AEW
Matches for this week’s AEW Dark were taped on January 15th from Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.
Ryan Nemeth defeated Chandler Hopkins
Hopkins got in some offense early, but Nemeth reversed the tide pretty quickly. The “Hollywood Hunk” caught his opponent in the ring apron after a baseball slide dropkick attempt and then hammered him with strikes.
Nemeth then spent some time working on his opponent’s back and ribs. Hopkins fought back after reversing the “Hunk of Love” neckbreaker, hitting a falcon arrow for a two count. Hopkins then missed a shooting star press, giving his opponent an opportunity to take advantage. Nemeth then hit the neckbreaker he couldn’t hit earlier for the three count.
Sonny Kiss defeated JP Harlow
The opening moments saw Harlow get in some offense. Kiss fired back with a discus forearm, however, and he took control of the match from then on. He hit two overhead throws and draped Harlow across the middle rope in the corner, gave him an axe kick to the midsection and got the three count.
Abadon defeated Hyena Hera
Hera hit her opponent with a few kicks as the match began. Abadon then hit a back heel trip and screamed for awhile. Hera then started screaming quite a bit as well. Both of them were screaming until Abadon hit a back elbow followed by a senton. She then hit the Black Dahlia and got the pin. Frightening.
Tiger Ruas & Cezar Bononi defeated Luke Sampson & Guillermo Rosas
Ruas and Bononi looked good as a team here. It was just the second time they’ve been put together in AEW and they haven’t been back together since. Ruas has only wrestled once in the promotion since this match was taped, so it’s not really clear if they will be continuing as a team or not.
Ruas and Bononi hit a backbreaker/running knee combo early in the match. They used a lot of double team combos throughout. They also hit a pair of tandem suplexes on their opponents. Ruas pinned Rosas after Bononi gave him a pump handle suplex. They continued the attack after the match with Bononi giving Rosas another pump handle suplex.
Lance Archer defeated Dean Alexander
This was a quick squash win for Archer.
Alexander tried to attack Archer before the bell, but his strikes had little impact. Archer hit a crossbody, a short-arm clothesline and repeated elbows in the corner early. He then hit Alexander with his Hell Coaster, followed by the Blackout and the EBD Claw for the win.
Dark Order (Alan “5” Angels & 10) (w/ Negative One) defeated The Factory’s Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto (w/ QT Marshall)
This match was all about Negative One pantsing QT Marshall and that’s not a bad thing.
Dark Order came out and Angels wasted no time diving off the stage onto Solo. He and 10 then tossed Comoroto into the steel steps. With the match back in the ring, Angels hit a side belly-to-belly suplex but only got a one count. Ten then came in and gave Solo a slingshot German suplex. Comoroto then tagged in and we had the two big guys legal for each team.
Marshall pulled Ten off the ring apron and Angels went to the outside to chase after Marshall. As he was doing so, however, Solo kicked him from the apron, allowing the Factory to go on offense. It would be far from the last time that Marshall’s interference played a factor. Solo and Comoroto then worked on Angels with quick tags.
Angels eventually made a hot tag to Ten, who came in and cleaned house. He hit a series of pump kicks on both opponents before locking in the full nelson on Solo. Comoroto came in and broke up the hold shortly after.
Marshall got involved again, striking Angels from the outside. Comoroto then hit Angels with a spear but he kicked out at two. A big “QT sucks!” chant rang out throughout the venue.
Marshall was back up on the ring apron when the absolute best thing in the whole show happened. Negative One grabbed ahold of Marshall’s pants and pulled them down as the crowd cheered on. Marshall then comically chased after Negative One with his pants still wrapped around his ankles. Ten eventually speared the pantsless Marshall as the fans chanted for Negative One.
Back in the ring, Ten locked Solo in the full nelson and got the submission.
Final Thoughts:
Negative One pantsing Marshall made up for this show being a collection of matches from a taping held nearly three months ago. Nothing on the show built to matches we will see on Dynamite this week or played into any active storylines at all. For two weeks in a row, Dark has been matches from tapings held months ago that never aired. Perhaps we will get a few of these before they announce the next set of tapings.
