havoc grabbed a staple gun from under the ring, but Janela tagged himself in to prevent Havoc from getting their team disqualified. Havoc handed the staple gun to Janela so that he could use it and Janela promptly put a staple into Havoc’s forehead. Janela hit Stunt with an Avalanche Package Piledriver from the top rope for the pin fall.
WINNERS: Jimmy Havoc & Joey Janela in 17:00
Backstage, Tully Blanchard approached Joey Janela who was smoking a cigarette. As Janela was distracted by Blanchard, Shawn Spears attacked Janela and, using a pair of pliers appeared to be pulling out one of Janela’s teeth, but then shoved a cigarette into his mouth. Blanchard’s hand could be seen pushing the camera away from the attack as Janela was heard screaming.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Rough start to the show this week as AEW Dark did not begin airing on YouTube at 7:00 PM EST, but the official AEW Twitter account was firing off tweets every couple of minutes updating everyone on what was supposed to be going on. The comment sections on Twitter were incredibly hostile as fans were basically being given spoilers to a show that wasn’t available yet. It’s pretty obvious to me that the tweets were drafted and timed to be sent out and nobody was monitoring the AEW Twitter account to see the hundreds of replies all letting them know that the show was not uploaded. Finally, at 7:15 PM EST, a tweet was sent out saying “#AEWDark will be live shortly” and AEW Dark began airing on YouTube at 8:00 PM EST.
In regards to the show itself, I found MJF to be very distracting on commentary. I like MJF, but I felt like most of the show was spent on MJF trying to get himself over. Occasionally he would throw out things to put over the talent in the ring, which was good, but he constantly made heelish comments that were out of left field and were largely self-interested. I think this was harder to sit through than New Day doing commentary during an episode of Smackdown earlier this year. Excalibur largely tried to ignore MJF and keep his focus on the ring, but it was hard to do so. Occasionally MJF threw out some good comments, but in totality I did not like him as the guest commentator. Too much time spent self-serving instead of putting over the talent in the ring.
…really? You’re just gonna not comment on that abortion of a match to avoid saying something bad about aew?