AEW Dark recap (Dec. 22, 2020): Christopher Daniels teases retirement

Episode 67 of AEW Dark featured Christopher Daniels teasing retirement, the Dark Order possibly trying to poach another Nightmare Family member, as well as Fenix and Danny Limelight tearing the house down.

The Waiting Room was once again a newsworthy segment. Dr. Britt Baker DMD welcomed guests Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian of SCU.

Kaz was surly about their recent run of tag team losses. Throughout Kaz’s career, he always knew he could count on Daniels. That was until now. Kaz blamed their losses on CD. Kaz apologized for letting his frustration affect their relationship, since CD is his best friend.

Daniels stepped in to apologize to Kaz for losing his passion to compete. 2020 has beaten down CD’s spirit, so much so that he hated getting on the plane to go to work recently. Maybe that is a sign to walk away. Daniels teased retirement.

Kaz stopped his pal and wouldn’t let him go out on a whimper. He asked CD to fight by his side one more time. Kaz desires to climb back up the rankings and win tag team gold. However, the next time they lose as a team means that they will be done forever as a team.

Daniels agreed. SCU then challenged TH2 to a future match.

And just like that, SCU has become interesting again. Nothing like one last chase at glory as a story to finish Daniels’ career. It is simple and emotionally effective. I know I’ll be rooting for them to earn a title shot and rock the house with the Young Bucks for 30 minutes in a Dynamite main event.

It is also worth noting that Dr. Baker announced Sting as a future guest.

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

• Bear Country vs Jurassic Express (okay)
• Tesha Price vs Nyla Rose (okay)
• Sonny Kiss vs Miro (okay)
• Thunder Rosa vs Jazmin Allure (okay)
• Lee Johnson vs Stu Grayson (solid)
• KiLynn King vs Alex Gracia (okay)
• Peter Avalon vs Mike Verna (okay)
• Vertvixen vs Red Velvet (okay)
• Colt Cabana, 5, & 10 vs Fuego Del Sol, Aaron Solow, & Ray Jaz (okay)
• Madi Wrenkowski vs Leyla Hirsch (okay)
• Terrence & Terrell Hughes vs Gunn Club (okay)
• Rey Fenix vs. Danny Limelight (solid)
• Matt Sydal vs Serpentico (okay)

Johnson versus Grayson and Fenix versus Limelight clearly stood out above the rest. Those two matches were fire. King versus Gracia had Dynamite ramifications with the winner facing Hikaru Shida. Bear Country, Red Velvet, and Sydal also had interesting performances that caught my eye.

Watch the show here.

Excalibur teamed with Taz to call the action. Ricky Starks dropped by to join commentary. Justin Roberts was the ring announcer.

Jurassic Express defeated Bear Country. Marko Stunt was ringside. I learned two things from this match. First was that Taz has heat with the Berenstain Bears. He did not elaborate on the details. Second was that dinosaurs are more powerful than bears. Luchasaurus illustrated that point with a German suplex, chokeslam, and standing moonsault. Move of the match came from Bear Bronson with a sitdown piledriver to Jungle Boy on top of Luchasaurus. The dino saved the day in the end by flying for an impromptu Doomsday Device as one bear was sitting on the shoulders of the other bear. A corkscrew kick by Luchasaurus and a running strike by Jungle Boy won the match.

Nyla Rose defeated Tesha Price. Vickie Guerrero was ringside. Price had spunk, but Rose eventually flattened her with a forearm blast, Samoan drop, and fallaway slam. Rose hung Price over the ropes for a flying knee drop to win.

Miro defeated Sonny Kiss. Kip Sabian was ringside. Kiss used speed to confuse Miro early. A kick to the face turned off Kiss’ engine. Miro stomped the back then applied a nasty camel clutch for the submission victory.

Thunder Rosa defeated Jazmin Allure. Thunder Rosa dismantled her opponent and finished with a Thunder Driver. After the match, Thunder Rosa had a message for Dr. Britt Baker DMD screaming, “I’m coming for you, bitch!”

Stu Grayson defeated Lee Johnson. QT Marshall and Evil Uno were ringside. Johnson showed a strong performance, but Grayson was stronger. Grayson pummeled Johnson with a dragon suplex, backflip kick, and springboard 450 splash. Johnson kicked out on the cover and roared back with a sneaky roll-ups, a buckle bomb, and a dope corkscrew flying attack. Grayson took control on the floor by ramming Johnson into the ring post. Back inside the ropes, Grayson closed it out with a bicycle knee strike then a vicious backbreaker. After the match, Grayson showed respect with a fist bump. QT squinted his eyes in an skeptical manner.

Alex Gracia defeated KiLynn King. It was announced that the winner would wrestle Hikaru Shida on Dynamite. King had control with a heavy German suplex. Gracia escaped a pick-up to attack with a neckbreaker for glory.

Peter Avalon defeated Mike Verna. This was the first Pretty Peter’s Pageant Provocation open challenge. It was just a regular match and nothing related to beauty. Avalon evaded a flying senton then pounced for his double knee finisher. He left Verna with the parting gift of a signed photo.

Red Velvet defeated Vertvixen. Velvet was impressive in victory. For the most part, she ran through her opponent and ended it with a single-leg dropkick to the jaw.

Colt Cabana, 5, & 10 defeated Fuego Del Sol, Aaron Solow, & Ray Jaz. The Dark Order outclassed their competition. Fuego ate the pin after being the meat of an elbow and clothesline sandwich.

Leyla Hirsch defeated Madi Wrenkowski. Hirsch used a variety of submissions and slams to maintain control. Wrenkowski picked up momentum on a facebuster. When she ran the ropes for a pump kick, Hirsch caught her for a suplex then transitioned to an armbar.

Gunn Club defeated Terrence & Terrell Hughes. Billy Gunn was ringside. Colten got the hot tag to win with a double underhook twisting neckbreaker.

Rey Fenix defeated Danny Limelight. Fenix showed off a new addition to his offensive arsenal by using a tarantula leg submission in the ropes then slingshotting into a leg drop. This bout also had a chop fight on the ropes. Limelight’s night was ended when he got too fancy jumping around and landed with Fenix’s foot kicking him upside the head. Fenix used a Black Fire Driver to turn out the lights.

Matt Sydal defeated Serpentico. Luther was ringside. Serpentico was close to victory on a few occasions, but Sydal exploded for a jumping knee, roundhouse kick, and swinging cradle slam to win.

Hmm, I wonder what the Dark Order is up to by showing respect to Lee Johnson. The Dark Order has displayed a friendlier attitude without Mr. Brodie Lee, but I still don’t trust them. I suspect they are trying to poach the newest member of the Nightmare Family, however, it could just be mind games to get under the skin of Dustin Rhodes. Time will tell.

It was nice seeing Lee Johnson get a chance to shine. The guy has skills that have often been hidden in the role of enhancement talent. Having QT Marshall by his side can play into the idea of Nightmare training paying off with Johnson starting to put the pieces together to compete at a higher level.

Fenix and Danny Limelight had a very cool match. I would have rated it higher if not for the fact that Fenix was obviously going to win. It would be nice to see Limelight get signed to some capacity. I’m sure he could have very entertaining matches with Darby Allin, Ricky Starks, Jungle Boy, and others of that ilk. There’s certainly value in being a good hand, but I struggle to envision where he fits in beyond that.

Share your thoughts on Dark. Who stood out most for episode 67? Which was your favorite match?