AEW Dark results: John Silver vs. Aaron Solo, Brandi Rhodes returns

It’s Tuesday and you know what that means: new AEW Dark matches.

Enjoy that fresh new match smell! Matches were taped at “AEW Universal” this past Friday in Orlando, Florida. Your hosts are Excalibur and Taz. 

Lee Moriarty defeated Misterioso (4:59)

Moriarty has awesome entrance music while Misterioso is thicker than your typical luchador. Moriarty is very technically sound and this was a good showcase for him. He did a cool sequence that started with a headlock takeover and ended with a cradle for a near fall, later followed by an arm capture belly-to-belly suplex. Misterioso caught a double boot to the face going for a moonsault and Moriarty hit a face-first suplex to get the pinfall. 

Lio Rush defeated Rayo (2:49) 

On commentary, Taz buried Rush’s chances in the Dynamite Dozen rattle royal Wednesday while noting that Team Taz has a “125% chance” of winning. Everything Rush does is so fast and so crisp. He used the frog splash to get the victory. 

Brandi Rhodes defeated Angelica Risk (3:47) 

This was Rhodes’ first match back since late-2020. Risk turned her back on Rhodes and walked into a pump kick which led to a near fall. Both ladies pulled each other’s hair. Risk got on some kind of leglock, but Rhodes punched her way out of the hold and hit a superkick. She then hit an enziguri, a pop-up forearm and then tied up Risk for the submission. 

This match definitely belonged on Dark. 

Emi Sakura (w/ Mei Suruga) defeated Ryo Mizunami

Suruga interfered a few times throughout the bout, tripping Mizunami and attacking her on the floor. Sakura went for the Queen’s Gambit early on, but Mizunami backdropped her opponent and came back with chops. Mizunami hit a leg drop, a stiff lariat and a twisting uranage, but could not put her opponent away. Behind the referee’s back, Suruga hit Mizunami in the head with Sakura’s sceptre and Sakura pinned Mizunami with a La Magistral cradle to get the pinfall. 

After the match, Suruga and Sakura attacked Mizunami, leading to Riho running in to make the save. 

Anthony Ogogo (w/ QT Marshall) defeated Baron Black (5:13)

This was Ogogo’s first match since Double or Nothing. He went for the Olympic Slam, but Black slid down into a sunset flip for a near fall. Black hit an atomic drop, a backstabber and an exploder suplex out of the corner that got a one count. Black went for a Texas Cloverleaf, but Marshall distracted the ref and Ogogo raked Black’s eyes. Ogogo then hit the Olympic Slam and got the pinfall. 

Shawn Spears and Wardlow defeated Jay Marte and Richard King

Wardlow offered up Marte a free headlock attempt which he took and then got killed. After flooring Marte with a clothesline, King got the tag. King at least got a few kicks in, but then went for a rana and Wardlow planted him with a power bomb. Wardlow power bombed King a few more times and then Marte when he tried to run in again. Spears tagged himself in and got the pin. 

Fuego Del Sol defeated Luke Sampson (5:05) 

Del Sol didn’t even get a pre-match graphic introducing his squash. 

Sampson has long hair and is dressed like Kevin Nash, even aping some of his moveset like the elbows in the corner. He looked next to Del Sol. A half nelson slam got a near fall from Sampson. Del Sol escaped a suplex attempt and caught Sampson with a jumping neckbreaker. He came off the top with a tornado DDT followed by a double stomp to the back of Sampson’s head for the pinfall. 

Sampson looked good in his AEW debut. 

Team Taz (Dante Martin, Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks) (w/ Hook) defeated Kekoa, Omkar and JT Dunn

Martin is still getting a babyface reaction, despite being on the heel team. Martin hit the double jump moonsault on Dunn to get the pinfall. 

Tony Schiavone interviewed Team Taz afterward. Starks did the talking, claiming that Team Taz has a “100% chance” of winning the battle royal tomorrow night which was down 25% from Taz’s earlier prediction. It didn’t take long for him to start running down Lio Rush. Rush came out to retort to say that when high stakes are on the line, Team Taz always comes up short. This was a good promo from Rush. 

Thunder Rosa defeated Sofia Castillo

Castillo made her AEW debut in this loss. Rosa looked impressive and was never really in trouble. Rosa hit a running dropkick in the corner and a death valley driver, followed by the submission with the Peruvian Necktie. 

After the match, Schiavone interviewed Rosa and when she mentioned Jade Cargill. Mark Sterling came out. Sterling started questioning Rosa in a lawyerly fashion in a segment that felt like it belonged on Raw. With Sterling distracting Rosa, Cargill ran in and hit her with a pump kick. This made me less interested in their match. 

John Silver (w/ -1) defeated Aaron Solo (5:32)

This was a nice showcase for Silver ahead of arguably the biggest singles match of his career tomorrow night on Dynamite.

Silver gorilla pressed Solo and dropped him on the top rope in an ugly way. Solo came back with a vertical suplex and worked over Silver in the corner with chops and threatened that -1 was next. A double stomp got him a near fall.

Solo walked into a boot after mocking Silver’s muscle pose. He went for a rana, but Silver countered into a sit-out power bomb for a near fall. Silver won an exchange of forearms and caught Solo with kicks to the chest. After a pump kick to the back of the head, Silver hit the Spin Doctor (helicopter slam) to get the pinfall. 

After the match, Schiavone interviewed Silver and -1 about his match with Bryan Danielson on Dynamite. Johnny is “hungee” for some vegan meat in the form of Bryan Danielson.

Final Thoughts: 

There was nothing really worth going out of your way to see here.