AEW Dark results: Sydal Brothers vs. Chaos Project
The Big Takeaway: There’s a tag team battle royal on the pay-per-view tomorrow night.
It’s, err…. not Tuesday, and you know what that means. Taz, Excalibur and Anthony Ogogo are our hosts tonight.
Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall) (w/ Nick Comoroto) defeated Peter Avalon and Cezar Bononi (3:34)
For their entrance, Bononi drug Avalon to the ring on a heart shaped pillow with wheels. Comoroto is getting less ring time since he’s joined the Nightmare Family. Both these teams are in the battle royal tomorrow night. Rhodes won with the bulldog on Avalon. When Rhodes was in, the match was good. Otherwise, not so much.
Chuck Taylor (w/ Orange Cassidy) defeated JD Drake (6:23)
Drake still has the Dynamite theme as his entrance music. This is a chance for Taylor to get some shine before his match with Cassidy against Kip Sabian and Miro tomorrow night.
Drake can go, but his basic look of black trunks and cowboy boots screams jobber. A deep, Steamboat-esque armdrag and a dropkick sent Drake to the floor. On the floor, Drake flung Taylor into the ropes and caught him on the rebound with a solid right. Back in the ring, a senton from Drake got a near fall. A clothesline and a diving headbutt from Drake got another near fall, and Drake worked a chinlock. A reverse atomic drop and a running boot got another near fall for Drake. Taylor came back with some chops, Soul Food, and a high knee in the corner. Taylor missed a middle rope moonsault and Drake came back with an inside knee off the middle rope for another near fall. Drake set up a moonsault from the top, but Taylor crotched Drake and got the Awful Waffle for the pin.
Post match, Penelope Ford distracted Cassidy, leading to Kip Sabian and Miro attacking Cassidy and Taylor. Miro cutsa promo about how he should be World champion, but Cassidy and Taylor were taking up his precious time. After mocking Cassidy’s shin kicks with some of his own, Miro absolutely destroyed Cassidy with a pump kick.
Between how long it took Taylor to beat Drake and the post-match beatdown from Miro and Sabian, I’m not liking Cassidy and Taylor’s chances tomorrow night.
Penta El Zero M defeated Azriel (5:09)
Azriel is a long time veteran of the indies while Penta is in the big ladder match tomorrow night.
Azriel looked pretty good for a minute, hitting a tope con hilo. Back in the ring, Azriel came off the top and ate a superkick from Penta. Azriel came back and tried for a frog splash, but Penta got his knees up. A pump handle Michinoku driver from Penta only got two, but a springboard destroyer later, Penta snapped his arm to get the win. This was a good match and a nice showcase for Penta in advance of the big ladder match tomorrow night..
Big Swole promo
Apparently, Swole was the number one ranked woman before the tournament started and she felt that she is owed a title shot from whoever wins the title match tomorrow night. I really like Swole.
Lance Archer (w/ Jake Roberts) defeated John Skyler (3:00)
Archer got a near fall with a full nelson slam, getting the win a short time later with the blackout. Skyler got too much offense in this match. Afterward, Roberts cut a promo about the ladder match, saying “I like surprises, don’t you? That’s what she said.” Apparently Roberts is a fan of The Office. He then went back to threats about Cody Rhodes. Archer grabbed the mic and told Cody he was going to take his child’s father away from her. This got dark. Everybody dies. Seriously, it was a good promo for the ladder match.
Ricky Starks and Brian Cage (w/ Hook) defeated Angel Fashion and Fuego Del Sol (2:25)
Starks grabbed del Sol in a delayed vertical suplex position and Cage tagged himself in, took del Sol in his own delayed suplex and finished the move. Fashion tagged himself in and was finished a minute later with the drill claw. These guys are ready for a street fight tomorrow night.
Jack Evans defeated Jake St. Patrick
The Hybrid 2 are not in the tag team battle royal tomorrow night. And Peter Avalon’s team is? What?
This is the first match where one of the participants isn’t involved in something tomorrow night, so the commentators plugged the Hardy/Page match instead which I guess makes sense since the Hybrid 2 have been lackies for Hardy. After some great back and forth action, St. Patrick got the near fall after a falcon arrow. He went to the top rope for a moonsault, but Evans caught him with a german suplex off the top and the 630 senton for the three.
Max Caster raps
Caster did another phenomenal rap where he ran down all of his opponents in the ladder match tomorrow night.
Gunn Club defeated M’Badu and D3 (3:59)
There was no Billy Gunn with the Gunn Club (also in the battle royale) this week, unless he’s in the crowd somewhere. Colton hit a great dropkick on M’Badu. Austin got the tag, but was on the wrong end of a powerslam from M’Badu. M’Badu got a one count after a big avalanche in the corner, but thwarted a double team attempt and got the tag to Colton. Colton hit the tilt a whirl slam on D3 and dumped M’Badu to the floor. Gunn Club then hit the 3:10 to Yuma on D3 for the win.
Thunder Rosa defeated Tesha Price (4:50)
Now that the women’s tournament is over, we’re getting some of the good female talent like Rosa back on Dark. Rosa teams with Riho against Britt Baker and Reba Sunday during the pre-show. This featured some good matwork from Rosa, who teased going for the lockjaw. Price went for a bulldog, but Rosa avoided it and hit a release German suplex. A diving dropkick landed on Price, who was slumped in the ropes, for nother near fall. Rosa hit the fire thunder driver for the win.
Bear Country defeated Cameron Stewart and RYZIN
Bear Country is also in the tag team battle royal tomorrow night. Boulder double bodyslammed both Stewart and RYZIN at the same time and at once. Then, Bronson came off of Boulder’s shoulder with a splash onto the pile, leading to the Bear Country Jamboree (come on guys, steal that name for the finish!) and Bronson pinning the pile. Post match, Bunny distracted Bear Country and Butcher and Blade ambushed them, bashing Boulder and Bronson with chairs adding more heat on the tag team battle royal tomorrow night.
Dark Order’s 5 & 10 (with -1) defeated Vary Morales and Labron Kozone (4:46)
Dark Order has three teams in the tag team battle royal tomorrow night and 5 and 10 are one of them. A wing clipper from 5 set up a ripcord clothesline to the back of the head on Kozone from 10 for the win. Morales and Kozone never got in any significant offense.
Tay Conti (w/ -1) defeated Leila Grey (3:42)
Grey made her AEW debut here. -1 was practicing kip ups on the stage while Conti worked a side headlock. Conti missed a shoulder in the corner and Grey gained an advantage. A boot to the face only got a one count. Conti came back with three judo throws, evaded a charge in the corner, nailed a solid forearm and then pump kicked Grey in the corner. Conti followed up with a running knee, told Grey “you’re done,” and drove her into the mat with a hammerlock DDT.
Matt and Mike Sydal defeated Chaos Project (8:50)
The Sydals have an 0-3 record as a team and are in the tag team battle royal. Yet, Chaos Project, with a 7-9 record, are not.
Mike hit Serpentico with a split Michinoku driver for a near fall. This match is so good Excalibur and Taz chidde each other over the WON Awards. Mike wound up taking a lot of the offense from Chaos Project. Serpentico had Mike in a front facelock, so naturally Luther clotheslined Serpentico so he DDT’d Mike. After an eternity, Matt got the hot tag and took on both his opponents out with leg lariats. A double lighting strike on Serpentico and Matt got the pin in a match that didn’t need nine minutes to make the point.
Final Thoughts:
Did you know there was a tag team battle royal this Sunday at the PPV? If you didn’t, you sure did after this show, since practically every match focused on it. I guess the main event isn’t two guys trying to blow themselves up for the World title or anything cool. Not that I expected to see either Moxley or Omega wrestle on Dark, but maybe mention the main event? They also focused a good bit on the ladder match and it was good to have some of the good women wrestling on Dark again.