This week the nerdosphere has been abuzz with news of widespread Google outages. I prepped myself to weave the dearth of YouTube into a compelling opening paragraph, a story of your fearless correspondent wrestling with overwhelming odds to put together a column. Alas, there was no outage for me, so here’s your regularly scheduled recap of AEW Dark, December 15 episode.
Last time on Dark…
Dani Jordyn wore a santa hat. Michael Nakazawa got tangled up in his own underwear. Marko Stunt revealed a hidden talent. Catch up on all the pops and botches in our December 8 recap.
Elsewhere in the AEW Arcadia…
Last week’s Shot of Brandi (episode 43) is a must-see. Brandi invites Fuego del Sol into the kitchen, and – spoiler – is swiftly interrupted by Lance Archer, who spends the rest of the episode being a murderhawk monster. It’s possibly even funnier than the Sammy Guevara episode (episode 41), which sets a high bar.
Last week’s Dynamite was packed with low and midcard talent. TH2 had a barnburner of a match with The Young Bucks! During the match, The Bucks upset The Acclaimed at ringside, which led to an altercation and SCU running out to stand by their fellow southern Californians. The Varsity Blondes had a solid American wrassle-off with FTR. Abadon returned to squash Tesha Price. And 10 got beaten by Dustin Rhodes.
Being The Elite (episode 234) was less important for the undercard this week, mostly focusing on Adam Page and the will he or won’t he recruitment tease with hetero life mates Dark Order. Sammy Guevara’s vlog picked up the slack. Episode 299 featured more of Fuego del Sol getting in QT Marshall’s head. Will Hobbs, with the help of Aubrey Edwards, picked up another iPhone for his collection. And Matt Sydal taught Kip Sabian how to do a 450.
This week’s line-up looks pretty great. Let’s cue up episode 66.
Dim the lights, it’s time for Dark.
POP: Enhancing the heelitude
Kicking off our show tonight is Sotheara Chhun in his second appearance on Dark. His unique name got me Bing-ing (no Google, yadda yadda) and I found a great profile in Khmer Times. He’s facing Ricky Starks, accompanied by Powerhouse Hobbs.
Chhun has the chance to get some offense in this week, loosing a flurry of strikes at the dismissive Starks. The Team Taz alignment pays off for our pretty boy, though, as Hobbs interferes twice to get his stablemate out of a jam.
Starks takes it with a spear.
POP: Cutler’s streak continues
Match number two is “The Empbruh” Baron Black versus Brandon Cutler.
Cutler’s newfound confidence is on display here, as he smoothly hits his usual array of springboard offense. Black looks good in defeat, managing to counter one attack with a brutal knee to the groin. Short and sweet.
HERE WE GO AGAIN: Shida carrying the division
Sneaking in at the beginning of the card is a surprise appearance by the women’s champ Hikaru Shida. She’s taking on KiLynn King.
Shida has spent most of 2020 twiddling her thumbs waiting for a worthy opponent to arrive. King has been one of the most improved here on Dark, but she’s not quite there yet. Unfortunately this match isn’t one of King’s better ones, as we spend a few too many moments watching Shida stand around patiently waiting for the rookie to get her offense set up. Nevertheless, it’s still encouraging to watch King growing into her character.
.@abadon_AEW seeks the soul of @shidahikaru.
Watch #AEWDark NOW via our Official YouTube Channel ➡️ https://t.co/jg1JBEqpLv pic.twitter.com/xsyFA5StjO— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 16, 2020
Shida wins. Abadon jumps in to attack her after bell.
POP: All fun and games till someone puts you through a wall
This fourth instalment of Britt Baker’s The Waiting Room segment kicks off with a monologue featuring Rebel’s entertaining reaction faces and a cheeky shot at Cody Rhodes. Shawn Spears is our guest this week, but before he can get any questions out, Scorpio Sky turns up to throw him through the back wall! Sky must’ve been doing some training with Lance Archer.
This segment is very short, but it’s fun and serves its purpose of keeping the Spears/Sky feud hot.
Also amusing is sad!Spears appearing in medical to have his wounds attended to…
#AEWDark Exclusive – Shawn Spears (@Perfec10n) being evaluated by the medical staff after being put through #theWaitingRoom wall pic.twitter.com/eKCR9SWW4L
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) December 16, 2020
POP: Junk food
Next up is an internet crowd-pleaser – fan faves Jurassic Express versus two of AEW’s most prolific losers “The Captain” Shawn Dean and Fuego del Sol.
Del Sol and Jungle Boy start it off with some quick dance moves and a double missed dropkick. Dean tags in for the beatdown. But he turns it around, tossing Jungle Boy to the outside! The jobbers work together and for a moment it seems like they might have the upper hand!
Nope. Jurassic Express pull themselves together, del Sol eats a big roundhouse from Luchasaurus and is swiftly finished and pinned. Marko Stunt joins them in the ring to celebrate and it’s smiles all round.
stumblePOP: Face off
Our second women’s match tonight is Skyler Moore versus “The Librarian” Leva Bates. Thunder Rosa joins us on commentary.
Bates and Moore both play über-faces in this match, showing off not just a regular sporting handshake but also a secret handshake reminiscent of Fuego and the Rhodes’. Bates does well to lean into this character work, since she’s still not quite there in moves. Moore, on the other hand, has a fairly strong set of big woman spots up her sleeve, and bodyslams the librarian all over the place.
The ending is supposed to be a quick/surprise roll-up for Bates, but the setup is a bit of a struggle, making this less of POP than it could be.
POP: VSK puts in the work
Acronym Beard Guy VSK is back this week. His matches to date haven’t been too remarkable, but he’s managed to poke his head into all the Dark-adjacent YouTube shows, which will probably pay off for him in AEW. Unfortunately for him he’s drawn “The Machine” Brian Cage in this match.
Yeah. Cage basically kills him. I mean, VSK hits a lot of good kicks, strikes and even a tope, but The Machine is never really threatened. Solid fight.
POP: Warming up
Ahead of their match on Dynamite, The Acclaimed are getting a warm-up versus a random jobber duo. This week we have Louie Valle and “Starving Artist” Mike Magnum.
Max Caster’s entrance rap ain’t much to write home about this week, but that’s quickly forgotten as he starts kicking the shit out of Magnum in the ring. Bowens tags in to take down Valle, unleashing a chef-load of chops on the bearded Bronxite before facing the camera and telling SCU they’re next. These two are pissed!
But it’s Magnum who brings the real energy when he comes back to hype up the non-existent crowd before getting caught in The Acclaimed’s finisher. Good work all round.
POP: The meanest girl
Dani Jordyn’s back with her santa hat! It’s a missed opportunity that Anna “99” Jay isn’t wearing her tiny cowboy hat from BTE.
The Dark Order member does bring her entire entourage, though. Jordyn tries to heel it up with her burn book, but Jay turns out to be even meaner than the mean girl and throws Jordyn into the barricades. Each time Jordyn tries to be bad, Jay goes badder. It’s a wonderful heel complement to the Bates/Moore bout earlier in the evening.
— Anna Jay (@annajay___) December 16, 2020
Jay wins it by knockout.
POP: This is how you debut!
Dark Order get another outing here with Evil Uno and Stuart Grayson taking on indie big men Bear Bronson and Bear Boulder. Together, they are Bear Country! Pretty Peter Avalon joins us on commentary.
Bronson and Uno take the first sequence, but it’s Boulder versus Grayson where we really start getting the beardy, brawny goodness. Grayson breaks free, then the original Dark Order duo isolate Bronson for a bearload of punishment. He eventually makes it out and tags Boulder who cleans up, hitting a two-man fallaway slam! The hairy debutants also show off a double cannonball BEAR SANDWICH in the corner.
The Dark Order just barely come back to take it with a Fatality. It’s my match of the night! 🐻🐻🐻
POPpity BOTCH: How to tighten the hold
Sean Maluta and Occult Pro Wrestling Star RYZIN have been teamed up again to face Jersey boys Sonny Kiss and Joey Janela.
Kiss and Ryzin lock up. Kiss shows off some slick chain wrestling as Ryzin takes the bulk of the offense. Maluta gets the hot tag but then almost instantly appears to whack his head against the ring post. Not sure if they called an audible, but Janela just hits a couple more spots before setting up Maluta for Kiss’ split leg drop and the abrupt pin.
This match earns a minipop for PPA’s sage piece of advice that “when you wiggle your butt it just tightens the hold”.
POP: Slaying the slayer
Alaskan wrestler Freya “The Slayer” States is back this week to face Tay Conti.
Conti lays into the Alaskan much more aggressively than Shanna last week. Her judo throws look effective against the bigger opponent. There’s still room for the blue-haired monster to hit some big-time offense, but Conti is too quick, slipping free and going for chokes and holds wherever she can find them.
Conti gets the win by submission.
POP: Serious graps
Next up we have serious wrestlers Matt Sydal and Danny Limelight.
The match doesn’t disappoint, starting with some lock-ups and evasions, progressing through some quick throws and submissions, then going to the sky. It moves a little too slowly for my tastes, but it should still fill that serious wrestling hole for NXT refugees and the Reddit demo.
Sydal wins it by pinfall.
BOTCH: Our unpredictable fave underwhelms
Ivelisse continues her singles push this week versus debuting Kaci Lennox.
A lot of this match is spent with Ivelisse trying to submit Lennox. Lennox hits a few strong moves, but never quite puts it together. It all feels a bit lacking in urgency.
Ivelisse gets this one by submission. This match is perhaps harmed by appearing after Conti/States where Conti pulled off a similar giant-killing win, but did it more effectively.
MEH: Not their best outings
Our main event of the evening is Dark mascots Luther and Serpentico – Chaos Project – versus Best Friends.
Chuck Taylor starts this match with the Butcher walk again. It doesn’t take long till everyone is outside the ring and Trent is leaping over the ropes. There’s no count-out. Somewhere an Oklahoman BBQ tycoon is fuming.
Eventually they’re back in the ring and Luther wields Serpentico to club Trent. The local luchador runs to the outside and takes out Taylor, but it’s to no avail as Trent quickly pins Luther.
After the match, a rogue Miro appears to continue his feud with the Friends.
This Dark was packed with loads of matches, but they all felt short, resulting in a sub-2 hour episode. That’s a good way to go! Some matches seemed to end scruffily, and many of them didn’t hit their potential, but overall it was a reasonably fun and inoffensive Tuesday line-up.
Dynamite this week is looking to be a mess. Dark fans should keep an eye open for The Acclaimed (versus SCU) and Top Flight, Varsity Blondes and Brandon Cutler randomly teaming with Best Friends to take on Inner Circle. Joey Janela will face Kenny Omega too, although chances of a screwball finish are high. If it all falls apart, don’t fret! Jump back on the ‘Tube to recover and I’ll be back next week with more undercard updates and weecaps.
