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AEW DARK (SPECIAL EDITION) TV REPORT
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
RECORDED AT DAILY’S PLACE, JACKSONVILLE, FLA.
AIRED ON YOUTUBE.COM
REPORT BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Excalibur, Taz
Ring announcer: Justin Roberts
– A quick hello from Excalibur and Taz and right to the ring.
(1) FABOO ANDRE & D3 vs. THE BUTCHER & THE BLADE (w/Eddie Kingston)
This one wasn’t pretty, with Butcher and Blade beating up Faboo and D3 right from the beginning. Butcher and Blade did some frequent tags and abused Faboo in their corner. Blade toyed around with Faboo a bit and played to the “audience”. Faboo hit a hurricanranna on Blade allowing him to make the tag to D3 who got in some kicks, but Blade was able to tag the Butcher and he and the Blade double teamed D3 with a backdrop/chokeslam combo move for a two-count. Faboo broke up the pin and was rewarded with a powerbomb/neck breaker combo. The duo then hit a combo suplex/backstabber on D3 for the win.
WINNERS: The Butcher & The Blade in 4:00.
(Morgan’s take: Despite some weak offense by Faboo and D3, this was a complete and total squash match. Not much here, but Butcher and Blade looked strong.)
(2) ALLIE (w/Q.T. Marshall & Brandi) vs. RED VELVET
Red Velvet came out first while the announcers praised her for hanging with Abadon last week. Brandi also accompanied Allie to the ring but went over to join the announce team and Taz made all sorts of comments about “Bran Bran”, Brandi’s action figure. Alright already, get over the action figure.
Back to the ring. After several mid-ring tie-ups, Allie got in several kicks, but Red Velvet rolled her up for a two-count. Allie tried for a quick pin, but Red Velvet bridged out and then offered a handshake. Allie accepted the shake but held on and kicked Velvet right in the gut. The two exchanged offense, until Allie went to the floor where Q.T. Marshall held up his phone so Allie could fix her hair. Velvet took advantage and did a sliding kick to both under the bottom rope. Velvet tried a top rope move, but Allie caught her with an impressive superkick to the face, which dropped Velvet back to the mat.
Allie only got a one-count. After several kicks and a running knee, a bulldog and a running elbow in the corner, Allie delivered her “down the rabbit hold” elbow drop for the win.
WINNER: Allie in 5:00.
(Morgan’s Take: Several times during this match, the camera went to Brandi on commentary which really didn’t make sense and while Brandi was complimentary of Allie, she did have some criticism of her style and of Allie often taking time to primp and preen and not push her advantage. Could be laying the groundwork for some tension between the two. As for the match, just kind of “meh”, with both women getting to show off their athleticism, but not much more.)
(3) COLT CABANA (w/Dark Order) vs. ZACK CLAYTON
Zack Clayton is a big boy and towered over Colt Cabana. At the start of the match four of the Dark Order hung out at ring side. After a clean break in the corner, Stu Greyson of Dark Order yelled at Colt to get aggressive and he should not have done a clean break. Uno came back out and yelled at Colt as well for his sportsmanship. Colt threw Clayton to the stage in front of Dark Order. Colt quickly went out and after apparently stopping the Dark Order from attacking Clayton, Colt abused Clayton with stiff shots.
Clayton mounted a small comeback and was going to the top rope when the Dark Order distracted him, allowing Colt to land an elbow and set up for the Chicago Skyline. After hitting the move, with Clayton prone in the middle of the ring, Uno come up to Colt and urged him to finish him off violently. As Clayton rose to his feet, Colt hit a discus clothesline and got the three-count.
WINNER: Colt Cabana in 4:00.
(Morgan’s Take: While it was never in doubt that Colt Cabana would win this match, there was some story line development here as Colt continues to get indoctrinated by the Dark Order. He is still not fully evil and does not wear a mask, he is getting more violent in the ring and his move to the “dark side” continues.)
– After the match Dasha caught up with Peter Avalon and Leva Bates and asked Avalon if the events of last week (Avalon attacking Brandon Cutler meant that The Initiative team was over. Avalon went into an angry tirade that he was more than enhancement talent and he challenged Brandon Cutler to a one on one match. Oddly, he said that “the loser must win”, what?. Avalon’s emotion was good, and I am not sure if he messed up his lines or what, but since this was taped, you would think that they would have reshot it. We will have to see if this feud moves onto the main Dynamite show.
(4) RYZIN & ANGEL PEREZ vs. THE LUCHA BROS (Rey Fenix & Pentagon Jr.)
The announcers noted the Lucha Bros will be in the Battle Royale at All Out on Saturday leading to the thought that this match was simply a build up for that match.
Fenix and Ryzin started things off, exchanging flips and kip ups until Pentagon tagged in and after a flip arm drag by Fenix hit a strong super kick to Ryzin’s face. After both men tagged in their partners, Angel Perez hit a flying body slam followed by running dropkick in the corner and a knee strike. With Fenix down Perez tried for a flying press, but Fenix got his lets up and Perez took both feet to his face. Pentagon and Fenix had several quick tags and high-flying moves, including a Canadian Destroyer to Perez by Pentagon. Pentagon and Fenix finished off Ryzin with a double team spike piledriver for the win.
WINNERS: The Lucha Brothers in 3:00.
(Morgan’s Take: Basically, this match was an excuse to show off the high flying moves of the Lucha Brothers. I will say this that Angel Perez did get in some big moves of his own and is worth keeping an eye on as a potential mid-card player.)
- Eddie Kingston came to the ring with Butcher and Blade and started cutting a promo about how he and his guys were going to take control of the Casino Battle Royale and that one of them would win. The two teams started jaw-jacking at each other, and Kingston did his best to calm things down and spoke about how if they all stuck together, it would be good for all of them. Kingston got them into a group hug, but as the camera focused on Kingston he looked directly into the camera and winked. Look for some shenanigans at the Casino Battle Royale.
(5) IVELISSE (w/ Diamante) vs. KILYNN KING
Ivelisse and Diamante came to the ring wearing their medals symbolizing their victory in the Women’s Tag Team Cup.
Kilynn King towered over Ivelisse, after exchanging some moves and strikes, Ivelisse avoided a high body slam and hit a swinging DDT off the second rope for a near fall. Ivelisse mounted King and pounded her with several shots and then kicks to King’s back and a mule kick to King’s chest. Ivelisse kept up the pressure and put King into a full nelson like move with her legs. After a running knee got Ivelisse another two-count, King came back finishing off with a round house kick and a suplex for a two-count.
King got Ivelisse up on her shoulders for some sort of move, but Diamante jumped onto the Apron and, of course, rather than finishing the move King allowed her self to be distracted and went after Diamante who jumped back to the floor. With King still distracted, Ivelisse hit a reverse Flatliner, followed by a Scorpion Kick (not a great one, it missed) and a Code Red (a form of destroyer move) for the three-count pin.
WINNERS: Ivelisse in 5:00.
(Morgan’s Take: Ivelisse is good and Kilynn King also looked good, but if they want to really push the Ivelisse and Diamante duo, they should have had a different opponent here and make it a real squash match. Kilynn King should be getting built up, not taking the fall to build someone else up.)
(6) SHAWN DEAN & BRANDON BULLOCK vs. ALEX “3” REYNOLDS & JOHN “4” SILVER (w/Dark Order)
Shawn Dean and Brandon Bullock are teaming for the first time this week. Dean and John Silver started things off. Silver quickly tied up Dean and hit him with several knee strikes. He tagged in Alen Reynolds who Dean quickly hit with an enziguri. Dean tagged in Bullock, but they were out of sync and Reynolds came of the ropes with a kick to Bullock. Bullock recovered and threw Reynolds into the ropes, where Silver was able to tag in. Bullock mounted Reynolds, but Silver (the legal man) pulled him off and lifted him up and delivered a slam onto Reynolds upraised knees.
Silver followed up with a round kick and threw Bullock into the top turn buckle. After some double teaming, both Reynolds and Silver hit some high-flying body slams over the top ropes. They continued to abuse Bullock, but he was able to make the hot tag to Dean who came in strong and delivered a double DDT to both Dark Order members. He advantage was short lived as Silver hit a stiff pump kick to the back of Dean’s head while Reynolds hit him with the sliding kick to the face. Silver followed up with a spinning slam (Dean must have done at least a 720 in the air, very impressive).
Silver was unable to get a pin attempt as Bullock was able to tag in. Silver and Reynolds quickly applied a flap jack slam and uppercut to Bullock and then hit a stereo DDT for the win.
WINNER: John Silver & Alex Reynolds in 6:00.
(Morgan’s Take: even though the Dark Order is still somewhat of a joke, John Silver and Alex Reynolds were impressive here, especially John Silver. He is a bit on the shorter side, but he has an impressive physique and his moves are crisp and look good. Dean and Bullock were purely sacrificial lambs here. Dean is not bad, but at this point is being used purely as enhancement talent. Bullock was just a body.)
– After this match we had the follow up interview to the Peter Avalon promo as Leva is seen talking to Brandon Cutler as Dasha comes in to ask about the situation. Okay, they clarified this a bit, it is a ‘Loser vs. Loser” match, which Cutler accepted. He ranted a bit about how just because they don’t have any wins as a tag team that they are not the worst wrestlers, and that Peter Avalon is letting that attitude get to him. Cutler won’t accept that, and he finished off by saying, “if you want to light a fire under a dragon’s ass, then you get burned.” I loved it. What a saying.
(7) LUTHER vs. DARBY ALLEN
Taz took the opportunity to dump on Darby Allen, but he did say that he thought that Luther was the most whacked out man on the roster.
While Darby went to the ropes as part of his entrance, Luther went right after his knee, knocking Allen to the floor. Luther continued to damage Darby’s knee and Excalibur on commentary asked Taz if he had set this up. Taz didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either. Hmmmmm?
Darby could barely stand and fell as Luther propelled him towards the ropes. As Luther came over, Darby tripped him up and slapped on a reverse arm bar and started manipulating Luther’s fingers. Luther made it to the ropes and the ref broke the hold. Luther continued to attack the knee and threw Darby around the ring. Darby tried to fight back, but Luther hit a reverse suplex for a two-count. Luther placed Darby in the tree of woe and went for a cannon ball, but Darby lifted himself up and Luther crashed into the corner and onto the floor. Darby hit a coffin drop taking Luther out. Still selling the knee, Darby wrestled Luther back into the ring and struggled to get to the top rope, where he finally hit the coffin drop for the win.
WINNER: Darby Allen in 5:00.
(Morgan’s Take: Luther is hard to watch in the ring, I just don’t like his mannerisms, but he definitely took it to Darby Allen and Darby sold the knee extremely well. There were no missed spots and the action moved quickly and they did tell a good story and with Taz on commentary linking all this to the Battle Royale and Darby’s feud with Ricky Starks, the match was effective as a build for All Out.)
(8) DARK ORDER #5 & #10 (w/the Dark Order) vs. DUSTIN RHODES & Q.T. MARSHALL (w/Allie)
The Dark Order entered first. Once in the ring the other members of Dark Order left the stage. Q.T. Marshall and Dustin Rhodes came running out and immediately started pounding on #5 & #10. As Things calmed down, Marshall tossed 10 around the ring. Dustin tagged in and continued the abuse, mounting him and rained down punches. Marshall was in control delivering punched and kicks to 10 and 5 on the outside. As Marshall ran the ropes, 5 pulled down on the ropes and Marshall went flying to the floor.
At this point, Dark Order took over beating down Marshall and keeping him in their corner. 10 hit a spine buster and went for the pin that Dustin broke up at two. While the ref was pushing Dustin back to his corner, the Dark Order duo continued to abuse Marshall.
Marshall finally made it to his corner but right before the tag, 10 ripped Dustin off the apron and into the barricade. 5 grabbed Marshall and in a double team move hit the Wing Snapper and a flying DDT. Despite the beat down, Marshall kicked out at two. Marshall continued to take punishment, but when 5 went for a springboard move off the second rope, Marshall was able to catch him and slam him to the mat.
Marshall finally made the tag to Dustin as 5 also tagged in 10. Dustin came in fired up and as both wrestlers ran the ropes Dustin hit a couple of clotheslines and a drop-down punch to 10’s jaw. Dustin clocked 5 on the apron for good measure and came off the ropes with a flying bulldog. 5 ran in to attack, but Dustin caught him with a snap body slam and then a second one. Dustin set up for an overhead move, but was distracted by 5 on the apron, as he ran over, 5 hit him with a rope assisted enziguri. 10 rolled him up for a near fall and then clocked Dustin with an elbow that put Dustin down.
10 tagged in 5 and as they moved in for a double team move, Marshall entered the ring and hit 10 with a Diamond Cutter, while Dustin lifted up 5 and hit his Final Reckoning finisher for the three-count and the win.
WINNERS: Q.T. Marshall & Dustin Rhodes in 8:00.
(Morgan’s Take: A good match with continuous action. Both sets of wrestlers knew what they were doing and performed the match well without any obvious gaffs or mistakes. This match was a lead up to the eight man tag match at All Out, and I think could have been a better build if there was some hook or beat down rather than a clean win for Dustin and Marshall. I also thought it was strange that Brandi Rhodes did not come out with them. Not sure what that means. Have to keep an eye on that.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: As with most AEW Dark, the matches are all pretty similar, but in this special edition, they definitely had a better level of matches, where the loser or losing team also came out looking pretty good and there were several matches that added to the stories they are pushing on the main show (Dynamite) and even more so, the pay-per-view (All Out).
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