AEW (AFTER) Dark Review 1/7/20 (Kip Sabian and TH2 vs. SCU)

By
Zach Perez

Welcome to the return of the AEW (AFTER) Dark Review here on Pro Wrestling Post! The first AEW Dark of the year and the decade was a much briefer episode but still had some great moments along the just over 30-minute run time.

Besides the two matches on the show, we also got some nice continuation of storylines. Christopher Daniels addressed his botched moonsault once again. He also proclaimed he was still the “Fallen Angel”. What implications that may have, I was exalted to hear that one. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge AEW, don’t make the Ministry of Darkness mistake.

Featured this week on AEW Dark guest commentary was Chuck Taylor. He joins Excalibur for some nice back and forth moments between the two. Taylor seems to really thrive in this environment and made for an entertaining one-two punch with the masked commentator.

Awesome Kong vs. Skyler Moore

Kong clearly never was told not to play with her food. Skyler Moore was obviously not told she was facing one of the six million ways to die herself. Not a fun way to make a debut, to say the least.

This match had very little substance, as one would expect from a monster being built up as Kong has been. But it did serve the intended purpose: to establish Awesome Kong as the Nightmare Collective’s monster.

She, of course, took the win after a long series of nevermind-pinfall attempts. Nothing too special here, but objective achieved.

Winner – Awesome Kong

Kip Sabian and TH2 (Jack Evans/Angelico) vs. SCU

An electric contest with some great storytelling, this is a perfect example of the complexity that exists on AEW Dark.

One shining example of that is when Christopher Daniels went to deliver his patented Arabian moonsault that he so famously botched against Pentagon Jr. He also alluded to it earlier in an interview on this show, stating that he was in fact still the Fallen Angel and very much capable of the wrestles.

However, here he froze delivering it. He simply didn’t have the confidence to launch himself on the ropes and commit to it, furthering his confidence spiraling out of control. This gave Angelico the opportunity to rise to his feet and recuperate. Kip did a nice assist to this as well, shouting at Chris that he couldn’t do it. A simple nod to a genius slow-burning story that continues to get more and more interesting.

The match started off however with Sabian and Kazarian. They highlighted some back and forth action with a brilliantly brutal-looking stiff combination of strikes. A spinning back kick, knee, and lariat all in rapid succession. He then screamed out his Bob Holly impression with a nice loud “DO YA?!” shouted in the face of Kip. I highly recommend you watch the SCU edition of the Wrestlers on the Road Ordering Room Service for context if you don’t know why. It might be the funniest running joke in AEW right now, outside of maybe Adam Page’s captions on his nameplate.

Shortly afterward, Angelico and Jack Evans made the mistake of storming the ring. This allowed SCU to divide and conquer by isolating Kazarian. Nice use of the friendly corner saw Daniels and Sky sweeping the legs of Kip leading to a nice elevated shotgun dropkick from Kazarian.

It would slightly shift momentum afterward as Angelico worked a rest hold on Scorpio Sky, but that was a shortlived moment. Frankie continued to shine through this match, with an RVD-like spiraling leg drop except Kazarian elevated off the springboard. Thinking of it, they both share a similar fate (Kaz and RVD, that is) as they both are taken for granted. They’ve both been so great for so long we simply expect it, yet they never get mentioned in the “legend” talks. Criminal, in my opinion, but I digress.

Angelico would continue to get worked over, leading into the aforementioned moment of Daniels freezing at the moonsault. Jack Evans would spring into the match with a double stomp to Daniels as Angelico held him in a stalling back suplex position. CD would take some more punishment, as Evans worked some rest holds and Angelico’s boot smacked him with a punt kick. Sabian got his turn at him as well, hitting a shining wizard and continuing the heelwork of applying the rest holds.

He also allowed Penelope Ford to involve herself with a tornado DDT on the outside as well. The punishment in the ring would continue as well, including some excellent aerial exploits from Jack Evans (from the heavens). But in a great hot tag moment, after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, Kazarian came in and cleared house. Briefly, they got control of Kazarian with some more aerial attacks. But his veteran presence allowed him to get the knees up on a phoenix splash from Evans, and that would spell the beginning of the end.

Shortly after, Jack would catch a stiff boot to the face before Sky lifted up Evans to crack him with Kazarian’s knee for the SCU Later. SCU takes the win in a very dominant but equally entertaining performance.

Winner – SCU

“Commentary Quote of the Night” and Until Next Time…

With how good the pairing of Excalibur and Chuck Taylor was, it was hard to pick just one “Commentary Quote of the Night” this week. But there was one particularly clever quip from Chuckie T that got a good reaction out of this typing guy behind your screen. When talking about Daniels after he kicked out for a late two with his eyes closed, Chuck hit us with this gem:

“If you tried to pin him while he was in bed, he’d hear the two count and get that shoulder up.”

Do I sense a new BTE skit coming soon? The Fallen (Asleep) Angel better sleep with one eye open.

But there you have it! This week’s edition of the AEW (AFTER) Dark Review! An awfully short week of the show, but it still achieved a lot with the allotted time. Here’s hoping we get another hour-long show next week!

Expect all the reactions to catch you up on that AEW Dark action, right here on Pro Wrestling Post. But, as always, until next time…

Goodbye, and goodnight!

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