Another iteration of AEW Dark comes to us tonight, yet again with an indy theme as more competitors who found their Mania weekend dates cancelled are on the broadcast. It’s a much shorter episode than usual at a 32 minute run-time so these likely won’t be long matches.
Segment 1: To open the show, Cody and Tony Schiavone introduce the first half of the bracket for the upcoming TNT Championship Tournament. The first round will see Cody taking on Shawn Spears and Darby Allin will be facing Sammy Guevara, two rematches from prior PPVs. Speaking of Guevara, in the opening match he took on the returning Matt Sells and defeated him in an extended squash, extended largely because he kept the match going to show off.
Segment 2: In the night’s second match, another of the TNT Title tournament participants Shawn Spears comes out to face Shawn Dean. The theme of the night seems to be getting some quick and easy momentum for the revealed half of the bracket, though Cody’s not in a match since he doesn’t really need that so much. With that in mind, Spears of course got a pretty easy victory over the Navyman.
Segment 3: In the third match, it was Darby Allin’s turn to get some easy momentum but it didn’t turn out to be so easy after all. Preston Vance, a muscular competitor who compared to Darby is quite a big man, attacked him during his entrance and surprised him with a German Suplex from the second rope before the bell even rang. This put Darby in a quick hole early on and allowed him to fight underneath like he always does. This was pretty easily the match of the night, the only one that was all that competitive. Vance looked good and Darby proved to be giving even in what would’ve been a squash otherwise. But in the end Allin was able to pull out the victory with one of his more devastating Coffin Drops yet.
Segment 4: AEW World Champion Jon Moxley makes his AEW Dark debut, quickly dispatching Faboo Andre with a Gotch Piledriver – a nod to his recent rivalry with Minoru Suzuki – and an STF for the submission. The champ is then jumped by Jake Hager, who plants him with a uranage and chokes him right out with his Arm Triangle.
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