AEW Dark results: SCU vs. The Sydal Brothers

The Big Takeaways:  -1 is back! 

It’s Tuesday, and you know what that means.

Lee Johnson and Aaron Solow (w/ Arn Anderson) defeated Louie Valle and Chris Peaks (5:00)

Anthony Ogogo was on commentary even though he wasn’t at the desk at the opening. After losing his fiance, losing to Ryan Nemeth, and getting beat down by Peter Avalon, there’s nowhere but up to go for Solow. 

Ogogo, despite being kind of a smarmy heel, is a member of the Nightmare Family and offered insight on his teammates. After some good mat wrestling in the opening, Peaks and Valle got the advantage on Solow with an illegal double team. Solow managed to dump Peaks on the floor and got the tag to Johnson who hit a very nice dropkick. A blue thunder bomb on Valle finished the match for the Nightmare Family’s third string team. 

Solow feels like the Marko Stunt of the Nightmare Family. 

Red Velvet & KiLynn King defeated Ivelisse & Diamante (7:04)

This was a chance for Velvet to get a little bit of shine before her big mixed tag tomorrow night on Dynamite: The Crossroads. Somehow, Velvet is no. 1 in the AEW Women’s rankings and I have no idea how that can even be possible. 

King wound up in the wrong corner and Ivelisse and Diamante worked on her arm. King fought out of it and scored with a clothesline on Ivelisse. Tags were made on both sides followed by Velvet hitting a rolling forearm and standing moonsault for a near fall. Velvet avoided stereo knee strikes, but Ivelisse hit a butterfly suplex for a near fall. Velvet came back to win with a hook kick and her finish that usually looks like a claymore kick but here, looked more like a regular dropkick. This was too long and didn’t make Velvet look any more ready for prime time. 

Top Flight defeated Fuego del Sol and Jon Cruz (5:23)

Top Flight is no. 5 in the tag team rankings. A Darius suplex and a Dante somersault senton got a near fall on del Sol. Cruz got the tag and ate a dropkick from Dante, but soon got the advantage. Darius got a tag and almost killed himself with a spanish fly on Cruz. The action spilled to the floor and del Sol hit a spinning crossbody off the top rope on both of Top Flight. Del Sol almost got the long-awaited tornado DDT, but was blocked. Top Flight finished del Sol with by flipping him into a bulldog for a win. On commentary, Ogogo called Top Flight’s finish the Icebreaker.

Gunn Club defeated Tony Vega, Aaron Frye and Angel Fashion (6:08)

Gunn Club is also a part of the Nightmare Family. Before the match, the camera cut away from Billy grabbing at referee Aubrey Edwards. Intentional or not, it was not a good look. After his sons connected for the 3:10 to Yuma on Fashion, Billy stole the pin. There is a line between “father trying to give his sons a hand up” and “old guy trying to relive his glory days” and Billy is way on the wrong side of that line. 

Abadon defeated Renee Michelle (2:22)

I have always liked that AEW has established that Abadon isn’t a monster. Rather, she’s a crazy woman who thinks she’s a monster and that’s so much worse. Michelle got a forearm in early and then got wrecked the rest of the way by Abadon, who finished with the Cemetery Drive in a total squash. 

Dark Order’s Stu Grayson defeated JD Drake (5:20)

Drake doesn’t look like much of a wrestler, but Grayson gave him a lot in this match. Grayson hit a uranage and a springboard shoulder block. Drake came back with an overhead belly to belly and a legdrop off the middle rope onto a standing Grayson for a near fall. Grayson came back with a springboard hurricanrana and Drake later hit a running boot. Drake missed a somersault cannonball in the corner and Grayson came back with a spinning DDT and the Nightfall backbreaker for the win. This turned into quite the little banger by the end.

The Acclaimed Shopping Network

They’re selling the Dark Order’s Kool Aid. This of course led to another Acclaimed rap: “The guy named 10 can’t draw a dime,/with his ten cent brain and his $10 body.” This was great. 

Bear Country defeated M’Badu and Baron Black

This blast of a match is brought to you by the letter “B”: Bronson Bear, Boulder Bear, M’Badu, Baron Black, Bears, Beats, Battlestar Galactica. 

Black brutally bent Bronson’s bicep backward by the ringpost. M’Badu brawled with Bronson who bounced into him with a brutal bodyblock. M’Badu blasted Bronson with a beautiful side suplex, but botched the pinfall because he wasn’t the legal man. Bronson battled back and supelxed M’Badu and got the tag to Boulder. An avalanche from Boulder on both opponents followed and Boulder followed up with a Samoa drop/fallaway slam combo on both his opponents at the same time. A backstabber got a near fall for Black. Bear Country came back with the Bear Country Jamboree finisher. 

Before the replay could conclude, Butcher, Blade and Bunny beat down Bear Country belligerently. Butcher, Blade and Bunny battered Bronson by the barricade. The attack was barbaric! 

Alright, I’m done.

Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alan “5” Angels and Colt Cabana w/ -1) defeated Levy Shapiro, John Skyler and RYZIN (5:50)

-1 has shoes this week! Angels did what is usually the then punches in the corner gimmick, but since his name is 5, he only went up to, well, five,. RYZIN got the blind tag when he was completely out of it and got destroyed by the Dark Order for the win. Afterward, -1 kicked RYZIN out of the ring after the match. 

Max Caster (w/ Anthony Bowens) defeated JJ Garrett (6:06)

This was another chance for Caster to shine in advance of his qualifying match tomorrow night for Sunday’s Face of the Revolution ladder match.

Garrett’s look screamed jobber with an awful mullet and 90s-inspired tights. Caster has a great jumping knee drop that he put to good use. Caster went for a superplex, Garrett pushed him off, but then Caster jumped right back to the top rope to try again. Garrett pushed him off the ropes and hit a middle rope moonsault for a near fall. Garrett tried to jump over a charging Caster in the corner, but totally blew it and landed on Caster’s head. I’m not sure that was intentional. Bowens threw the boom box in the ring for a distraction, leading to Caster nailing Garrett with the mother of all low kicks. A brainbuster and top rope elbow finished Garrett off. 

I’m all in on a singles push for Caster. 

The Hybrid2 defeated Shawn Dean and Carlie Bravo (6:25)

Don’t you just want to slap Angelico for that dance? 

He and Bravo had a great exchange on the mat to start. Bravo later hit a great dropkick on Evans for a nearfall. Angelico and Evans got the advantage on Bravo with an eye rake from the illegal man. Angelico got a near fall after a penalty kick. Dean got the hot tag and took down Angelico with some clotheslines and an enziguri. Dean followed up with a pair of dropicks in the corner and a DDT scored a two count. A sliced bread from Bravo and a big splash from Dean got another near fall on Angelico. Angelico came back with the Navarro death roll on Dean for the submission win. 

Orange Cassidy (w/ Chuck Taylor) defeated Steven Stetson (2:25)

Stetson has a cowboy gimmick, but he’s from New Jersey. Cassidy took his black hat, wore it, and then tied up Stetson’s legs. Cassidy had his hands in pockets, and Stetson took his hat back but ate a dropkick. Cassidy went for the Beach Break, but Stetson escaped and nailed a big boot. He laid on the trash talk along with some weak offense. Cassidy had enough of that soon enough, and hit the Orange Punch and the Beach Break for the pin. 

Chuck Taylor defeated VSK

Referee Aubrey Edwards called for the bell before VSK got introduced, which made for an awkward post-bell introduction. 

Soul Food, a big boot, and a brainbuster only got a one count for Taylor. VSK mounted some offense, but ran into a high knee. A falcon arrow from Taylor got a near fall. Taylor finished off VSK with a pair of piledrivers. This was a bad squash because VSK kicked out of three movis that should have definitely been the finish.

Dark Order’s 10 defeated Daniel Joseph (2:19)

Dark Order escorted 10 out to the ring and -1 (who lost his shoes) joined Excalibur and Taz on commentary. (“Excalibur, shut up! Taz, you can talk.”) 10 will face the aforementioned Max Caster for a spot in the Face of the Revolution ladder match Sunday. 

The commentary was better than the match. Excalibur asked to promote 10’s match tomorrow night and he’s allowed to do that. If “Shut up, Excalibur!” isn’t a t-shirt on AEW’s shop with -1’s face on it, they are leaving money on the table. A spinebuster and deadlift powerbomb won the match for 10. 

SCU defeated The Sydal Brothers (9:14)

They really just need to get where they’re going with this SCU “win or break up” angle. 

Kazarian and Matt Sydal started out and had a nice sequence where Kazarian used leverage to escape a hammerlock and send Matt to the floor. Mike Sydal later got a near fall off a standing moonsault. Daniels got the tag and then scored a near fall of his own on Mike after a leg lariat. Kazarian and Daniels combined for a clothesline/leg sweep combo on Mike. After an extended sequence of SCU dominating Mike, he hit a spinning DDT on Daniels.

Tags were made on both sides and Kazarian wound up in trouble after the Sydals double Russian leg sweeped him. Kazarian recovered and later hit a slingshot cutter on Mike for a near fall. The Best Meltzer Ever on Mike won the match for SCU with Kazarian getting the pin. The story is the same every week: SCU wins but Kazarian is doing all the work and Daniels is very much the weak link. 

Final Thoughts:

I’m really excited for the format change that is coming in a few weeks where they split between Tuesday’s Dark and Dark: Elevation. The sum of the parts will definitely be greater than the whole when we have one show focused on developing new talent and another more focused on advancing the midcard. This week’s show was missing the solid women’s midcard action that was defining it a few weeks ago.

The stuff with Caster and the Hybrid2 really stood out tonight while Bear Country had a fun squash and advanced their angle with the Butcher and the Blade. And, again, I’m over seeing Billy Gunn.