AEW Dark recap (Sept. 4, 2021): C-M-PUNK

Episode 106 of AEW Dark is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream. Let’s talk about what went down Saturday night on YouTube. Your commentary team for the broadcast was Excalibur and Taz, joined as the first match got underway by “Absolute” Ricky Starks.

2point0 (Matt Lee & Jeff Parker) vs. Rosario Grillo & Hunter Knott

The team of Grillo & Knott (which sounds like an Italian place for burgers and garlic knots) was waiting for their opponents in the ring with a combined 0-2 record in 2021. It didn’t take long for Knott to eat 2 for the Show for the pin. “A very impressive victory to kick off Dark” quipped Excalibur. That’s overstating it my masked friend. It was a very average squash. Vickie Guerrero promised that Nyla Rose would be victorious on Sunday night without screaming (yay).

Wheeler YUTA (w/ Best Friends) vs. Barron Black

YUTA’s 2021 record to date in singles competition was 5-7, but that’s a fair sight better than his opponent Black, who came in 0-15. Yuta quickly put his shoulders to the mat with the Seat Belt as Taz put over how difficult it was to kick out of it.

Julia Hart (w/ Varsity Blonds) vs. Heather Reckless

Hart came in 5-8 while Reckless had a singles record of 0-3. Hart pinned Reckless with a bulldog but commentary put over the idea that she tweaked her knee during the match.

Just in case it wasn’t clear that AEW was trying to get Julia Hart out of the Casino Battle Royale, Nyla Rose and Jade Cargill beat her up while she was cutting a post match promo.

Hikaru Shida vs. Missa Kate

39-4 vs. 0-1. AEW actually gave this a little bit of time though, and Kate got to throw Shida out of the ring, but that just gave Shida an excuse for a step up knee to the face off a steel chair. Kate tried some short spears in the corner and smashed Shida face first into the turnbuckle for a near fall. That was her last hope spot as Shida finished with a Falcon Arrow. You get the impression from this one that either Shida or AEW likes Kate (maybe both).

Red Velvet vs. Skye Blue

Velvet brought a singles record of 24-6 to the match. Blue came in 0-2 but got a pop from the crowd for being announced “from Joliet, Illinois” by Justin Roberts. Occasional chants of her name rang out after that, and the crowd would pop when she kicked out of near falls. They were clearly disappointed when Velvet kicked out of a DDT, and Velvet got booed when she hit the Final Slice moments later.

As with the prior match I was a bit surprised at how much the “already in the ring” opponent got, but in this case it was clearly done on purpose, because Tony Khan came out after the match and invited her to be in the Casino Battle Royale to replace the injured Julia Hart.

Shawn Spears & Wardlow (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. Brandon Gore & JDX

Wardlow did the heavy lifting and Spears laid on the carcass of Brandon Gore for the pin. There’s nothing more to add.

The Dark Order (John Silver & Preston “10” Vance) vs. Zachariah & Ren Jones

The Jones brothers were making their AEW debut on this program. Silver hit the Spin Doctor and 10 applied the Full Nelson to end it. This was more squash than a fall harvest.

Penelope Ford (w/ The Bunny) vs. Queen Aminata

Ford’s 2021 record going in was 11-4. Aminata’s record was 0-4. Ford did her back bridge submission for the quick victory, leading us to a promo from “Smart” Mark Sterling and “That Bitch” Jade Cargill.

“The Elite Hunter” Frankie Kazarian vs. Dean Alexander

Alexander was submitted by the Cross Face Chicken Wing. Short and to the point.

Jade Cargill vs. Blair Onyx

This was even quicker. In fact Cargill’s entrance took longer than the match itself. Spinebuster, pump kick, Glam Slam, done. As Taz would say, “That’s how you do it.”

Thunder Rosa laughed off the competition in the Casino Battle Royale afterward. “Ha!”

Chaos Project (Luther & Serpentico) vs. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) w/ Marko Stunt

Chaos Project brought a 10-20 record to the ring, Jurassic Express 10-3, so the same number of wins but a drastically different number of losses. Luther ate kicks from everyone and Serpentico got his head bounced off the canvas like a basketball for the double team finish. Be a little more careful guys. This was billed as the main event but there was more to come before the show was done!

Punk put over the crowd for singing people’s theme songs, and said he was “tasked” with “sending you home happy.” He shook hands with everybody, thanked everyone, and got them to sing the Golden Girls theme song. Excalibur: “Jungle Boy’s too young for this.” He also encouraged criticism and feedback, saying he’s no longer “the voice of the voiceless” because the AEW fans have a voice. A fun way to end the show!

What to watch/skip

I imagine 80% of the people watching the replay are going to skip straight ahead to hear what Mr. Phil Brooks had to say, so I’ll encourage them along with the other 20% to watch Hikaru Shida vs. Missa Kate and Red Velvet vs. Skye Blue. These were the two most interesting and competitive matches of the show and Skye Blue has some potential too. None of the squashes were offensive, but Jade Cargill’s was the most impressive.

Cageside commentary crew! Get off your seats and leave your feedback in the comments section below, and enjoy All Out on Sunday night!