It’s been a busy week here at the Steel Ring Post with writers juggling new work and pumping out the Brass Ring Post Awards for WWE. Now the new year’s really begun! Here’s our January 26 AEW Dark recap.
Last time on Dark…
Private Party teased their Hardy-influenced heel turn. Sonny Kiss returned in an authoritative squash. The Empbruh, The Man of Steel, The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny had an awesome comic book throwdown. Flip through all the definite articles in our January 19 recap.
Elsewhere in the AEW Arcadia…
Over on last week’s Dynamite, Peter Avalon lost to Cody Rhodes in probably the longest (and least interesting) match he’s had since joining AEW. Leyla Hirsch lost to Penelope Ford after some unnecessary interference by Kip Sabian. It wasn’t a great match. The most important part of Dynamite as it relates to our YouTube corner of the canon is that Matt Hardy’s attempt to turn Private Party heel succeeded, and they defeated Matt Sydal and Top Flight by cheating.
The Private Party storyline continues in Being The Elite episode 240. Also in the episode, Kris Statlander abducts Jungle Boy to do a kids’ science experiment. The Alex Abrahantes Kool-Aid angle got more interesting as he now seems to be serving the whole locker room grape-flavored water, independently from the Dark Order cult schtick where it started. Sammy Guevara kisses John Silver’s head.
The head-kissing isn’t featured in episode 304 of his own vlog, but we do get to see The Spanish God working out and spray tanning a topless QT Marshall. Powerhouse Hobbs steals KC Navarro’s e-bike. Alex Angels continues building up his boy band. Meh.
On to episode 72.
Dim the lights, it’s time for Dark.
FINE: The Averagest Man
Miro is one of those refugees from the WWE main roster that I had never seen in action prior to AEW, and I’m still not sure what all the fuss is about. He seems like a cheerful guy, he’s into gaming, he wears garish clothes, he’s a eurotrash legend, but he hasn’t really done much in the ring that wows me. His latest angle was to beat Chuck Taylor, which made the Best Friend his butler (the original puroresu “young boy” terminology was quickly abandoned). Chuck, now dubbed Charles, accompanies the Best Man to the ring tonight to take on YouTube darling Fuego del Sol. Will our lovable luchador overcome?
Eh. I mean, it’s a squash. It’s fine.
POP: Welcoming Solow and Shotty to the jungle
Next up is budding team Lee Johnson and Aaron Solow. They’re facing Jurassic Express, who enter to Baltimora’s Tarzan Boy! Taz on commentary can’t help but sing a few bars!
Jungle Boy and Johnson give us a delightfully choreographed opening that pops the crowd. Then Solow is in, Luchasaurus, Johnson, Jungle Boy! Switching it up this quickly makes for a thrilling match.
Luchasaurus has found his inner fire, eventually coming in to smash both opponents, kip up, then rock Johnson’s head into the barriers outside. Solow gets choke-slammed and moonsaulted, but Big Shotty’s recovered and breaks up the count! Shotty and Solow show off a sick sequence to get Jungle Boy down for a pin, but he kicks out just short of three! There is definitely potential for these two as a team.
Jurassic Express pick up the win.
POP: American wrestling
TNT – Terrence and Terrell Hughes – are back this week to face SCU.
The first few minutes of the match is a fairly forgettable back and forth, getting everyone warmed up. Eventually TNT isolate Chris Daniels, and he eats a whole bunch of their traditional, all-American offense before hitting back with an all-American exploder suplex of his own. Frankie Kazarian gets the hot tag and schools the Hughes brothers.
What a cool moment having a competitive match with 2 veterans I’ve know since my teens. @AEW pic.twitter.com/dQdDujOZcM
— 💥T&T💥 (@3DTnT) January 27, 2021
SCU take it with the Best Meltzer Ever.
POP: Buffalo boys take another one
Here is a fun odd couple – pretty boy jobber KC Navarro and Nigerian rookie M’Badu. They’re facing The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny in another comic book lookin’ match-up.
Blade doesn’t even take his jacket off before starting to kick the shit out of Navarro. He’s just so punchable! The Butcher stomps in to break his back and toss him outside. He distracts the ref while Bunny whales on the kid too. Butcher puts Navarro down for the pin, but M’Badu breaks it up!
Okay, that pissed off big Butch. He throws Navarro into the jobber’s corner and invites the Nigerian into the ring for a big man throwdown.
M’Badu and Butcher get meaty! Well, for a short while. M’Badu is put away quicksmart when Blade comes in to execute the Buffalo boys’ new finisher.
POP: Strap a rocket to The Empbruh
Seems “The Empbruh” Baron Black is getting a bit of a jobber push lately – he gets to fight Rey Fénix! Let’s see what he can do.
#HEELTruthOfTheDay
Out of Adversity Comes Opportunity. An Opportunity that You Have to Savagely Seize! Exactly What EmpBruh Baron Black will do on @TheAEWDark#AEW #AEWDark pic.twitter.com/dlVv1ZHpbA— Baron Black (@TheEmpBruh) January 26, 2021
Black and Fénix start things off with some nice holds and reverses. They’re both fighting técnico and it makes me realize how much I miss face Fénix. (Animo!) Alas, after extending a hand to show some respect, Fénix remembers he’s been turned to the dark side and comes back to slap Black. Who then extends a hand and slaps Fénix right back! These two are wonderful together!
A Technician Counter Game Must Be Elite#HTIC #AEW #AEWDARK pic.twitter.com/nf7DydqLQh
— Baron Black (@TheEmpBruh) January 27, 2021
Manhattan drop! Suplex! Now Fénix is pissed. He comes back with some hard kicks before getting caught up in a bow and arrow submission. This is a match!
Yes, folks, it’s my match of the night. It isn’t even over yet!
There’s so much to love here. An awesome chop exchange. Brutal kicks to the face. Cutter! Fire thunder driver! Fénix wins!
Like, obviously this isn’t a Kenny Omega main event level bout, but it feels like one of the best singles outings we’ve seen on Dark since that Lee Johnson/Ben Carter barn burner last year.
POP: Shanna hits her stride
Shanna has been fairly mediocre since she got back from Europe. It could be ring rust. It could be the jobbers she’s been paired with. Regardless of the reason, as a viewer it just deepens the frustration with the AEW women’s division to have one of the vets also unable to pull out consistently good performances.
Fortunately this week she’s facing KiLynn King, one of our better Dark workers.
King takes the blistering offense Shanna unleashes like a champ. After getting well clobbered she snaps the European’s face into the ropes to break the momentum. They exchange some chokeholds and strikes and for once the Dragon Ball Z fan’s big anime-styled power-up moment feels justified.
Shanna takes it.
POP: Hope she’s hooked
Today we have a treat, not just an AEW Dark debut, but a full-out professional wrestling debut! Brooke Havok is the lucky rookie, billed from San Jose Cali, by way of the Nightmare Factory. She’s about to get killed by Dr Britt Baker DMD.
Baker faceplants the rookie, then they exchange some locks. Rebel has joined her boss as valet and almost steals the show with her trademark laugh. (As seen on The Waiting Room!)
Back in the ring, Havok gets a slap or two in, then she’s taken out with an awkward fish hook shaped botch of Baker’s usual lockjaw finisher. Not a bad outing, all up.
OK: Zombies need to grind too
The third match in this women’s trifecta is Vertvixen versus Abadon!
Abadon takes it straight to the Californian. Vertvixen doesn’t get much of a look in.
HIGH FASHION PARISIAN: Tens across the board!
Pretty Peter Avalon challenged Lee Johnson to a “walk off” this week. For those who didn’t watch the now-20-year-old movie this is referencing (and welcome to middle age, everyone else), the idea is two male models strut down a runway trying to outdo one another’s poses.
Avalon comes out and immediately insults two of our judges – Brandi Rhodes and Aubrey Edwards. He lets Jerry Lynn off easy. Let no one say wrestling hasn’t progressed with the times – misogyny is a heel move now!
Both Johnson and Avalon do a sexy strut in their glad rags. Johnson gets 9s across the board, but Avalon’s dickishness comes back to bite him as Lynn calls for a replay then finally votes him the loser.
Avalon flips out, of course, but the real star of the show is hot daddy Cezar Bononi who runs in to aid in the beatdown.
This is a very silly, very awkward segment, but with Pretty Peter Avalon I think that’s kind of the point. It’s a pop for Bononi!
UH: Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
Occult Pro Wrestling Star RYZIN is teamed with “Man of Steel” Mike Verna this week. Villain and hero unite to take on a grumpy Santana and Ortiz, who appeared earlier in the evening to cut a blah promo about how grumpy they are.
They got legitimate reason to be pissed – on Dynamite the Jericho/MJF tag team won the right to represent Inner Circle in the run for the tag belts.
Ortiz breaks Verna’s back. Santana suplexes him then slaps him all over the place. Dude, Ryzin doesn’t even get tagged in. Verna eats the pin.
BOTCH: No, it’s just a squash
Also making her AEW debut tonight is “Not America’s Sweetheart” Davienne. She’s facing Tay Conti.
Conti goes straight to her judo throws and solid mat work. Davienne is pretty much just here for target practice. She eats a flurry of kicks then taps out.
Normally I give squashes a pass because the top guys need them to help them establish a dominant win/loss record, but this one just wasn’t very exciting.
POP: Negative One running wild
Dark Order’s Preston “10” Vance has been getting a bit of a singles push lately, perhaps as a nod to his biggest fan Negative One. He’s getting a fight today against debuting jobber Ray Jaz.
Jaz is kinda cool. He has a clean cut, boyish face and muscles for miles. In the ring he shows some solid amateur wrestling chops.
The amusing part of this match is that Negative One – Brodie Lee’s kid who has been popping up all over the AEW universe – joins Taz and Excalibur on commentary. It’s like watching wrestling with a kid screaming in your ear. Little dude is totally marking out for Vance and absolutely refuses to put Jaz over, or even let Excalibur put him over. It’s like trying to watch a play-by-play announcer call a WWE show in Canada, post-Montreal Screwjob, with a plucked-from-the-crowd Canuck on the mic.
At the end of the match, Negative One runs in to thwack the defeated rookie with a kendo stick. Brian Pillman Jr materializes out of nowhere to have a sword fight (Pillman’s weapon of choice is a lacrosse stick), then Dark Order drag the kid off. This was cute for a once-off gimmick, but with a bit of luck we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled grown-up wrestling next week.
POP: Trying to focus on developmental
One of Dark’s top women’s talents, Red Velvet, is back this week to give us a glimpse of the division that could be. She’s facing one of the jobbers out of the Texas indies, Madi Wrenkowski.
Negative One is back on commentary. Sigh.
It’s hard to tune out the child – how do you do it, parents? – but this match actually isn’t too bad. I think. Wrenkowski unleashes some hard-hitting – if at times a little clumsy – offense. Velvet shows off a few dramatic dodges then finishes Wrenkowski off.
POP: Squashing back in style
Next up we got Sean Maluta versus Danny Limelight.
Maluta’s a pretty solid worker who hasn’t yet had much time to shine on Dark. He plays the heel here, punishing Limelight before giving the high flyer a chance to loose a corkscrew dive over the ropes and pop our 9-year-old commentator.
Then he gets pinned. This is the kind of squash that works – both characters got some moves in, the moves were fun, and it didn’t drag out too long.
POP: Ivelisse has a good week
“La Sicaria” Ivelisse is getting another shot as a singles competitor. She’s facing jobber Jazmin Allure.
Allure gets thoroughly beaten. Ivelisse is aided by her tag team partner and fellow heel Diamante.
This match works. Ivelisse has the look of a predator, toying with her prey. Allure surprises la sicaria with a sneaky jawbreaker, but the W was always going to Ivelisse.
POP: Introducing the Town Business
Our final match of the evening is going to be glass jawed, phone jackin’, late showin’ up, straight outta Palo Alto mean machine Powerhouse Hobbs versus some guy you never heard of. Jake St Patrick is his name, and unfortunately he does not have a club kid gimmick. He dances down to the ring yelling “every day’s St Patrick’s day, baby!”
Hobbs has a new entrance theme. St Patrick goes straight in with a dropkick, but it bounces off Hobbs’ newly indestructable mug. Team Taz is training them well – St Patrick is thrown outside and then suplexed by Taz’s son Hook while the ref is distracted.
Powerhouse flattens St Patrick with a spinebuster, then kills him with his new Town Business finisher.
My man @TrueWillieHobbs was ever so nasty once again, as HOOK had some fun also….but check out HOBBS awesome new finish “Town Business”! #TeamTaz #FTW #AEWDark pic.twitter.com/H8B4qqpkz7
— taz (@OfficialTAZ) January 27, 2021
This match was just an excuse to show off the new finisher, and it was worth it.
This was a patchy Dark episode. It’s always pretty obvious who is going to get the wins on this show, but this week it really did feel like a squash parade for most of the night. Squashes can be fun if they’re stiff and decisive, and they can be fun if you feel the jobber is really getting a chance to shine… but there is also a tedious type of squash, and we had a few too many of those tonight. Don’t sleep on that Rey Fénix/Baron Black match, though. It was fire!
There’s nothing especially interesting lined up for Dark fans heading into Dynamite this week. That probably means we’ll get a jobber cameo during a promo or an undercard hero appearing in a squash. Keep your eyes peeled, and join me next week for more undercard love.
