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AEW DARK TV REPORT
JULY 7, 2020
AIRED LIVE ON YOUTUBE.COM
REPORT BY ZACH GRAHAM, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentators: Excalibur, Taz
Ring Announcer: Justin Roberts
– Excalibur welcomed fans to the show and introduced Taz. Excalibur pointed out Taz was wearing his new shirt, so they plugged their website for merchandise. Excalibur then threw it to the ring for the first match.
(1) SHAWN SPEARS (w/ Tully Blanchard) vs. BRIAN PILLMAN JR.
Spears and Pillman started slowly exchanging wrist locks. Pillman cartwheeled through Spears’ wrist lock and was in position to kip up, but instead kicked Spears on the cheek. Spears and Pillman exchanged chops. Pillman went for a drop kick, but Spears stepped aside. Spears then went to run the ropes, but Pillman hit the dropkick on the second attempt and Spears rolled out of the ring to consult with Blanchard. Spears entered the ring, slipped behind Pillman and punched him in the lower back twice and followed it up with a pair of chops. Pillman was sent over the top rope and onto the apron by Spears and, as Pillman attempted to come off the top rope to reenter the ring, Spears hit him with a dropkick to the ankles which sent Pillman crashing onto the entrance stage. Spears left the ring and started stomping and punching Pillman on the stage. Spears then stomped Pillman’s head on the top step before finally throwing him back into the ring.
Spears got back in the ring and started choking Spears. The official counted Spears for the disqualification and Spears finally released the choke. Spears then demanded the official recheck that his glove was still not loaded, which he did. Pillman fought back and hit Spears with a flying forearm and a clothesline in the corner. Pillman jumped up to the top turnbuckle and went for a cross body, but Spears slid underneath it. Spears picked up Pillman and hit him with the running C4 for the win.
WINNER: Shawn Spears in 5:00
– Blanchard got up on the apron and held Spears’ hand up. Spears then reentered the ring to attack Pillman again, but Blanchard stopped him and handed him the metal plate to put in his glove first. Spears put it in his glove and hit Pillman with a right hand shot to knock Pillman out before he and Blanchard left.
(2) BIG SWOLE vs. RACHE CHANEL
Chanel and Swole locked up, but Swole quickly shoved Swole off of her. They locked back up and Chanel powered Swole back into a corner. Swole locked on a headlock and tried to run the ropes to release Swole, but Swole dropped to the mat to stop the release. Chanel finally managed to succeed in getting Swole off of her, but Swole grabbed the top rope to stop herself from running back into Chanel. Chanel started talking to Swole until Swole grabbed her and went for the ripcord elbow, but Chanel quickly slid out of the ring. Chanel took a moment to walk around at ringside before finally entering the ring. Swole immediately shoulder tackled Chanel to the mat.
Chanel hit Swole with a swinging neck breaker through the ropes, but only managed a one count. Chanel hit Swole with some forearms on the mat then used Swole’s hair to throw her into the middle of the ring. Chanel then put Swole in a headlock in the middle of the ring. Swole eventually managed to roll over onto her back, but Chanel locked in a camel clutch. The camera flashed to ringside where Britt Baker was now sitting. Swole made it up to her feet and broke the hold. Chanel and Swole exchanged shots, but Swole gained the advantage with three straight clotheslines followed by a head butt. Baker was shown multiple times looking unimpressed with Swole. Swole hit Chanel with a blue thunder bomb followed by a knee strike and the ripcord elbow strike. Swole then hit her with a pump kick then casually sat on Chanel’s chest while staring at Britt Baker for the win. Baker’s golf cart backed up to the ringside fence and Swole went out there to confront her, but the golf cart drove off.
WINNER: Big Swole in 7:00
– Alex Marvez was sitting with Brandi Rhodes and Allie backstage. Marvez introduced them and said that Fight for the Fallen is just around the corner. He said last year at this time… Allie interrupted and said last year at this time Brandi surprised her with Kong and then cheated to win the match they had against each other. Brandi smiled and seemed irritated as Allie asked sarcastically if she remembered. Brandi said yes she remembers and that’s why they’re there right now. Brandi said they haven’t had the best of relationships and now they’re trying to make this work. Marvez said so far it has worked as they’re on a winning track. Allie interrupted and said that’s mostly because of her. Brandi disagreed and said in their first match, she did all the work and had the match won. Allie laughed and sarcastically repeated that Brandi did all the work. They began arguing and Dustin walked in behind them. Dustin addressed Allie and said he can see right through her and he knows exactly what’s going to happen because it happened to him many times. Allie rolled her eyes. Dustin said she’s going to end up “kicking QT in the balls and breaking his little heart.” Dustin asked her to just not do that and take this opportunity as the Nightmare Sisters and show the world that she has a heart. Dustin warned her not to mess with his family and walked off. Allie never made eye contact with Dustin and looked completely unmoved by his words. Marvez asked if they’re still a family and Brandi said she wouldn’t go that far, but she would like to remain a team. Allie acknowledged that’s it’s not a terrible idea.
(3) FRANKIE KAZARIAN vs. LUTHER
Kazarian quickly powered Luther into a corner. Kazarian broke the hold and backed up and Luther screamed at the referee and the people at ringside. Taz and Excalibur said that Luther is unorthodox, but they kind of like his random yelling because it can mess with the mind of his opponent. Luther and Kazarian locked up again, this time with Luther gaining the advantage. Kazarian dropped Luther to the mat with an arm drag before turning his focus to the arm. Kazarian focused his attack on Luther’s left arm, which had a large arm and elbow pad on it. Luther fought back and took Kazarian down with a leg lariat as Kazarian ran the ropes. Luther tied Kazarian up in the ropes and used his wrist tape to choke Kazarian.
Taz talked about Luther having a foul odor to him that you notice whenever you walk by him backstage. Taz said Excalibur makes funny faces at Luther after he walks past him because of this and Excalibur said that it’s northern Florida in the summer and it’s hot. Luther suplexed Kazarian over his head and scored a one count. Luther disagreed and argued with the official saying it should have been a three count. This distraction allowed Kazarian to mount a comeback with some forearm shots and heel kicks until finally clotheslining Luther to the mat. Kazarian and Luther exchanged shots again until Luther hit Kazarian with a pump kick. Luther charged at Kazarian in the corner, but Kazarian jumped up onto Luther’s shoulders and rolled through with a victory roll into a cover to score the three count.
WINNER: Frankie Kazarian in 7:00
(Graham’s Thoughts: Calling this match slow and plotting wouldn’t do it justice. It was fine, but it was so slow you would’ve thought they were talking through it in the ring before the cameras came on. Not sure what to attribute to that, but it was a letdown given the wrestlers involved.)
(4) LUCHA BROS & THE BUTCHER & THE BLADE vs. JOE ALONZO & BRADY PIERCE & TONY DONATI, & FABOO ANDRE
Pentagon Jr started the match against Donati. Pentagon took off his glove and went to shove Donati with his hand after yelling cero miedo at him, but Donati grabbed his wrist. Pentago went for a spinning heel kick, but Donati blocked it and hit him with a forearm. Donati ran the ropes and was met with a super kick by Pentagon. Pentagon hit Donati with a chop to the chest and tagged in Fenix, who hit him with another chop. Blade tagged in and lightly kicked Donati over to his corner for him to tag someone in. Joe Alonzo tagged in and was clotheslined to the mat before throwing him into the corner. Blade tagged in Butcher and hit Alonzo with a heel kick in the corner followed by a running clothesline by Butcher. Butcher picked up Alonzo and choke slammed him. Alonzo’s teammates all entered the ring and broke up the cover, as did the Lucha Bros and Blade. Butcher ran Andre into the ropes and held him there as Fenix ran the top rope and kicked Andre. Blade then picked up Andre and Pentagon super kicked him as Blade hit him with a brain buster. The ring cleared out and Butcher tagged in Pentagon. They both did the cero miedo call and hand gesture before Butcher suplexed Alonzo over his head into Pentagon’s arms for a powerbomb onto Blade’s knees, followed by a dropkick by Fenix for the cover. (Did you catch all of that? It was quick!)
WINNERS: Lucha Bros, the Butcher, & the Blade in 3:00
– Orange Cassidy came out, still wearing his bloody shirt from his brawl with Jericho. Cassidy took off his jacket, shirt, and even his sunglasses before entering the ring.
(5) ORANGE CASSIDY (w/ Chuck Taylor & Trent) vs. WILL HOBBS
Hobbs mocked Cassidy and demanded that Cassidy look at him before the bell rang. The bell rang and Cassidy ducked under Hobbs who charged at him. Cassidy ripped off his elbow pad and hit Hobbs with a leaping elbow strike for the win.
WINNER: Orange Cassidy in 12 seconds
(6) MICHAEL NAKAZAWA vs. SHAWN DEAN
As the bell rang, Dean refused to shake hands with Nakazawa. Dean grabbed Nakazawa by the waste, but Nakazawa pulled out a bottle of oil and sprayed it all over himself to slip out of Dean’s grip. Nakazawa then put Dean in a head lock, but couldn’t keep it on because of the oil. Dean saluted Nakazawa as a show of respect for the oil spot. Nakazawa shoulder tackled Dean, but Dean responded with a drop kick. Dean clotheslined Nakazawa and scored a two count. Dean had Nakazawa in a head lock and Nakazawa pulled out another bottle of oil to try and escape, but the official, Aubrey Edwards, grabbed the bottle and threw it deep into the bleachers. Nakazawa escaped the hold anyway in shock from Edwards’ actions. Dean then suplexed Nakazawa for a two count. Nakazawa hit Dean with a boot to the face out of the corner followed by a back elbow strike and a spear. Nakazawa then climbed to the top rope and hit him with a diving shoulder tackle for a two count.
Nakazawa then took off his underwear from underneath his trunks. He fell down while doing so, which Taz absolutely loved as he laughed uproariously. Nakazawa then put his underwear over his hand and tried to use it like Mick Foley with Mr. Socko, but Dean avoided it and hit Nakazawa with a stunner off his shoulders. Dean then hit him with a backstabber, but Nakazawa put his foot on the rope. Nakazawa then locked in an abdominal stretch and put his underwear covered hand over the face of Dean. The announcers and everyone at ringside yelled in disgust as the various women in bikinis around the arena were shown laughing and disgusted. Dean threw off Nakazawa and went for a move, but Nakazawa countered it and palmed his underwear into the face of Dean again followed by a leg sweep for the three count.
WINNER: Michael Nakazawa in
(Graham’s Thoughts: This style of wrestling is just not for me at all. I have nothing more to say about this. The sooner I forget about this, the happier I’ll be.
(7) SCORPIO SKY vs. SERPENTICO
Serpentico charged and dove at Sky’s legs right as the bell rang, but Sky side stepped him. They exchanged holds until Serpentico hit Sky with a chop. Sky responded with a chop of his own followed by a Russian leg sweep for a two count. Taz praised Sky saying everything his does is almost perfect and always on point including his striking, high flying moves, and more. Excalibur reiterated that saying he’s watched Sky’s career from the start and he’s gotten better and more athletic the more he’s wrestled. Serpentico hit Sky with a rana that send Sky across the ring. Sky slid out of the ring then avoided Serpentico as he went for a baseball slide. Serpentico slid out of the ring and super kicked Sky then threw him into the ringside barricade. Serpentico hit Sky with a leg drop on the apron then scored a pair of two counts. Sky tried to mount a comeback, but Serpentico hit Sky with a single leg drop kick for another near fall.
Serpentico tried a suplex, but Sky dropped down to avoid it. Serpentico then hit sky with a series of unprotected forearm shots, but Sky responded with a brain buster suplex. Both men were down momentarily. Sky was up first and dropped Serpentico with a clothesline followed by a hanging neck breaker for a two count. Serpentico scored a two count off an elevated foot stomp from the ring apron. Serpentico managed another two count after a DDT. Sky hit Serpentico with a drop kick and both men were down again. Sky went to pick up Serpentico, but Serpentico escaped and hit Sky with a knee strike. Serpentico went to the top rope, but Sky moved out of the way and hit Serpentico with the TKO for the win.
WINNER: Scorpio Sky in 10:00
(Graham’s Thoughts: Interesting decision to have commentary talk up Scorpio Sky so much, only to have Sky selling so much in the match. From what I can remember, Serpentico has always been one of the stronger enhancement wrestlers and hasn’t lost without putting up a fight, so in that sense, this isn’t horrible for Scorpio Sky. I’m still not sure I’d have Sky sell for a majority of the match with so many near falls, only to seemingly “escape” with the victory in the end.)
– The other members of Dark Order, besides Brodie Lee, stood on the stage after entering with Evil Uno and Stu Grayson.
(8) DARK ORDER (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) vs. BRANDON CUTLER & PETER AVALON (w/ Leva Bates)
Avalon and Uno started the match. Uno tried to tell Avalon to just lay down and he and Cutler can join Dark Order. Avalon laid down in the middle of the ring and, when Uno went to cover him, Avalon rolled him up for a two count. Both men stood back up and Uno hit Avalon with a right hand shot. Stu Grayson tagged in and stomped Avalon in their corner. Cutler blind tagged in and hit Grayson with a kick. Cutler and Avalon both jumped onto Grayson before Cutler went for the cover. Uno entered the ring and grabbed Cutler by the ear and pulled him off of Grayson. Cutler kicked Uno and he rolled out of the ring. Cutler jumped over the top rope onto the stage to jump onto Grayson, but the four members of Dark Order on the stage all stepped towards Cutler to cause a momentary distraction. Cutler jumped off the top rope and Grayson caught him by the throat and choke slammed him to the mat.
Dark Order isolated Cutler in their corner with some quick tags. They managed to score a couple of near falls, but Cutler kicked out each time. Cutler tried to sunset flip Grayson into a cover, but Grayson rolled through and hit him with a running knee strike. Uno and Grayson hit Cutler with a brain buster roundhouse kick combination and Avalon ran into the ring to break up the pin attempt. Grayson and Uno tried to pick Cutler up from the bottom turnbuckle, but Cutler flipped up onto his knees on the top turnbuckle. He dove and hit Grayson with a cross body before rolling through to tag Avalon in. Avalon hit Uno with a cross body and cleared the ring. Avalon hit Uno with an Arabian moonsault for a two count. Avalon tried to pick Uno up for a DDT, but Uno shoved him away and crawled over to Grayson.
Grayson entered and Avalon threw him into the ropes. Leva Bates grabbed Grayson’s ankle as he ran the ropes and Grayson exited the ring to confront her. Avalon ran over to his corner and dove onto Grayson outside the ring. Avalon checked on Bates as the four other members of Dark Order walked over to confront her. 5 grabbed Bates and spun her around and Bates hit him with the book she had in her hand. Cutler then took out the rest of Dark Order with a dive off the top rope. Back in the ring, Cutler tagged in and hit Grayson with an elbow drop, but as he went for the cover Uno entered and hit him with a baseball slid kick to the head.
Cutler threw Uno out of the ring and tagged Avalon back in. Grayson hit Avalon and Cutler with back flip kicks to the head after avoiding a clothesline attempt. Grayson yelled for Uno to get back up on the apron, but Uno appeared to be injured holding his wrist on the outside. Grayson then turned his attention back to Avalon and hit him with a sit out power bomb for a two count. The ringside doctor checked on Evil Uno. Grayson hit Avalon with a running knee strike followed by an elevated back breaker for the win.
WINNERS: Dark Order in 7:00
– Excalibur then plugged the matches for Fyter Fest Night 2 including Young Bucks & FTR vs. Butcher, Blade, & the Lucha Bros, Lance Archer vs. Joey Janela, Kenny Omega & Hangman Page vs. Private Party for the AEW Tag Team Championships, and Orange Cassidy vs. Chris Jericho.
FINAL THOUGHTS: If you want to make Big Swole one of the women you build around, this isn’t how you do it. She went seven minutes with her opponent and it was rough. Rache Chanel’s gimmick of being someone into fashion is a weird choice and she wasn’t particularly good in this match. Swole gained nothing from this besides a win on the stat sheet. The match was not good and Swole was dominated at times in the match, but there was no outside interference or distractions, she was just getting beat up. I question that decision given the opponent, unless they don’t see Swole as someone to build around in the absence of Kris Statlander and Britt Baker.
I loved the quick squash by the Lucha Bros and Butcher & Blade, but I wish it would’ve been something they did on Dynamite. This really showcased how in sync they all are and that would’ve been helpful to show the Dynamite audience ahead of Fyter Fest. Has there been anything on Dynamite to hype of this side of the match with FTR and the Young Bucks? I don’t believe there has been. The Road To last night did an okay job of talking about both sides, but even that was more focused on FTR and the Young Bucks. I know the main story is FTR and the Young Bucks squabbling, but these guys are getting ignored in the story here. They should be taken seriously as threats, especially if they’re working this well together. I think this type of squash match would’ve been something worth doing on Dynamite in the lead up to Fyter Fest to show that they’re not just four random guys out there to help stir up trouble between FTR and the Young Bucks, they’re serious threats.
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