AEW Dark recap (May 10, 2022): Jay Lethal vs. Jake Something

Episode 142 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 action!

Jay Lethal vs. Jake Something

Lethal brought a record of 11-4 to the ring along with Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh. Former Impact Wrestling star Jake Something tried to get in the face of all three before the opening bell and got jumped as a result. Suffice it to say even though he never got introduced his record is 0-0 as this is his promotional debut. He knocked Lethal down with a body block, pounded on his chest, and hit a suicide dive to wipe Lethal out. Singh got in his face again and slowed Something down getting back into the ring, giving Lethal time to avoid a shoulder charge in the corner. Flatliner, backbreaker, ground and pound, chop, and finally Something shoved him off with a boot and went for an inside cradle. Leapfrog by Lethal, spear by Something, two count. Chop from Something in the corner. Forearm to the face. A superplex attempt was blocked with a headbutt, a flying elbow followed, and Dutt yelled at Lethal to hit one more. He obliged. “You see that Joe?” Lethal was feeling himself. The Lethal Injection and the pin followed. Nice bit of work for Something in his first AEW appearance. Lethal: “Joe I hope you’re watching!” All three men put the boots to Something afterward. It looked a little bit like this.

Alex Reynolds vs. Jake Manning

Reynolds brought a record of 44-33 along with Preston Vance and Evil Uno. “The Manscout” Jake Manning was already waiting for him in the ring, sporting an AEW record of 0-3, reading a scouting manual to hopefully find some tips to beat his opponent. If you’re not familiar with the long time indie veteran Manning, he was reportedly hired by AEW a few months ago to work in their merchandise department, so if it was him that sent me my Nyla Rose shirt thank you. (It probably wasn’t but one could hope.) Reynolds took him down with a corkscrew uppercut and a cutthroat neckbreaker. Manning tried to hit Reynolds with his scouting book, but he ate an uppercut and Reynolds caught the book out of mid air, laying on Manning and reading it as he got the pin. This was amusing! Use Manning more often. Cezar Bononi and Tiger Ruas jumped Uno and Vance on the ramp after the match.

In a backstage vignette Jora Johl complained that joining the Hardy Family Office didn’t get him the opportunities he deserved. “And now Andrade is my new boss. And Andrade, I hope you see the talent that Matt couldn’t see. I hope that you have that eye.” He vowed in his native tongue that “No one will stop Jora’s power.”

Gunn Club vs. Fly Def

The Gunn Club brought a record of 9-2 in the tag team division along with their father Billy Gunn. Fly Def (Warren J and Zack Zilla) were waiting for them with a record of 0-0 in said same division. Fun fact — Fly Def have their own Pro Wrestling Tees store — so they’re obviously doing pretty well when they’re not being fed to the Gunns at Universal Studios. Referee Aubrey Edwards fought to keep control until Zack Zilla came in a house of fire and tried to take out both Gunns. Colten made the save when Austin was nearly pinned, and Austin used that interference to sit up the Quick Draw and make his own pin. Billy Gunn got in the ring and tried to make Edwards raise his hand too. She wanted no part of it.

Shawn Dean vs. Serpentico

Serpentico brought a record of 12-77 along with his tag team partner Luther. Dean brought a record of 6-1. Let’s all be honest with each other folks — you know Serpentico is taking the pin with or without reading spoilers from the taping. There’s no suspense to a Serpentico match. Even with Luther pulling Dean crotch first into the turnbuckle there’s no chance in hell. Commentary popped me by comparing Luther’s screaming to Shalonce Royal. They clearly didn’t think Serpentico had much chance either as they spent much of the match talking about salsa and corn dogs. Luther ordered Serpentico to go to the top rope and as you’d expect he missed Dean completely. Dean hit a sliding elbow to the back of the head for a near fall. Serpentico hit a flatliner for his own two count. Luther: “You’re the worst ref ever!” Taz: “That’s not nice.” Luther tried to hold Dean, ate a boot from his own partner, and Dean finished him off with The Deal seconds later.

Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson vs. Brick City Boyz

Johnson and Anderson brought a record of 6-5 along with Brock’s father Arn Anderson. The Boyz brought a record of 0-1. Julio Cruz ate a neckbreaker, Victor Chase ate a suplex and a falcon arrow, and Cruz broke up Johnson’s pin. Anderson came in with a spinebuster to neutralize Cruz, then got the tag to come in legally for a Gordbuster to put Chase away.

Abadon vs. Vicky Dreamboat

Following her win on Elevation last night Abadon came to Dark with a record of 33-3. Dreamboat was waiting in the ring for her to make her AEW debut. Much like a Serpentico match, there isn’t much suspense when Abadon faces someone making their first appearance in the promotion. Back senton, Black Dahlia, pin. Short and to the point.

Jora Johl vs. Trip Jordy

Johl was accompanied by Angelico and brought a record of 2-3 for 2022. Jordy was waiting for him in the ring to (you guessed it) make his AEW debut. Some fan at Universal Studios yelled out “Do your best Trip!” and Taz couldn’t help but start laughing. Johl toyed with him for a few minutes, hit a cutter, threw a chop, ran into a big boot, caught Jordy in mid air trying a crossbody and finished him with a pump kick. He lived up to his promo.

Kiera Hogan vs. Skye Blue

Blue brought a record of 3-7 to this math. Hogan was accompanied by Red Velvet and brought a record of 4-3. Hogan hit a cutthroat lung blower for two and Velvet couldn’t believe that wasn’t the pin. Hogan started disrespecting Blue and Blue fired up and hit a thrust kick. Running knee, roundhouse kick, near fall. Velvet interfered and Hogan hit a roundhouse kick of her own to pick up the win. Taz: “That’s what Baddies do for each other.”

Kevin Knight & The DKC vs. The Factory (Nick Comoroto & Aaron Solo)

Knight & DKC were making their debut here representing the NJPW LA Dojo. Comoroto was 19-31 and Solo was 16-55, lead to the ring by QT Marshall and followed by other members of The Factory.

Comoroto shoulder blocked Knight out of mid air while Marshall yelled at fans at ringside. Solo dumped Knight out to the floor and Edwards yelled at him, while Marshall took advantage of the situation to throw a free punch. Eventually Knight recovered and made the hot tag to DKC, who shouted “HIYA” with every chop and strike then yelled “DK FIRE!!” He stretched Solo out over his knee to wear him out, and Comoroto had to come flying into the ring when he went for the pin. Comoroto countered a double suplex attempt, made the legal tag, tossed DKC with one hand but Knight knocked him off his feet for a near fall. Knight tagged in, Comoroto fought them both off, and hit Knight with a scoop slam. Solo got the tag, went to the top, DKC shoved him off. Comoroto got his neck snapped off the ropes and DKC gave him a missile dropkick. He went for a suicide dive and Comoroto threw him into the barricade. Knight avoided a corkscrew kick but Marshall grabbed his leg and he couldn’t avoid it the second time. Comoroto speared him and Solo made the cover for 3.

Marshall: “Cut that music please. Guys that was a hell of a job, let’s hear it for these guys right? We can tell the LA Dojo has done wonders for guys like you. I don’t normally do this, especially here at Universal, but I think if you join the Factory we can do something for your careers. You need that little bit extra and that extra is QT. What do you say? Hey don’t listen to these people these people are stupid. What do you say?” Knight and DKC rejected the offer and got a beatdown since QT’s crew had the numbers advantage. They went under the ring to bring out a pair of tables. DKC got slammed through both of them, and Knight got fed into the ring for a further beating before Alex Coughlin, Karl Fredericks, Clark Connors and Yuya Uemura ran out to make the save!

Rohit Raju vs. Adam Priest

Raju brought a record of 0-2 to the ring. Priest was waiting for him with a record of 0-1. Honestly at this point Dark had been on the air for 70 minutes and watching two winless wrestlers face each other wasn’t the way to build up to a main event. The crowd was clearly feeling the same way as they were almost dead silent. To make matters worse the match looked pretty sloppy. Raju did a double stomp off the ropes to bring it to a merciful end.

Evil Uno & Preston Vance vs. Tiger Ruas & Cezar Bononi

Ruas and Bononi brought a record of 2-0 as a team in AEW. Uno was 58-33 and Vance was 59-20. Is it just me or is it weird for Evil Uno to not be tagging with Stu Grayson? They’ve been together in one form or another going all the way back to 2006. Sure Uno did random tags with other Dark Order members here and there, but Grayson was always around, and often joined in for six, eight, or ten man matches too. They felt inseparable but Grayson’s departure proves they very much are separable. Breaking up Randy Orton and Riddle would make more sense to me because at least they each had their own thing before becoming a popular tag team. I know Grayson and AEW both have their reasons though so I’m just going to have to respect their decision and live with it. The other thing that bothered me about this was that Grayson usually took the beatings and tagged out to Uno, which made sense size wise, but in this case Uno is a big guy and Vance is an even BIGGER guy.

-1 interfered from the outside, Bononi came out to get in his face, and -1 did a DX “suck it” chop and ran away. Back in the ring Vance planted Ruas, tagged Uno, Uno hit a pump kick and got the assisted senton before Bononi broke up the pin. Vance got tagged back in, Uno got wiped out on the apron, and Vance got catapulted into a corkscrew kick before Uno broke it up at the very last second. Ruas tagged in, Uno took Bononi out on the outside with a dropkick, Bononi gave chase and wound up eating a discus lariat when he got back in the ring. Vance applied the full nelson and Ruas tapped out. -1 hit the ring to celebrate!

What to watch/skip

Tonight’s “what to watch/skip” for AEW Dark is brought to you by Jake Something’s match with Filthy Tom Lawlor — because that exists, and you should go watch it. What you shouldn’t watch is Serpentico vs. Dean, Raju vs. Priest, or Abadon vs. Dreamboat. The rest of the show was acceptable and sandwiched by two fine matches at the start and end. Usually you want the filling to be more important than the bread, but this was some artisan baked fresh daily bread packed with a lot of flavor. It made everything else taste better. The Factory vs. LA Dojo was probably the best ingredient between the slices, but Reynolds vs. Manning had good flavor too if you like “The Manscout” and his brand of comedy.

Cageside commentary crew! Share your feedback in the comments section below. If you love pro wrestling you can find me on Twitter too. See you Monday for Elevation!