AEW Dark recap (Apr. 26, 2022): Penta Oscuro takes another soul (and that’s fine by me)

Episode 140 of AEW Dark is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream via YouTube. Your commentary team this week was Excalibur and Taz. Let’s get right into the thick of things!

Red Velvet vs. Dulce Tormenta

Velvet brought a record of 49-22 to the opening contest of this episode. Tormenta was waiting for her in the ring, sporting a record of 0-1 in the promotion. Velvet avoided an attempt at a lockdown and hit a go behind into a takedown, causing Taz to quip that “she’s outgrappling her.” Next was a float over into a side headlock. Tormenta tried to scissor the head and Velvet escaped. Tormenta tried a body kick but ate a leg lariat. Velvet picked her up but got countered into a trio of vertical suplexes (nice delay on the third). The crowd rallied behind Tormenta a bit for this but she got tripped into the ropes and hit with a dropkick from behind. Velvet hit a corkscrew kick and pinned her seconds later.

Serpentico vs. Lee Moriarty

Last night we got the fake Serpentico, tonight we get the real one. His record overall coming in was 12-76. Moriarty brought a 2022 record of 3-1 and his friend Matt Sydal as well, limping to the ring on a pair of crutches. Serpentico jumped on Moriarty before the bell even finished ringing and was chastised by Bryce Remsburg as a result. It didn’t take long for Moriarty to recover, but Serpentico snapped his neck off the ropes and blasted him in the forehead to regain control. Serpentico hit a reverse heel kick and a DDT for a near fall. He tried an abdominal stretch and Moriarty escaped and went on offense, culminating in a series of knees to the face and a bulldog to the mat. Sydal pounded the mat in approval. Serpentico tried a roll up with a handful of tights. Moriarty hit a palm strike and a flatliner in response to immediately get the pin. Even without Luther there Serpentico loses again!

Anna Jay and Skye Blue vs. The Bunny and Raychell Rose

33-26 and 0-3 were Bunny and Rose respectively. 34-11 and 8-20 were Jay and Blue. Bunny and Rose tried to get the jump before the bell but were outsmarted and knocked down before the match officially got underway. Jay was in full control of Bunny and quickly got a near fall. Rose grabbed a handful of Jay’s hair from the outside to allow Bunny to recover, and then Bunny put the boots to Jay in the corner. Diving elbow, scream, near fall. She even gave Blue a forearm to the face for good measure. Jay tried to counter into a roll up and a backslide before getting taken down with a clothesline. Meanwhile Taz was singing “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J (not the Biggie version). Excalibur: “Essentially we’re watching a singles match with two other people on the apron.” Rose finally tagged in to continue the beatdown on Jay. Naturally she got dropped on her face and Blue tagged in too. Rose blocked a thrust kick but not an enzuigiri and Bunny had to make the save. Blue low bridged Bunny to the floor, tagged in Jay, and Jay applied the Queen Slayer to make Rose tap. The more I see of Raychell Rose, the more I like her.

QT Marshall vs. Penta Oscuro

Marshall came out first flanked by Aaron Solo and sporting a singles record of 42-35 along with a microphone. “Cut the music! Is that the kind of reception I deserve? A couple of years ago y’all were chanting my name and now all I hear is QT sucks. What happened? What happened?! I didn’t turn on you guys. Ask Tony, I help AEW exist. I said I help it existed you idiots! Rick what’s wrong with these people? Justin I want you to introduce me again so these people can give me the reception I deserve. That guy over there is giving me the finger. Get him out of here, this is a family show.” The lights went out at this point.

Oscuro brought a record of 62-31 following his win last night along with his demonic priest Alex Abrahantes. Coincidentally Marshall lost to Suzuki yesterday so things were definitely not getting any better for him here. The crowd did dueling chants even though both chants were in favor of one man: “cero, miedo” and “QT sucks!” Oscuro was enjoying it so much he held a finger in the air and played conductor. Marshall got out of the ring and grabbed a mic again. “Hey, let the record show that QT does not sucks!” He got back in the ring and took the cero miedo in the face from Oscuro. Marshall kicked him in the gut and yelled “Who sucks now?” as the crowd booed loudly. Even if you don’t like Marshall, you’ve got to like how much you don’t like him! He’s very good at getting heat. The crowd roared with approval for every chop and slingblade Oscuro threw. Even something as simple as kicking Marshall’s leg got them to “WOOOO” like Ric Flair.

Marshall threw an elbow strike and they immediately started booing again. He tied Oscuro’s mask to the ring and Aaron Solo ran over to throw some right hands, so Abrahantes grabbed his shovel and ran Solo off. The ref untied Oscuro during all of this but Marshall still tried to beat him up on the apron. Oscuro responded by crotching him and doing a double stomp for a near fall. Dueling chants again in Dallas. Marshall threw a haymaker and Oscuro let him up with a chop in return. QT tried one of his own and they booed. Oscuro did it again and followed up with a forearm. Another “cero miedo” but Marshall cut him off with an enzuigiri. Marshall hit the ropes but he ate a thrust kick. You know what comes next.

Penta went to snap the arm but Solo tried to cause a distraction. He got kicked off the apron but Nick Comoroto hit the ring for a spear, Marshall made the cover, and Oscuro kicked out! Marshall got caught in mid air with a kick when he tried a moonsault, and Oscuro snapped the arm with nobody to stop him. One, two, three! The crowd exploded for this finish. Great match!

Charlette Renegade vs. Abadon

Abadon crawled out to the ramp with a record of 31-3. Renegade was waiting for her with a record of 0-1 and her sister Robyn nowhere in sight.

Renegade tried and tried to get Abadon to sell, but on a sunset flip attempt Abadon just sat down on her, then followed that with an axe kick and a senton. Black Dahlia, pin. Where’s Mark Henry to say “You can count to a hundred” for this one? A vicious and totally one sided squash.

The Hardys, Top Flight and Frankie Kazarian vs. Angelico, The Blade, Max Caster, and Private Party

Top Flight brought a tag team record of 4-1. Kazarian was 70-29. Last but not least the Hardy Boyz brought a tag record of 2-0 so far in AEW. That completes one half of our main event!

The heels were not getting billed individually — they were “making their ten man tag debut.”

That didn’t stop Max Caster from doing a rap. “Platinum, make the fans turn on they recorded. Y’all don’t want to cross me, I am not the border. Yo Kaz, I’m telling you stop. When your music hits you get a negative pop. Top Flight, y’all are nine years old. I’ma turn this ring to the grassy knoll. And the Hardys? YOLO, go harder. I’m properly trained, you’re just some backyarders. Yeah, y’all going back to the yard, back to the yard.”

All you need to know is the Dallas crowd erupted when Matt Hardy tagged in, and they got even louder when he tagged in Jeff. The only reasons people were here were for Max Caster’s rap and the Hardys to hit their spots, and everything else was window dressing. “Everything’s just breaking down here in our main event.” With respect Excalibur that’s every ten man tag match ever. This was no exception. The heels cut off the ring to beat Jeff Hardy down (with a little illegal extra help from Anthony Bowens) and mocked the crowd as everyone begged The Charismatic Enigma for the tag. Kazarian got the tag, then Darius Martin, then Dante did a suicide dive to wipe everyone out before we had another cluster in the ring. Private Party got a double team near fall on Darius. Kazarian cleared the ring and hit a cutter on Kassidy. Blade clotheslined him out. Top Flight took him out, Dante out Max Caster, Marq Quen tried a roll up with the trunks and Darius kicked out. The crowd chanted “Delete! Delete! Delete!” and that was the cue for Matt to tag in. Twist of Fate, Jeff got the tag, and you know what that means — Swanton Bomb! 1, 2, 3.

What to watch/skip

The more I watch Penta Oscuro the more I’m reminded of horrorcore rap from the 1990’s, so today’s “what to watch/skip” is brought to you by the instrumental from the Prince Paul, RNS and RZA produced “Diary of a Madman.” His match was the main event for me, but I don’t deny that people will watch this episode of Dark just to see the multi-man match with the Hardys at the end. I’ve seen a lot of complaints from people (including King Booker) about them being used on the Dark shows, but if it’s in front of a live audience at a big arena, why wouldn’t you give the fans a Hardys match? It’s not about whether it airs on TV or YouTube, it’s about giving the people what they wanted to see. AEW delivered it here. Besides if you need an incentive to watch the YouTube shows, why not put the stars on there every once in a while? It can’t hurt! It’s not like this is “burying” the Hardys at all. That’s my two cents on it FWIW.

Cageside commentary crew! I welcome your feedback in the comments section below. See you next Monday night for Elevation!