AEW Dark results: Conti vs. King, Kingston & Penta vs. Chaos Project

It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means: 17 Dark matches. Per usual, Daily’s Place is set up for fans, but there was just the usual pandemic-era crowd of extras and workers in attendance.

Lance Archer defeated Ryan Mantell (3:04) 

Mantell made his AEW debut in a losing effort. Jake Roberts was on commentary for this match. Mantell hit a couple of dropkicks before Archer hit the pounce. Archer gave way too much offense to Mantell and allowed him to kick out of a full nelson slam. Archer finally won with a spinning side slam. 

QT Marshall & Aaron Solow (w/ Nick Comoroto) defeated TNT (Terrell & Terrence Hughes) (5:06)

Comoroto being demoted to cornerman while Marshall wrestles is such a waste. TNT are the sons of D-Von Dudley, getting another chance here on Dark and they did well with some impressive double team moves. Terrence was hit with a clothesline from Marshall (not the legal man), giving the Factory team control. While Comoroto was arguing with the ref, Terrell and Terrence did the old switcheroo (since they’re twins) and when Solow went for his pedigree finisher to Terrell, he recovered and took control. TNT hit the wazzup drop on Solow and went for the 3D, but Marshall broke it up. He then hit Terrell with his sloppy version of the diamond cutter for the win. 

The Waiting Room with Dr. Britt Baker

With 17 matches, let’s pad this show out. 

Baker ran down Cody Rhodes’ strap match (and also Cody) as well as her big return to Pittsburgh — sorry, BRITTSburgh. The guests were Joey Janela and Sonny Kiss at which point the segment becomes a hot mess. Janela is Baker’s newest client and Janela will have the most succulent mouth in all of wrestling (eww). Kiss is upset with Janela and how he hasn’t been there for him. Janela called out Alex Marvez to help explain his actions, but Marvez was at the strip club. This whole thing was all over the place.

Kiss and Janela eventually hugged it out with no turn, prolonging this angle unnecessarily and capping off an absolutely horrendous, pointless segment. Baker tried encouraging Janela to turn on Kiss, but he wasn’t going for it. During the hug, Janela’s smug face led me to believe this break-up angle tease is far from over and it’s getting less interesting by the day. Awful, stupid, pointless segment. 

Abadon defeated Natalia Markova (2:18) 

Markova tried to do the Matrix-bridge spot, but Abadon just splashed her. She followed up with her inverted Rocker dropper finisher for the win — her 11th straight.

Matt Sydal (w/ Mike Sydal) defeated Carlie Bravo (3:43) 

Sydal got a win here to make you think he’s got a chance against Andrade on Dynamite Wednesday (spoiler: he does not). A leg lariat and lightning spiral got him the win.

The Blade (w/ Matt Hardy & The Bunny) defeated Tre Lamar (6:23) 

Lamar got a near fall off a top rope crossbody late in the match, which caused Excalibur to scream “upset in the making!” which is actually becoming the least believable call on this show because everything is a squash and no upsets ever happen. Lamar missed a top rope elbow and Blade followed up with a clothesline. Blade went to use his belt on Lamar and when the ref took it away, Bunny slipped him brass knuckles which he used to knock out Lamar for the pin. 

Bear Bronson (w/ Bear Boulder) defeated Big Trouble Bishop (4:26) 

Bishop is a tall dude and this match looked like a potential slobberknocker from the outset. This was also Bishop’s AEW debut and he got a lot of offense in, hitting a big boot and a side slam for a near fall. Bishop missed a big boot in the corner and got hung up in the ropes, giving Bronson the opening to suplex Bishop out of the corner. Another suplex, a big clothesline and a sit-down splash got Bronson the win. 

Marko Stunt & Fuego Del Sol defeated Baron Black & Ryzin (5:41) 

Stunt and Del Sol are part of Sammy Guevara’s vlog crew, so I guess they were the pushed duo here. The point here was Del Sol getting his first win in AEW. Black and Ryzin looked silly trying to sell for Stunt. Del Sol was dominated for most of the match until he got the hot tag to Stunt. He and Del Sol hit stereo moonsaults on Ryzin and Black on the floor. Ryzin set up Stunt for a superplex, but Stunt got a blind tag to Del Sol and escaped. Del Sol then flew in and finally hit his tornado DDT to get the pin on Ryzin and his first AEW win.

Post-match, Guevara, Griff Garrison and Dustin Rhodes came out to celebrate with Del Sol and Stunt after the match. 

Kris Statlander defeated Viva Van (3:12) 

Van was making her AEW debut. Statlander got some shine here in advance of the mixed tag match she and Cassidy have against Bunny and Blade tomorrow night. Statlander face planted Van out of an electric chair drop, then hit an axe kick and the big bang theory to finish her — her 12th straight win.

Varsity Blonds (w/ Julia Hart) defeated Chad Lennex & Zachariah (4:59) 

Griff Garrison got the blind tag to Brian Pillman Jr. and held up Zachariah for a dropkick in a nice double team spot. Pillman Jr. was in trouble for a bit, but got the hot tag to Garrison who hit Zachariah with a Stinger splash and a falcon arrow. Garrison followed up with a rolling elbow and Pillman Jr. flew in with an Air Pillman clothesline for the pin to continue their winning ways. Later, they did an interview with Dasha where they didn’t say much other than wanting to win the Tag Team titles.

Angelico defeated Prince Kai (3:28) 

I was so disappointed when it turned out it was Jack Evans and not Angelico who was wrestling Jungle Boy last week on Dynamite. Although in my defense, it’s not like they announced the match but just advertised it with an image in the corner of the screen that didn’t have anyone’s names, so I guess I saw what I wanted to see. 

Angelico won here with the Navarro Death Roll. After the match, he danced his way to the back. Some babyface is going to get a huge pop running out and attacking him while he is dancing. In fact, Wheeler Yuta bumped into him while he was dancing back to the locker room long after his music had ended. 

Wheeler Yuta defeated Ryan Nemeth (w/ The Wingmen)

Nemeth dumped Yuta to the floor for the rest of the Wingmen to… fix Yuta’s hair. In an actual shocking result, Nemeth got tripped up by Yuta in the ropes and cradled for the win. I guess I now can start to believe Excalibur when he says “almost a shocking upset!” since we have actually had a shocking upset. 

Shawn Spears & Wardlow defeated Hunter Knott & Rosario Grillo (3:35) 

Knott and Grillo are making their debuts and I don’t think this match will feature a shocking upset. Wardlow’s version of the Three Amigos, where he just throws the guys halfway across the ring out of a vertical suplex position, might be my favorite thing about him. A member of the crowd shouted, “You need therapy, you big bully!” at Spears after he destroyed Grillo on the floor. Spears then finished Knott off with the C4 in a total squash. 

Tay Conti (w/ -1) defeated KiLynn King (6:48)

Conti tried to get -1 to dance with her, but he wasn’t having that. Excalibur started laying the groundwork for Conti to get the next title shot at Baker and if that happens in Pittsburgh, I might have to make the four hour drive to see that in person.

King laid out Conti with a clothesline, but she came back with a springboard sunset flip off the top rope and caught King with a head and arm triangle into a takedown. King escaped the choke by getting to the ropes. King got the advantage and a one count out of a small package. King scored another near fall after a Polish Hammer. A pump handle into a sit-out powerslam also got King another too close for comfort near fall. King locked in a dragon sleeper, but Conti escaped with knee strikes and a jawbreaker.

Conti hit a series of clotheslines, a ripcord knee to the stomach, and a trio of boot washes into the corner. King and Conti fought on the apron and King hit a uranage on the apron. Back in the ring, Conti countered a hip toss attempt into the DDTay for her eighth straight win. This was a great match.

Dark Order (Colt Cabana, Alex Reynolds, 10 and Alan “5” Angels (w/ -1)) defeated Will Allday, Jason Hotch, Chandler Hopkins & Dean Alexander

Angels got the pin after a pretty impressive frog splash on Alexander. The Dark Order was never in any trouble. 

Jack Evans (w/ Matt Hardy) defeated Mike Sydal (w/ Matt Sydal) (4:04)

Angelico also came out with Evans, but Hardy sent him to the back. After Mike avoided a collision with the referee, Evans caught Sydal with a backslide and then flipped him over into a bridge to get the pin. 

Red Velvet defeated Ashley Vox (3:17) 

Velvet won a quick match with the Chef’s kiss for her third straight win.

Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero Miedo (w/ Alex Abrahantes) deafeted Chaos Project (6:22)

Serpentico went for a hurricanrana on Penta, who countered into a power bomb onto his own knee. Ouch. Kingston hit Serpentico with the half-and-half suplex into the Penta Fear Factor for the pin and win. Chaos Project still does nothing for me as a team, but this helped Penta and Kingston build some momentum for their tag title match tomorrow night. 

Final Thoughts:

Two hours is still too long for a show of nothing but squashes. The Baker segment nearly killed my interest in the show until Conti and King had their great match. But this should have been cut up into at least two episodes of Dark. The story is that Tuesday Darks will be taped from one permanent location. Hopefully, it’s not this many matches every week.