AEW Dark Special recap (Feb. 10, 2022): Aaron Solo vs. Sonny Kiss!

The bonus episode of AEW Dark Special is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream. Your commentary team on this special edition was Mark Henry, Excalibur and Taz. Let’s get right into the action!

Aaron Solo (w/ The Factory) vs. Sonny Kiss

Solo brought a record of 14-43 to the ring. Kiss came to the ring with a 2022 record of 1-0. Solo bailed out of the ring almost immediately after the bell as the fans in Washington D.C. chanted “let’s go Sonny.” When he got back in Kiss took over with an arm drag and arm wringer, but Solo hit a clubbing forearm to the back and one to the face. Kiss responded with another arm drag and a ‘rana as a stunned QT Marshall looked on. Handspring elbow, leg lariat, springboard crossbody, near fall. Kiss put Solo on the ground and cranked on the arm again. Marshall yanked on Kiss’ leg and Solo took advantage to wipe Kiss out and attack with a series of elbows to the back. Henry was getting frustrated that Kiss kept getting distracted and threatened to get in the ring himself.

Backbreaker by Solo to a chorus of boos, and a cheer when Kiss kicked out at two. Solo applied a chinlock and Kiss fought out of it with elbows to the body. Kiss did the splits when being yanked off the ropes and went right on offense. Another split led to a near fall and Excalibur claimed Mark Henry did it himself backstage. Kiss drove Solo face first into the canvas for another near fall. Henry: “I know I’m supposed to be impartial but let’s go Sonny!” Underhook face buster by Solo ultimately put Kiss away. Taz: “Good match by both athletes. Nice win for Solo!” I agree Taz. I also think that based on all the interference by The Factory that this feud is far from over.

Abadon vs. Gia Scott

Abadon crawled out to the ring with an overall record of 26-3. Scott was waiting for her in the ring with no prior record in AEW. Scott tried a go behind and Abadon just walked away, took her down, and started bouncing Scott’s head off the canvas. Lariat in the corner, punches and kicks to the body, but Scott turned it around to throw a few strikes of her own. Abadon got back on offense with a boot when Scott charged. Scott recovered and picked Abadon up for a Samoan drop. Abadon sat right up, hit a kick to the body, a stunner, and a flying dropkick. She grabbed a handful of Scott’s blue hair, drove her head down the hard way, and picked up a quick win. Scott has a good look and is clearly strong given the way she picked up Abadon with ease. Bring her back for another match.

This was followed by a very nice video package of “Big Shotty” Lee Johnson explaining the meaning behind his name and showcasing his song “Fully Loaded” by R8ted R. As I mentioned on Tuesday the new album is at ShopAEW.com and all of the proceeds go to the Bootsy Collins Foundation, so please check it out. (Disclaimer: We get no compensation whatsoever. I’m just promoting some good music for a good cause.)

Powerhouse Hobbs (w/ Ricky Starks) vs. Lee Johnson

Hobbs brought a record of 39-17 to this match. For Johnson this was his 2022 singles debut. Hobbs was on offense from the get go and Taz was so fired up you could practically hear his smile on commentary. “Intensity. All three of my men are highly intense, highly skilled, and highly poised.” Henry pointed out that the turnbuckles were steel and the ropes have wire cores so every time Hobbs threw Johnson into either, it would hurt like a son of a gun. Johnson finally staggered Hobbs with an enzuigiri and picked up Hobbs for a vertical suplex, leaving Taz apoplectic, but Hobbs immediately responded with a spinebuster. Johnson kicked out at 2.999! Johnson escaped a torture rack attempt, but the second time Hobbs got it, Johnson couldn’t get away and tapped out to the pain.

The Blade & Private Party (w/ Matt Hardy and Jose the Assistant) vs. Dante Martin, Lee Moriarty & Matt Sydal

This was your AEW Dark Special main event! Private Party entered first led by Matt Hardy and being followed by The Blade. The latter was 43-26 and the former was 27-18. Dante Martin’s theme music led his team out, which had a 1-0 record so far in trios competition. The heels got the match to a hot start before the bell and Blade slammed Sydal with ease, seemingly encouraged on by the crowd. I’d imagine he had a few fans in D.C. since he’s from the East coast (Buffalo to be precise). Kassidy and Martin both tagged in and he avoided all of Kassidy’s offense before tagging Moriarty. This brought Marq Quen in to counter him, but Moriarty caught him in a roll up and a crossbody for two short near falls. Sydal blind tagged in and cut off The Blade with an abdominal stretch, and all three of the faces did it simultaneously as Hardy jumped on the apron to complain.

The heels cut off the ring to beat down Sydal for the heat. Martin tried and failed to get a blind tag and Taz complained that he wasn’t “using the damn tag ropes.” At least someone brought it up one time. The announcers then went on a segue about whether or not there was any good wi-fi in the venue as Sydal repeatedly tried to fight his way back to his feet. (Apparently the wi-fi sucked! Henry claimed Taz was having to use cell phone data to get online.) Sydal escaped a double suplex from Private Party, Hardy tried to grab a leg to keep him from coming off the ropes, but the meteora connected and Moriarty got the hot tag. A double team power bomb with Martin’s help was broken up by the heels, so the faces gave Martin an assist for a springboard dive to wipe them out on the outside. Back in the ring Martin did his double jump “Nose Dive” moonsault to pin The Blade. A fun main event!

What to watch/skip

This is a four match episode so you don’t need to skip anything, but since I always plug a “sponsor” in this section I’m just going to throw out the late great MC Breed. I think Keith Lee proved on Wednesday night that there ain’t no future in yo’ frontin’, and despite the great video package about Johnson’s theme song Powerhouse Hobbs proved that too.

Cageside commentary crew! I welcome your feedback in the comments section below. I’m also on Twitter if you want to hit me up there. See you next Monday night for Elevation!