NWK Reviews 10/29/2019 AEW Dark (Evans vs ALLIN vs HAVOC)
Posted: Oct 30th, '19, 09:03
Pittsburgh, PA
Dustin and Sonny are a dream team I didn't know I needed. QT's tron is entirely based around apples and he's from "The Big Apple". Carlito didn't push the apple this hard
Peter says QT's apple bit sound effect is a little too loud, like Sonny Kiss' outfit, to which QT nods as if to say "Fair enough". This was great. He cuts down the crowd and the city. Leva's mannerisms are more consistent, it's now clear that she doesn't like it when Peter runs down the crowd, but maintains heelery by shushing Peter "for all of us" as if we're supposed to pat her on the back for that. The Librarians' dynamic makes them the most interesting thing about AEW not tied to a title, at least for me. Sonny and Dustin color coordinated their gear!
The opening sequence sees Sonny use Peter as a bench to sit and read a book Peter brought in to use as weapon, which was a great spot. Dustin and QT tag in and slow it down, the babyfaces do a moonsault/leg drop that we nearly miss because of a quick cut. Avalon and Bates run interference for the heat. Sonny makes hs own comeback but gets cut off. The heels make a great blind tag, which appears to play into their advantage as Peter misses a moonsault, but QT misses a wacky handspring moonsault which allows the hot tag. Dustin runs wild, and Sonny gets back into it. The finish sees Leva attempt to run interference, with a crossbody. Dustin sets her back on the turnbuckle, which leads to the librarians colliding, allowing Dustin to hit the Curtain Call.
I liked this match a lot. It was a good blend of old school and new school, both teams had good synergy to the point where I wouldn't mind them becoming regular acts, and it advances the angle between The Librarians
6.75/10
EDIT: It just occurred to me the QT is the producer from last week's FUtU. I like the idea that if you'll team up with whoever if you're looking for a win, but I would've liked some explanation from the commentary team.
I've only heard of Penelope from loosely following CHIKARA in the last year or so. Allie is clearly meant to be the over babyface, and Saddie has hands down the world's ugliest patch jacket I've ever seen. I want Emi to be over, but she didn't get nearly the reception Allie got.
Sadie gets her power over by coming out on top in a four way knuckle lock. I get what they're going for, but this was a bit too "Joey Ryan dick flip" contrived for my liking. But all is immediately forgiven when the three babyfaces do a KAIENTAI submission/pose spot on Sadie. Sadie is immediately made to look like just another girl in offense with Allie, and then Penelope. Emi breaks up a ref's five count with a dose-doe. She uses the referee's arm to clothesline Penelope, which she takes a gnarly bump for. Allie goes for a cover on Sakura while Sakura has Penelope in a surfboard stretch! Saddie takes momentum with a head scissors, and there's a jump cut and now Allie has momentum. Emi breaks up a sunset flip by tying both girls up into a submission and stretching both their backs. Penelope gets her own submission in and now we've got a submission train. Tandem handspring elbows by Penelope and Sadie, Sadie poses too long and has to break up a nearfall. Now the babyfaces are in control, and Allie nearly misses her cue. Allie gets a baseball slide to Sakura and a running clothesline to Sadie. For some reason, after a Penelope suicide dive, Gibbs choses to try to attack and cover Penelope. They tease four person suplex, but Emi gets kicked away. That was pretty cool. Emi has the "We Will Rock You" stomp/stomp/clap in her arsenal, which proves her Freddie Mercury gimmick is genius. She teases a stacked Ho Train, but the blonds fight her off, which she gets back into position one by one, and by this point the crowd get the gist of the stomp stomp clap. Emi almost gets a pin on all three via a Vader Bomb but alas not. Momentum swings around, and I've come to the conclusion Allie is green as gooseshit, despite being a featured woman in Impact for close to a year. More quadruple, triple, and double team moves until Emi gets the pin and wins.
Okay, let's face facts. Allie isn't very good, Penelope didn't really get to do anything extraordinary, and Sadie is green, but will get better. What tied this match together for me is Emi Sakura, and the M-Pro style work that was the clue of this match.
5/10
Cody Rhodes presents From Undesirable to Undeniable with MJF: The fact that MJF essentially weaves a babyface promo of overcoming anti-semitism as a youngster in little league football while still sounding conceited, (getting over that his bully is addicted to drugs, and he's rich and famous) and then conveying genuine emotion shows that MJF might actually be the best promo in wrestling. This was excellent, and I hope we get more worked shoot FUtU in the future.
Tony Schiavone runs down the card for the next Dynamite, which leads to...
Kip Savian is interviewed by Alex: An EXCELLENT heel promo explaining why Sabian and H2 challenged the Bucks and Kenny to a match for Dynamite next week, tying in the fact that he has the best record in AEW and has been criminally overlooked.
The guys move a million miles an hour and then it goes outside. Havoc does a flip off the barricade into the crowd, to which Excalibur says "If you'd like Jimmy Havoc to land in YOUR lap , head on over to AEWtix.com" which might have been the best timed plug ever. Some hardcore brawling, and then we move onto the ramp, which we get dives off of because all three of these men are insane. More plunder and big moves in the ring now. We literally get a Rhino Driver through the table. Darby gets a chair assisted Coffin Drop for the three.
This was fucking batshit. Someone clearly sees Darby as money, and isn't afraid to see him the win where it would be easy to give Jack the win as he's on the next Dynamite, but instead he was pinned.
8/10
Another good episode of AEW Dark, but I was planning to write that regardless of the main event. Why? Because we got great promos that built matches (Kip) and characters (MJF), as well as possibly setting up some pushes for after Full Gear (Dustin/Sonny, Emi). But, the main event allowed midcarders to put on a banger match, and really, isn't this all what B-Shows are all about?
Dustin Rhodes and Sonny Kiss vs "The Librarian" Peter Avalon and QT Marshall
Dustin and Sonny are a dream team I didn't know I needed. QT's tron is entirely based around apples and he's from "The Big Apple". Carlito didn't push the apple this hard
Peter says QT's apple bit sound effect is a little too loud, like Sonny Kiss' outfit, to which QT nods as if to say "Fair enough". This was great. He cuts down the crowd and the city. Leva's mannerisms are more consistent, it's now clear that she doesn't like it when Peter runs down the crowd, but maintains heelery by shushing Peter "for all of us" as if we're supposed to pat her on the back for that. The Librarians' dynamic makes them the most interesting thing about AEW not tied to a title, at least for me. Sonny and Dustin color coordinated their gear!
The opening sequence sees Sonny use Peter as a bench to sit and read a book Peter brought in to use as weapon, which was a great spot. Dustin and QT tag in and slow it down, the babyfaces do a moonsault/leg drop that we nearly miss because of a quick cut. Avalon and Bates run interference for the heat. Sonny makes hs own comeback but gets cut off. The heels make a great blind tag, which appears to play into their advantage as Peter misses a moonsault, but QT misses a wacky handspring moonsault which allows the hot tag. Dustin runs wild, and Sonny gets back into it. The finish sees Leva attempt to run interference, with a crossbody. Dustin sets her back on the turnbuckle, which leads to the librarians colliding, allowing Dustin to hit the Curtain Call.
I liked this match a lot. It was a good blend of old school and new school, both teams had good synergy to the point where I wouldn't mind them becoming regular acts, and it advances the angle between The Librarians
6.75/10
EDIT: It just occurred to me the QT is the producer from last week's FUtU. I like the idea that if you'll team up with whoever if you're looking for a win, but I would've liked some explanation from the commentary team.
Sadie Gibbs vs Penelope Ford vs Allie vs Emi Sakura
I've only heard of Penelope from loosely following CHIKARA in the last year or so. Allie is clearly meant to be the over babyface, and Saddie has hands down the world's ugliest patch jacket I've ever seen. I want Emi to be over, but she didn't get nearly the reception Allie got.
Sadie gets her power over by coming out on top in a four way knuckle lock. I get what they're going for, but this was a bit too "Joey Ryan dick flip" contrived for my liking. But all is immediately forgiven when the three babyfaces do a KAIENTAI submission/pose spot on Sadie. Sadie is immediately made to look like just another girl in offense with Allie, and then Penelope. Emi breaks up a ref's five count with a dose-doe. She uses the referee's arm to clothesline Penelope, which she takes a gnarly bump for. Allie goes for a cover on Sakura while Sakura has Penelope in a surfboard stretch! Saddie takes momentum with a head scissors, and there's a jump cut and now Allie has momentum. Emi breaks up a sunset flip by tying both girls up into a submission and stretching both their backs. Penelope gets her own submission in and now we've got a submission train. Tandem handspring elbows by Penelope and Sadie, Sadie poses too long and has to break up a nearfall. Now the babyfaces are in control, and Allie nearly misses her cue. Allie gets a baseball slide to Sakura and a running clothesline to Sadie. For some reason, after a Penelope suicide dive, Gibbs choses to try to attack and cover Penelope. They tease four person suplex, but Emi gets kicked away. That was pretty cool. Emi has the "We Will Rock You" stomp/stomp/clap in her arsenal, which proves her Freddie Mercury gimmick is genius. She teases a stacked Ho Train, but the blonds fight her off, which she gets back into position one by one, and by this point the crowd get the gist of the stomp stomp clap. Emi almost gets a pin on all three via a Vader Bomb but alas not. Momentum swings around, and I've come to the conclusion Allie is green as gooseshit, despite being a featured woman in Impact for close to a year. More quadruple, triple, and double team moves until Emi gets the pin and wins.
Okay, let's face facts. Allie isn't very good, Penelope didn't really get to do anything extraordinary, and Sadie is green, but will get better. What tied this match together for me is Emi Sakura, and the M-Pro style work that was the clue of this match.
5/10
Cody Rhodes presents From Undesirable to Undeniable with MJF: The fact that MJF essentially weaves a babyface promo of overcoming anti-semitism as a youngster in little league football while still sounding conceited, (getting over that his bully is addicted to drugs, and he's rich and famous) and then conveying genuine emotion shows that MJF might actually be the best promo in wrestling. This was excellent, and I hope we get more worked shoot FUtU in the future.
Tony Schiavone runs down the card for the next Dynamite, which leads to...
Kip Savian is interviewed by Alex: An EXCELLENT heel promo explaining why Sabian and H2 challenged the Bucks and Kenny to a match for Dynamite next week, tying in the fact that he has the best record in AEW and has been criminally overlooked.
Darby Allin vs Jimmy Havoc vs Jack Evans
The guys move a million miles an hour and then it goes outside. Havoc does a flip off the barricade into the crowd, to which Excalibur says "If you'd like Jimmy Havoc to land in YOUR lap , head on over to AEWtix.com" which might have been the best timed plug ever. Some hardcore brawling, and then we move onto the ramp, which we get dives off of because all three of these men are insane. More plunder and big moves in the ring now. We literally get a Rhino Driver through the table. Darby gets a chair assisted Coffin Drop for the three.
This was fucking batshit. Someone clearly sees Darby as money, and isn't afraid to see him the win where it would be easy to give Jack the win as he's on the next Dynamite, but instead he was pinned.
8/10
Conclusion
Another good episode of AEW Dark, but I was planning to write that regardless of the main event. Why? Because we got great promos that built matches (Kip) and characters (MJF), as well as possibly setting up some pushes for after Full Gear (Dustin/Sonny, Emi). But, the main event allowed midcarders to put on a banger match, and really, isn't this all what B-Shows are all about?