AEW Dark recap (Aug. 25, 2020): Jack Evans & Angelico live up to potential

Episode 48 of AEW Dark featured the Best Friends brawling with Santana & Ortiz, Vickie Guerrero naming her alliance with Nyla Rose, Frankie Kazarian showing he should be appreciated, and Jack Evans & Angelico living up to their potential with an upset victory.

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

• Storm Thomas & Demetri Jackson vs Best Friends (okay)
• Jessy Sorensen vs Shawn Spears (pass)
• Red Velvet vs Mel (okay)
• D3 vs Lance Archer (pass)
• Luther & Serpentico vs The Initiative (solid)
• Nyla Rose vs KiLynn King (okay)
• Billy & Austin Gunn vs Frank Stone & Baron Black (okay)
• Penelope Ford vs Heather Monroe (okay)
• Santana & Ortiz vs Metro Brothers (pass)
• Ricky Starks vs Shawn Dean (okay)
• Jake Hager vs Marko Stunt (pass)
• Frankie Kazarian vs Kip Sabian (solid)
• Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela vs The Hybrid2 (watch)

The final two bouts of the evening were where it’s at for this episode. Both were hotly contested between evenly matched competitors. Spears, Archer, Santana & Ortiz, and Jake Hager were entertaining, but there was nothing new to be gleaned from their performances.

Watch the show here.

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Tony Schiavone, Taz, and Veda Scott were on commentary. Justin Roberts was the ring announcer.

Storm Thomas & Demetri Jackson vs Best Friends

Orange Cassidy was ringside. Best Friends eschewed their jolly attitude as Chuck Taylor went rowdy and Trent had a look of aggression in his eyes. Commentary put it over as them still being upset about Santana & Ortiz destroying the van of Trent’s mom. Best Friends dominated early then Chuck was a in bit of trouble leading to Trent kicking butt. Jackson was obliterated in the end with a running knee strike and a piledriver from Trent then another piledriver from Chuck to win.

Jessy Sorensen vs Shawn Spears

Tully Blanchard was ringside. Spears was not as focused as last week in his impressive victory. Spears was still vicious, but he was back to strutting and wasting time arguing with the referee. Sorensen had momentum after a reverse cutter. Sorensen went high-risk, but Spears knocked him off the turnbuckles. A Death Valley driver ended the match in favor of Spears. Afterward, he loaded his black glove to punch Sorensen in the back of the head.

Red Velvet vs Mel

Speed versus power. Red Velvet moved like a rabbit to score some offense, then she ran right into a side slam from Mel. Red Velvet remained feisty by countering a move into a bulldog. She took to the air, but Mel caught her for a goozling chokeslam to win.

D3 vs Lance Archer

Jake Roberts was ringside. Squash. Archer manhandled D3. D3 had one minor offensive flurry, but he missed a moonsault. That led to his demise with a Blackout then skull smashes into the mat for Archer to win.

Luther & Serpentico vs The Initiative

Leva Bates was ringside. If Peter Avalon and Brandon Cutler ever have a chance to win, this would be it. Let’s see if they can earn their first win in AEW.

Luther was the driving force of this contest. He often used his partner as a battering ram to slam on top of their opponents. Avalon almost stole the win twice. First was on a double underhook powerbomb to Serpentico, and second was using a distraction from Bates to roll up Luther. In the end, Avalon’s cheating shortcut backfired to cost The Initiative. He tried to hit Serpentico with a book but whacked Cutler instead.

Luther powerbombed Avalon on the floor, then he assisted Serpentico for an elevated flying double knees to Cutler’s face for the win. AEW’s lovable losers remain winless.

Nyla Rose vs KiLynn King

Vickie Guerrero was ringside. King had momentum after a Samoan drop. She climbed the turnbuckles, but Vickie pushed her off. Rose pounced with a sitout powerbomb to win. Afterward, Vickie grabbed the mic to announce their new name of their alliance as the Vicious Vixens.

Billy & Austin Gunn vs Frank Stone & Baron Black

Hot tag to Billy, but the bad guys saw the Fameasser coming and escaped. Austin came back in to close it out with his Quick Draw hip toss neckbreaker finisher to pin Black.

Penelope Ford vs Heather Monroe

Kip Sabian was ringside and provided a double leaf blower distraction when Monroe had momentum.

Monroe still fought hard and almost won on a roll-up, school girl, and a strait jacket lungblower. Ford ducked a kick then pulled Monroe backward smashing into the corner. Ford followed through with a handspring back elbow and unloaded a brutal barrage of back elbows. A cradle fisherman’s suplex finished it for Ford to win.

Santana & Ortiz vs Metro Brothers

The Metro Brothers hail from Coney Island. They wore leather jackets and white t-shirts. It reminded me of an updated version of Deuce and Domino. The match was complete domination for Santana & Ortiz. They won with a teamwork combo of a sitdown powerbomb from Ortiz then a kick to the face from Santana.

After the match, Best Friends ran in to attack their hated foes. All four brawled to the parking lot. Ortiz suplexed Taylor onto a trashcan. The cameras cut away while they were still fighting.

Ricky Starks vs Shawn Dean

Hard fought victory for Starks. Dean was game, but Starks outsmarted him in the end to hit his Rochambeau (Dominator) finisher. Starks also mocked Darby Allin again with a weak standing Coffin Drop.

Jake Hager vs Marko Stunt

Both men were solo without backup. Hager was reluctant to smash Stunt, so Stunt tried to show up the big man. Hager regrouped mentally then blasted Stunt in the corner. He took care of business with a uranage into an arm triangle choke to win. Afterward, Hager had plans on more punishment, but Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus ran in. Hager clobbered Stunt with one more knee before running away.

Frankie Kazarian vs Kip Sabian

Penelope Ford was ringside. Kazarian went solo without SCU. The bout began with fundamental wrestling and escalated into nifty maneuvers, such as an electric chair slam by Kaz into a bridging pin. Ford assisted her loverman by putting his foot on the ropes after Kaz slingshot Sabian into a cutter.

For the finish, Kip had Kaz up for a cross-legged brainbuster, but Kaz countered out to hit a Scorpion Death Drop for victory. Afterward, Kaz spoke into the camera about not being unappreciated ever again.

Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela vs The Hybrid2

This was a flashy bout with hard impact. Janela cleaned house on a hot tag and hit a DVD to Evans on the floor.

Kiss followed with a moonsault onto Angelico on the floor. Kiss connected on a 450 splash to Evans in the ring, but Angelico broke up the pin.

Janela snatched Angelico up for a DVD on the apron, however, the lanky fellow escaped and smashed Janela’s head down. Angelico then punched Kiss on the turnbuckles. Evans lifted Kiss up for a backslide with a bridge to win.

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Wow! Count me shocked that The Hybrid2 were victorious. Despite their talent, they seemed barely above The Initiative on AEW’s tag team pecking order. I’m a big fan of Jack Evans and Angelico, so, needless to say, I was quite happy. I danced along TH2 in my mind.

This is the kind of match that makes Dark worth watching. Joey Janela & Sonny Kiss had all the momentum coming in by racking up wins. Then Evans and Angelico played the game better on this evening. I hope TH2 goes on a roll. They are far too entertaining to be an afterthought in the tag division.

I have a similar sentiment for Frankie Kazarian’s win over Kip Sabian. Kip had the winning streak, but the experienced veteran slowed the pace down and countered at the perfect time to win. That was a classic story for competition.

Red Velvet caught my eye again with her moxie. I like that she didn’t back down against the larger Mel. Best Friends brawling with Santana & Ortiz was a pleasant surprise to keep my attention during the rut of showcase bouts. Vicious Vixens has a nice ring to it. That should sell some shirts. Vickie Guerrero is already paying off for Nyla Rose.

This episode revealed that AEW may be breaking the law. Luchasaurus claimed that Marko Stunt was just a kid in his effort to persuade Jake Hager to leave the little one alone. Putting a child against a grown man in combat seems illegal. The Florida State Boxing Commission should investigate. They have been known to have relaxed regulations, so maybe they are board with it. I mean they have been allowing a dinosaur to compete all this time.

Share your thoughts on Dark. Who stood out most for episode 48?

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