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AEW DARK TV REPORT
JANUARY 21, 2020
TAPED 1/15 IN MIAMI, FLA.
AIRED LIVE ON YOUTUBE.COM
REPORT BY ZACH GRAHAM, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz
Host: Tony Schiavone, Dasha Gonzalez
– AEW Dark open aired.
– Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez shown outside of the arena casually dressed for AEW’s Bash at the Beach themed event last week in Miami. Schiavone and Gonzalez previewed the matches ahead on Dark this week including: Diamonte vs. Big Swole and Jurassic Express vs. Strong Hearts. Gonzalez then threw to Excalibur for the first match.
(1) DIAMONTE vs. BIG SWOLE
Match started with a lockup and Big Swole taking control of Diamonte’s arm early. Swole scored an early one count, Diamonte kicked out and took control and managed a couple of pin fall attempts of her own. The two exchanged headlocks, until Diamonte grounded Swole. As Diamonte had Swole on her back, still in a headlock, Swole bounced her hips up and down on the mat and managed to wiggle out of the headlock. After a shoulder tackle by Swole, Diamonte attempted a couple of arm drags, but couldn’t move Swole off her feet. Big Swole turned a third failed arm drag attempt into a pump kick. Diamonte went to exit the ring under the bottom rope, but Swole reached over the top rope and grabbed her by the hair. Diamonte then pulled on the arms of Swole as her throat was across the top rope, followed quickly by a kick to the side of the head. Diamonte then used the middle rope and choked Swole as referee Aubrey Edwards counted to four before she broke the hold.
Diamonte dragged Swole back in the ring and hit Swole with two Snap Suplexes, then teased a third as the crowd cheered for her. Diamonte decided to grab Swole by the hair and pull her down instead of giving the crowd the third suplex they were wanting. Diamonte played to the crowd as they booed her. Diamonte hit Swole with a drop kick in the corner, but only managed a one count. Diamonte rolled to the outside and grabbed a pair of sandals from under the ring to use as a weapon. Diamonte had one in her hand, hiding the other sandal in the back of her shorts, so when Aubrey Edwards took the first and went to toss it out of the ring, Diamonte grabbed the second from her shorts and hit Big Swole with it.
Swole hooked Diamonte into an abdominal stretch and managed to grab the sandal, just in time for Edwards to turn around. Swole reluctantly gave the sandal to Edwards and began spanking Diamonte while she was still in the abdominal stretch. Swole slammed Diamonte into the mat followed quickly by a knee strike. Swole picked Diamonte back up and threw her into the corner and clotheslined her right back to the mat. The two then attempted a number of kicks back and forth while avoiding the other before Diamonte landed a headbutt on Swole. Swole managed to grab Diamonte by the arm and spun her around before hitting her with an elbow that Excalibur called Dirty Dancing for the pinfall.
WINNER: Big Swole in 7:30
– Schiavone and Gonzalez back and Schiavone talked about possibly moving to Florida because of the weather. The two then previewed the upcoming AEW Dynamite tapings. Gonzalez then said it’s time for the main event and threw back to Excalibur and Taz.
(2) JURASSIC EXPRESS vs. STRONG HEARTS
T-Hawk and Jungle Boy started the match with a headlock by Jungle Boy. T-Hawk quickly took control with a shoulder tackle followed by a chop to the chest of Jungle Boy. Jungle Boy regains control with a hip toss and a couple kicks to the face of T-Hawk. Jungle Boy then returned the favor giving T-Hawk a chop, T-Hawk responded with a chop of his own. Jungle Boy backed into his corner and Marko Stunt tagged himself in. Marko walked up to T-Hawk and slapped his chest indicating he wanted one of T-Hawk’s chops to the chest. T-Hawk walked right through Marko to his corner as if Marko wasn’t even there and tagged in Lindaman. Stunt tried a couple of shoulder tackles unsuccessfully. The two then ran the ropes jumping over one another and dropping to the mat before Lindaman dropped on his back with his legs in the air, expecting Marko to jump over, but Marko grabbed the rope to slow his momentum and stepped over Lindaman for a pin attempt. Lindaman then attempted to get ahold of Stunt, but Stunt was able to avoid multiple attempts. Stunt and Lindaman then tagged out to Luchasaurus and Cima.
Cima charged out of his corner and hit Luchasaurus with a running drop kick, which barely moved him. Cima turned around to celebrate, but Luchasaurus was right behind him. Luchasaurus attempted a couple of kicks, but Cima grabbed a waste lock momentarily until Luchasaurus hit him with a back elbow. Cima knocked down Luchasaurus momentarily, but Luchasaurus stood up as Cima went to run the ropes and hit him with a Pump Kick. T-Hawk and Lindaman both entered the ring and both received a chop from Luchasaurus. Luchasaurus tagged in Jungle Boy who got a two count on Cima before T-Hawk interfered. Jungle Boy went to run the ropes and Stunt tagged in as Jungle Boy hit T-Hawk with a Tope Suicida through the second and third ropes. Jungle boy quickly reentered the ring and hit Cima with another Tope through the first and second ropes. Jungle Boy quickly grabbed Cima and T-Hawk and Luchasaurus had Marko Stunt up over his head and Gorilla Pressed him from the apron onto Cima and T-Hawk.
Stunt entered the ring with Cima but couldn’t get much offense. T-Hawk tagged in and all three members of Strong Hearts hit Stunt with simultaneous drop kicks. Strong Hearts isolated Stunt hitting him with a number of tandem moves including a Pendulum Powerbomb spot. Jungle Boy interfered to break up the pin fall attempt following the Pendulum Powerbomb. Stunt eventually manages to roll through a move attempted by Lindaman and tag in Luchasaurus who took out all three members of Strong Hearts one by one as they attempted to interfere. Lindaman attempted some punches, but Luchasaurus no sold them before kicking him in the side of the head followed by a huge chokeslam and a standing moonsault for a two count. Luchasaurus tagged in Jungle Boy as chaos broke out and both sides interfere for a couple of minutes. Jungle Boy would eventually pin Lindaman after Luchasaurus picked up Lindaman like he was going to attempt a powerbomb, but as Lindaman flipped up over Luchasaurus’ head, he released him and Jungle Boy caught Lindaman mid-air and hit him with a power bomb.
WINNER: Jurassic Express in 11:00
– Schiavone and Gonzalez back to say thanks for watching and remind the audience to watch Dynamite tomorrow. No specific matches were promoted.
FINAL THOUGHTS: I’m very confused why AEW has stopped promoting the matches on AEW Dynamite coming up on Wednesday. I don’t understand the logic of not taking a moment to run through the matches and have Schiavone and Gonzalez react to them. That doesn’t even need to be done ahead of time, you could record their voices over some graphics. Why wouldn’t you promote your product tomorrow? All they did was mention that Dynamite is happening, that’s it. It’s a very weird strategy and they do the same thing on AEW Dynamite, they never mention AEW Dark. I don’t get it.
As far as this show goes, it’s another largely skippable show. I thought the main even was a good match. The finishing sequence between Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy was a very cool looking spot I’ve never seen before. Taz and Excalibut didn’t even know how to explain it. I’m not sure why some weeks AEW Dark is only 30 minutes either. This week was another 30-minute episode and there’s really no explanation for why this has happened a couple of times now. In all honesty, I don’t mind. I’d rather have 30 minutes of okay content instead of an hour with 30 minutes of content and 30 minutes of filler, but there seems to be no rhyme or reason for it.
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