AEW Dark recap (Mar. 8, 2022): First class, Top Flight

Episode 133 of AEW Dark is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream from YouTube. Your commentary team this week was Excalibur and Taz. Without further adieu let’s get straight into Tuesday night’s action!

Anna Jay (w/ -1) vs. Marina Tucker

Anna Jay came out 27-11 accompanied by -1 with Dark Order watching from the entrance ramp. Tucker was waiting for her in the ring with a 0-1 record thus far in the promotion. Jay worked the arm and then hit a back heel kick to the jaw. Tucker responded with a scoop slam and a cartwheel elbow drop for a pin attempt. Jay gave Tucker a reverse kick and immediately locked in the Queen Slayer for the tap. A one minute squash, or as Taz said “she did not overstay her welcome.”

Scorpio Sky vs. Sonny Kiss

Kiss came out first with a record of 2-1 so far in 2022. Sky brought a record of 56-16 overall. AEW is still highly inconsistent with whether they show the overall W/L record or the “reset” record and I wish they’d either fix it or justify why they do it.

Sky with shoulder tackles early, Kiss did a leapfrog over him, but Sky knocked Kiss down again. A ‘rana and a back handspring kick turned things around. Kiss hit knees to the ribs for a near fall and threw punches to the abdomen before setting Sky on the ropes. Kiss tried another ‘rana that was blocked, bridged to avoid Sky, but then got kicked square in the back. Sky followed that up with a back breaker as the crowd booed. As has been his m.o. lately Sky immediately hit another back breaker and a third. Kiss finally got back on offense and hit a roundhouse kick from the apron and a springboard crossbody for two. Kiss went to the second rope for a splitting leg drop, Sky got out of the way, Kiss blocked a TKO the first time but not the second time and the impressive Man of the Year picked up another win at Kiss’ expense.

Red Velvet vs. Kiera Hogan

Hogan entered first with a record of 5-1. Velvet entered with a record of 45-21. Taz raved about how evenly matched the women were while Excalibur plugged three AEW events coming up in Texas. Velvet bridged up out of a pin but Hogan took her down with a dropkick. Clothesline in the corner, hip attack to the head, sliding dropkick and Velvet was seemingly rocked but still kicked out at two. Hogan hit a leg drop and Velvet kicked out yet again. After that sequence I would have called for a pin but instead Velvet threw a series of kicks and suddenly finished Hogan with the Final Slice. I enjoyed this match but to me the wrong woman went over, especially given how good Hogan’s offense looked and how Velvet’s comeback came absolutely out of nowhere.

Top Flight (Dante Martin & Darius Martin) vs. The Wingmen (Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth)

The Wingmen were making their 2022 tag team debut and were accompanied by JD Drake and Cezar Bononi. Top Flight brought a 2021 record of 4-0 and got a nice pop for their return to tag team action. Excalibur reminded us that Darius Martin nearly pulled off an improbable win in his first match back on Dynamite and Taz raved about the cardio conditioning he showed in the process. A “Top Flight” chant broke out and Darius encouraged it as he went to work on Avalon. Dante tagged in after a magistral cradle and did a deep arm drag. Darius tagged in and did a backslide for a near fall.

Dante tagged in for a sunset flip and a near fall. Darius tagged in for a slam. Dante tagged in for a dive over the apron. Nemeth ran in and ate a double dropkick for his trouble. Avalon gave Dante a clothesline from behind for the heat. Dante went for the springboard and got yanked off the apron for even more heat as Bononi and Drake worked him over on the floor. ‘=Nemeth tagged in for his turn to put in some work but wasn’t on offense for long before Dante escaped the double team and tagged in Darius. Uppercut, lariat, bridging German on Nemeth for a near fall. Darius tagged Dante back in, Avalon got kicked off the apron to the floor, Dante and Darius hit a double enzuigiri, Dante did the Nose Dive for the pin. A very successful and impressive return to form for Top Flight!

Kris Statlander (w/ Best Friends & Danhausen) vs. Kelsey Raegan

Statlander brought a record of 39-17 to this contest along with the unexpected arrival of the “very nice, very evil” Danhausen! Raegan was waiting in the ring with a record of 0-1 so far.

I have to confess that the last time she was on a Dark show I thought “Raegan” was a typo and that her last name was spelled like the former President. Nope. It really is Raegan so I apologize to the young lady. Statlander might apologize to her too because they barely had any time together in the ring before she hit a Big Bang Theory right on her head for the win.

Danhausen and the Friends all got in the ring for a group hug as Excalibur screamed “You GOT to give the people what they want!!” This match apparently ran short so that Private Party could get an interview backstage with Tony Schiavone. Matt Hardy came in and declared Arn Anderson “ancient history in North Carolina” for a little extra heat.

AQA & Ruby Soho vs. Diamante & Emi Sakura

Diamante 3-0 and Sakura 5-2 in 2022 as they came out to tag together. AQA and Soho were 0-2 and 17-4 respectively. AQA and Diamante started things off, AQA did a splash on her in the corner, Soho tagged herself in and did a running kick. Diamante tagged in Sakura and she bit Soho and grabbed a handful of hair. Soho clubbed her in the head and tagged AQA back in, but Sakura blocked the double team and stacked them up in the corner so her partner could run over for a dropkick. Diamante did the three amigos in honor of the late Eddie Guerrero before Sakura came back in for her “we will rock you” chops and crossbody. Two count. The crowd chanted for Soho as the beatdown of AQA continued. She finally crawled through Sakura’s legs to give Soho the hot tag. Thrust kick, head kick, leg sweep, Diamante broke up the pin. Diamante threw AQA out and Soho got rolled up for two. Sakura hit a chop lariat and tagged Diamante back in, but Soho blocked Code Red with a rising knee and tagged AQA back in. Soho hit the No Future kick on Diamante and took Sakura out before AQA finished Diamante with a shooting star press for the pin. It would be awesome to see these two tag together on a regular basis!

The Butcher and The Blade (The Blade & The Butcher) w/ Jose the Assistant (AHFO) vs. The Dark Order (Alan Angels & Colt Cabana)

The Butcher and The Blade brought a record of 21-10 in tag team competition to the ring. Angela was 26-43 and Cabana was 41-24 as they were accompanied by -1 and Dark Order to the entrance ramp. Excalibur seemed to have a problem telling who was Butcher and who was Blade, which reminded me of the Takeover I went to in Dallas where the fans chanted “Which one’s Dawson? Which one’s Dash!” I bet people have figured it out now that they’re Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler but I digress. Angels took the two-on-one beating for the heat as he usual does in tag team matches, and Cabana got the hot tag and started throwing strikes as hard as he could at Butcher, who no sold a ton of them until he ate the flying apple and the moonsault for two. Butcher ate an elbow to the head, Angels tagged in for an enzuigiri, Jose the Assistant caused a distraction and Blade tagged in for a blindside lariat. The duo did their double team Drag the Lake finisher to Angels for the pin.

Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) vs. Skye Blue

Blue brought a record of 3-3 in 2022 to the ring. Rose brought a record of 60-23 overall. Blue blocked a Beast Bomb and survived for a little bit but Guerrero yanked her off the apron and she immediately got thrown into the barricade by Rose. She survived for a little bit longer but the Beast Bomb was inevitable. This went no more than a few minutes tops.

Jay Lethal vs. Serpentico (w/ Luther)

Serpentico came out 12-68 in AEW and would be leaving 12-69 in short order. Lethal brought a 2022 record of 6-1. Excalibur declared it would be not “if” but “when” in terms of Lethal becoming a title holder in the promotion. Lethal scared Serpentico with a Flair “wooooo” and had a hearty laugh. Lethal threw Serpentico out, they took turns trying to outsmart each other on the floor, and Lethal got the better of it with a suicide dive into the barricade. Serpentico hit a flatliner and gave himself a round of applause. Serpentico kept trying to block a vertical suplex so eventually Lethal just hit a brainbuster. Lethal went to the top for a Lethal Elbow but Serpentico kicked out. The crowd chanted for him, but Serpentico kicked him and hit a short DDT before he could perform the Lethal Injection. Luther started screaming at Serpentico to go to the top rope. He reluctantly did it and missed with the senton. Lethal knocked Luther off the apron and Serpentico tried a roll up for a near fall. That was his last chance as the Lethal Injection was the next/final move.

Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) w/ Matt Hardy vs. Brock Anderson & Lee Johnson w/ Arn Anderson

Private Party brought a tag team record of 27-18 to the main event. Anderson and Johnson came in 5-4. Johnson and Kassidy started the match and went 50/50, giving each other a smile and a fist bump as a show of respect. Quen took advantage though for some cheap shots from the apron before tagging in. All four men hit the ring until it settled down to Johnson and Quen. Hardy tripped Johnson from the outside while referee Paul Turner was distracted, and Private Party cut off the ring to work him over. This led to a lot of cussing for some reason and Taz joked “welcome to YouTube” while Excalibur quipped “there goes our monetization.” Brock finally got the hot tag and worked over Quen with strikes until Kassidy got a high back bodydrop. Anderson hit a gut wrench suplex, Hardy got on the apron to complain, and Arn took him down with a big punch. Kassidy tagged back in and ate a spinebuster, but managed to steal a pin with a foot on the ropes. Hardy rubbed his sore jaw but was all smiles that his team picked up the win.

What to watch/skip

Since Top Flight were together tonight, the sky’s the limit when they take flight. Their fast paced and well timed action truly stole the show, but AQA and Soho also impressed me as a team against Sakura and Diamante. If you skip anything you can skip Statlander’s match, but watch the entrance and the post-match just to see Danhausen. You can definitely skip Rose vs. Blue because the result was way too obvious even without Vickie Guerrero’s help.

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!