AEW Dark recap & reactions (Dec. 10, 2019): Kenny Omega rolling full steam ahead

Episode 10 of AEW Dark from Champaign, Illinois featured a book vs a staple gun, dinosaur power, an emotional Big Swole, and Kenny Omega continuing on his path toward redemption.

Here’s the lineup with ratings (watch, okay, pass) on which matches are worth your time:

• Peter Avalon vs Jimmy Havoc vs Scorpio Sky (pass)
• John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs Jurassic Express (pass)
• Big Swole profile package (watch, starts at 36:13)
• Kip Sabian vs Kenny Omega (watch)

These were showcase matches for the fan favorites. If you like Scorpio Sky, Luchasaurus, or Kenny Omega, then you’ll enjoy their respective bouts. Watch the show here.

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Tony Schiavone and Dasha Gonzalez welcomed us from the control center. Excalibur handled play-by-play. Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy sat in on commentary for the opener and closer. OC lounged back in his chair and didn’t speak at all.

AEW Dark

Britt Baker filled in for the middle match. She’s a dentist. Excalibur and Baker acknowledged that joke from fans.

Peter Avalon vs Jimmy Havoc vs Scorpio Sky

Leva Bates joined Peter Avalon. Avalon belittled the crowd for not listening to his shhh. For a place called Champaign, the crowd looked like they drink cheap malt liquor. Bates called Avalon rude and shhh’ed him.

Top highlight was from Scorpio Sky with a belly-to-belly suplex to Avalon over the top rope. Sky followed up with a tope con hilo. For the finish, Jimmy Havoc took out a staple gun. Sky used Avalon’s book to knock the stapler out of Havoc’s hand, then Sky attacked with a springboard cutter.

Avalon stole the pin cover, but Havoc kicked out. Sky hit Avalon with a TKO to win.

John Silver & Alex Reynolds vs Jurassic Express

Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt represented Jurassic Express in the ring. Jungle Boy joined them ringside. Luchasaurus was the strongasaurus of the match, while Stunt was the weakasaurus. Once Luchasaurus got the hot tag, he roared wild with a wheelbarrow German suplex. Luchasaurus destroyed his opponents with head kicks and a double chokeslam. Stunt went high-flying for a cutter to a body off Luchasaurus’ shoulders to win.

Big Swole profile package

Lexy Nair is the newest member of the broadcast team. I believe Nair is the daughter of DDP. She covered women’s division action from the past week.

AEW Dark

Big Swole was profiled in a video package (starting at 36:13). It was real life stuff rather then her character heeling it up. Big Swole means big personality, swole mentality. In 2008, Swole was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Doctors told her that she had 30 minutes to live. He intestines were ready to explode inside her body. Two feet of intestine was removed in an emergency surgery. Being told that she could never have kids ruined her world mentally. Fast forward to now and Big Swole has a daughter and is a professional wrestler. Her message was to beat the mental game of can’t.

Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) vs Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega started the match by outclassing Kip Sabian. It took a distraction from Penelope Ford to get Sabian back in the contest. A short while later, Ford leaped off the apron for a hurricanrana to Omega on the floor.

The match went back and forth after that. Sabian had a very close call for victory after placing referee Aubrey Edwards in Omega’s path to prevent a V-Trigger. Ford entered the ring to spit at Omega. Pump kick by Sabian, stunner by Ford, reverse rana by Sabian, and a kick by Sabian to the downed Omega.

1, 2, Omega kicked out.

In the end, Omega took over with V-Triggers and snap dragon suplexes. Sabian kicked out after a Tiger Driver ‘98. Omega hit another V-Trigger and the One Winged Angel to win.

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This episode was all about showcasing the good guys. Scorpio Sky picked up a win to bolster his singles status. Jurassic Express cleaned up on a couple of jabrones. Kenny Omega continued his upward momentum by rolling full steam ahead on Kip Sabian.

Penelope Ford was most impressive to me in this episode. I had no idea what to expect. I assumed she was eye candy, then she broke out a hurricanrana and a Matrix dodge of a clothesline. If Ford has enough experience, I’d like to see her in the ring for an actual match.

The video segment with Big Swole was by far the best portion of the show. How can anyone not root for her after that difficult backstory dealing with a serious medical malady? It will be interesting to see if the crowd turns her babyface after working heel so far in AEW.

One negative note is that this episode was way too long at an hour and sixteen minutes. It wasn’t like the matches were overly extended. Omega vs Sabian was the only lengthy bout. They spent a ton of time on Dynamite recaps and airing the promos that debut on Twitter.

One intriguing note came from Britt Baker on commentary. Excalibur asked her about finding a tag partner. Baker has her eyes on a few girls. That could explain why she was watching last week from the stands. That conversation should also mean women’s tag belts are in the future one day, or else why care about women’s tag aside from pride and hitting the pay window.

Who stood out most for episode 10 of AEW Dark?

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