AEW Dark results: The Young Bucks in action

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The show opened with a backstage segment. Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler were bickering as Leva Bates looked on. The unnamed backstage interviewer informed them that they were booked for Dark tonight. 

The Young Bucks entered and informed Cutler and Avalon that they were their opponents tonight. The Bucks plugged their book and made jokes about their time in TNA. 

Avalon and Cutler continued bickering. 

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Excalibur and Taz welcomed us to the show and plugged Fyter Fest. 

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Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated “Platinum” Max Caster

The focus here was on continuing to establish the loaded glove for Spears. The match itself was little more than a squash. 

Referee Aubrey Edwards checked Spears’ glove before the match to check that it wasn’t loaded. 

Caster hit an arm drag. Spears hit a trip takedown and went to work. Spears worked Caster over with punches, a back suplex and a chinlock. 

Caster got a hope spot with a surprise cradle for a two count. 

They immediately went to the finish which saw Spears hit the C4 for the pin. 

Spears went to the stage. He loaded his glove and returned to the ring to lay out Caster with a punch. 

Lance Archer (w/ Jake Roberts) defeated Pineapple Pete

They did a half-baked angle with Archer and Joey Janela ahead of their Fyter Fest match and the match was secondary to that. 

Archer attacked Pete during his entrance. Pete came back by sending Archer into Roberts on the stage. Roberts stumbled but didn’t take a bump. 

Pete got some early offense with an enzuigiri. Archer rolled outside. Janela distracted Archer from the crowd. 

Pete went for a suicide dive. Archer caught him and hit a chokeslam on the apron. Archer hit a springboard swanton for a two count. He continued working Pete over with power moves. 

Archer went for Blackout but Pete escaped. Pete got a brief comeback with a headbutt but was quickly cut off. 

Archer then hit Blackout and pinned Pete with the EBD Claw. 

Archer attacked Pete again after the match. Janela ran in with a leaf blower and chased Archer away. 

Ricky Starks defeated Griff Garrison

Garrison is long and lean and has some potential but this was not his best night. His role in this match was to make Starks look good but he was just too green to pull it off. 

Garrison tripped on a hurdle spot early. They played it off well. Starks hit a leapfrog and a beautiful dropkick. Starks hit a series of strikes in the corner and a missile dropkick off the second rope. They traded chops.

The finish saw Starks hit a misdirection spear for the pin. 

Scorpio Sky defeated Brady Pierce

This was a showcase for Sky. 

Pierce shoved Sky at the opening bell. Sky responded with a waistlock takedown for a quick near fall. Sky did some amateur wrestling spots. Pierce slapped Sky. Sky came back with the Kobe dropkick. 

Sky used a magistral cradle and a shoulder block. Pierce ended up bleeding from the mouth. Pierce hit a yakuza kick in the corner and got a near fall. 

Sky came back with a slingshot cutter for the pin. 

Brandi Rhodes & Allie (w/ Dustin Rhodes) defeated KiLynn King & Skyler Moore

This was a sloppy match but the action was secondary to furthering the worst storyline in pro wrestling, the Brandi/Allie/Dustin/QT foursome. 

Justin Roberts introduced Allie and Brandi as “The Nightmare Sisters.” Brandi corrected him. She said that she and Allie are not related and not a team. 

Allie brought out a poster with QT Marshall’s face on it and kissed it. 

Brandi and King started off and traded cradles. Allie blind tagged herself in and scored a two count. Allie hit King with knee strikes. 

Allie climbed to the second rope and Brandi blind tagged herself in. As Allie and Brandi argued, King cut off Brandi. Moore saw her first action of the match as King and Moore worked over Brandi in their corner. 

Brandi hit Tomohiro Ishii’s forearm strike and chop combination series. King cut her off with a pump kick. Moore hit a slam for a two count. Brandi came back with a stunner. 

Allie got a hot tag. She mocked Dustin by doing some Goldust mannerisms. Allie hit Moore with a GTR. She then tagged Brandi in and allowed her to cover Moore for the pin. 

The Butcher & The Blade defeated Low Rida & Fuego Del Sol

Taz’s attempt to get a free dinner by plugging a local restaurant was the highlight of this match. 

The lowlight was Blade spiking Low Rida on the top of his head on a backdrop driver. To her credit, Aubrey Edwards was right on top of things and checked to make sure that Rida was both alive and conscious. Although he appeared to be okay at first, the match should have been stopped. 

Rida was not done though as Blade then suplexed him into the buckle. Rida clutched his head afterwards. I would be shocked if he wasn’t concussed. 

Butcher tapped out Fuego with a crab after a squash match. 

The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) defeated Peter Avalon & Brandon Cutler (w/ Leva Bates)

This was the best match on the show, though the result was never in doubt. 

Matt and Cutler began with a nice exchange. Nick tagged in. Avalon wanted a tag but Cutler refused. Nick hit a springboard attack to Avalon on the stage anyway. 

The Bucks worked over Cutler. Avalon kicked Matt in the back from the apron. Cutler was upset that Avalon cheated. As they argued, Matt tagged Nick and they hit some tandem offense. 

Avalon and Matt ended up the legal men. Bates jumped on the apron but it led to nothing. Nick jumped in to distract Avalon. Matt hit a spear. Nick tagged in and hit a running knee for a two count. 

Matt tagged in. Avalon blocked a superkick. They hit simultaneous clotheslines. Cutler tagged in and took on both Bucks by himself. Cutler hit a tope suicida to both Bucks. 

Cutler hit a high cross on Matt for a near fall. Avalon and Cutler argued which allowed Nick to recover on the floor. Avalon and Cutler hit some tandem offense. Cutler hit Matt with a springboard elbow for a two count. 

Matt came back with a double northern lights suplex. Nick got a hot tag. He hit a facebuster to Avalon, a dive to Cutler, then threw a superkick party. 

Matt tagged in. Matt and Nick hit Avalon with the BTE Trigger for the pin. 

Avalon and Cutler shook hands after the match. The story seems to be that they’re finally coming together as a team despite losing.

The show ended with a Fyter Fest hype video. 

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I am of the belief that AEW’s goal with Dark is to sell it to a television partner. I would suggest that if they want to do that, they need to make the show more compelling. Have competitive matches. Shoot angles that don’t revolve around whether Avalon or Cutler is a bigger loser or QT Marshall’s love life. 

The combined AEW career tag and singles record of the losers of this week’s matches now stands at 0 wins and 63 losses.