It wouldn’t be the Friday before a PPV, without a special edition of AEW DARK to kick off the weekend. Tonight’s episode is somewhat of a go-home edition of the popular YouTube program as several of the wrestlers involved in All Out an the Buy-In pre-show, will be in action of this card. What can we expect from this week’s show? Read below and find out!
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Allie vs Red Velvet
After picking up her first singles win of the year on Tuesday, Allie returns to AEW DARK action and just her fifth singles match in her AEW career. Once again, Allie will have her not-so-secret admirer and recent good luck charm in her corner as she takes on the returning Red Velvet.
Allie’s opponent is the four-year pro, Red Velvet, who is returning for her sixth appearance in AEW. Velvet, who is known mostly for her time in Fighting Evolution Wrestling and Full Throttle Pro Wrestling, where she is the current ladies champion, made her AEW debut in June and has impressed thus far in her limited appearances.
Colt Cabana (w/ Dark Order) vs Zack Clayton
Colt Cabana is kinda in a cult but he doesn’t know it. Which is kinda how people get into cults in the first place. With a new shirt that reads “Cult Cabana,” the storyline of Cabana just hanging out with the Dark Order without realizing he’s being indoctrinated has been a fun subplot on Dynamite. And now, for the first time, since the 40-year-old maybe, possibly, actually joined the Dark Order, Cabana will be in singles action. This Friday marks his singles return to AEW DARK for the first time since he defeated Lee Johnson in May. Overall, Cabana has a 5-1 record on DARK, with his last appearance being a tag team victory alongside Alex Reynolds and John Silver.
His opponent on Friday is Zach Clayton, who is returning to AEW DARK for just the second time. The Jersey Shore cast member has been wrestling for five years under New Jersey, having competed in just under 50 matches in his young career. Known for his time in In Your Face Wrestling Academy and Dynasty Wrestling, Clayton has also worked matches for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and AAA Lucha Libre. A former football player, Clayton also trained at Johnny Rodz’ Wrestling School a few years ago and took part in a WWE tryout this past December.
Dark Order’s 5 and 10 vs the Natural Nightmares
In somewhat of a precursor for Saturday night’s huge eight-man tag team match between the Natural Nightmares, Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky vs the Dark Order’s Mr. Brodie Lee, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Colt Cabana, the two newest male recruits to the faction will be in action against Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall. No doubt, Lee will have his eyes on this one to make sure 5 and 10 give the Natural Nightmares a beating in advance of All Out. Five last wrestled alongside Reynolds and Silver on the last edition of Saturday Night Dyamite, but this will be Ten’s first action since May. Expected to have potential as a Dark Order duo, this will be the first time the young Five and Ten will be teaming together.
Coined the Natural Nightmares in March, Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall’s partnership entered a new chapter in March as the duo began to see regular action as a team. Since then, the Natural Nightmares are 6-1 in traditional two-vs-two tag team action, with their only loss coming against the tag team champions. Rhodes and Marshall have been one of DARK’s more dominant duos and they’ll look to keep that streak going on Friday as they take on Lee’s minions before getting a shot at the man himself on Saturday. No doubt this one is personal and you can be sure Rhodes especially will want to inflict similar pain to what the Dark Order inflicted on his brother a few weeks ago.
Shawn Dean and Brandon Bullock vs Alex Reynolds and John Silver
Speaking of the Dark Order, Lee’s least favorite and least successful duo, Alex Reynolds and John Silver, will see their first in-ring action as a duo since July against Cody and Matt Cardona in what was one of Silver and Reynolds’ best matches in their AEW career. Though the two have been in six-man action twice since then, going 1-1. Struggling for the longest time to get their first victory, Reynolds and Silver are just 2-7 overall on the year. But on Friday, they’ll have a great opportunity to impress Lee and get back on his good side. At least until Monday rolls around and Silver does something on Being the Elite that will inevitably draw the ire of the boss.
Their opponents are two guys with varying levels of pro wrestling experience. The “Captain” Shawn Dean is poised to tie Jon Cruz/Serpentico’s record on Friday night as this will be his 16th appearance on AEW DARK. Just a three-year pro, the Chicago native, Dean, was trained by AR Fox and QT Marshall at the Nightmare Factory. Known for his time in Southern Honor Wrestling, ACTION Wrestling, and other companies in the Southern indie scene, Dean has now officially wrestled more matches for AEW than any other promotion in his young career. Since debuting for AEW in March, Dean has appeared on 14 of the last 23 episodes of DARK, making the most of each and every one of his opportunities. His partner is the debuting Brandon Bullock, who comes to pro wrestling with an amateur wrestling background. A former medalist at the state wrestling level, Bullock is currently training at Nightmare Factory with QT Marshall. He has also wrestled in Georgia Premier Wrestling as one-half of BTB alongside Rowe Bullock, where the two are former tag team champions.
Faboo Andre and D3 vs Butcher and Blade
Butcher and Blade, set to enter the Casino Battle Royale on Saturday, will be looking at this match Friday night as nothing more than a tune-up. And they’d probably be right too given the success the two men have had on AEW DARK this year. AEW’s hottest tag team right now, Butcher and the Blade have worked their way into the tag team rankings with yet another dominant DARK performance their last time out. Now 8-2 and 6-2 in traditional tag team action, Pepper Parks and Andy Williams have been a force this year. They also have four wins alongside their new faction mates, the Lucha Brothers, who will also be in action Friday night.
Returning to AEW DARK for the third time, Daniele Dentice D’Accadia or D3 for short, made his AEW debut a few weeks ago on DARK, in three-man tag action alongside RYZIN and Faboo Andre. The 29-year-old began wrestling in 2009 but it wasn’t until 2016, that he really started hitting the indie circuit. He is known for his time in DYNASTY Wrestling, REAL, American Combat Wrestling, and a brief stint as an enhancement talent in WWE. A three-year pro out of Florida, the “Fabulous” Faboo Andre is returning for the sixth time on AEW DARK. Holding the distinction of being the first opponent Jon Moxley faced when he became the first active world champion to wrestle on DARK, Andre made his debut with the promotion in March. Used sporadically since, Andre returns this Friday to re-team with D3, who he wrestled alongside in his last DARK appearance a few weeks ago. Andre is known for his time in REAL Pro Wrestling, ACW, World Wrestling Network, and more.
Ivelisse vs Kilynn King
Having made her AEW debut on Dynamite in July, Ivelisse is returning for her first action with the company since she and partner Diamante, won the women’s tag team tournament. This will be the AEW DARK debut for the 31-year-old La Sicaria, who is known for her time in Lucha Underground, SHINE and WWN. The 15-year-pro is also a former WWE developmental talent who has wrestled for TNA, AAA, AAW, and more. While not officially signed with AEW, it seems the lucha libre veteran is someone AEW certainly has their eyes on.
She’ll face another prospect who AEW may be looking to sign in the retuning, KiLynn King, who is back for her the ninth time, which is more than any other woman who has been featured on the program this year, including both rostered and non-rostered talent. The Team 3D Academy trainee, King is relatively new to wrestling with a little under three full years experience to her name. She made her AEW debut in May and has been a regular on DARK ever since, wrestling both in singles and tag team action.
Luther vs Darby Allin
Having recently been seen alongside Serpentico as a team, this Friday will mark LUTHER’s seventh DARK match this year and his first singles match since July. After largely stepping away from wrestling in 2003, the 51-year-old Luther wrestled just a handful of matches as one-offs before joining AEW in 2020. He’s 4-3in his AEW career, excluding battle royals.
Looking to win the Casino Battle Royale on Saturday, and get his hands on Brian Cage and Ricky Starks in the process, the always-exciting and death-dying Darby Allin, is back on AEW DARK for the first time since July. He has a 4-0 record on the program and is coming off a win in his last AEW match, defeating Willie Hobbs on Dynamite a few weeks ago. Allin’s matches are always can’t miss and Friday should be no different. The 27-year-old standout needs to keep one eye open though, as there is no doubt Starks, Cage and Taz will be lurking and waiting for the opportunity to make sure Allin can’t win the battle royale on Saturday, let alone take part in it.
Ryzin and Angel Perez vs Lucha Brothers
Also looking for their shot to win the Casino Battle Royale on Saturday, Pentagon and Fenix haven’t had much action since COVID-19 struck, leading to travel bans and international wrestlers having to sit it out for some time. Set for a push with Death Triangle, the Lucha Brothers are 6-2 in their tag team matches since March with their lone loss coming against the undefeated FTR. Pentagon and Fenix are still one of the best tag teams in the country and they no doubt will look to show that on Friday as they wrestle in their first two-on-two tag team match since July.
Having made appearances in WWE and TNA in his career, RYZIN is perhaps best known for the role he played in Matt Hardy’s YouTube series that aired leading up to Hardy’s AEW signing. He’s back in AEW on Friday, for his third DARK match in the past few weeks. He’ll team up with the 32-Puerto Rican wrestler, Angel Perez, also known as Angel Fashion. The six-year pro is making his AEW debut after having previously wrestled for World Wrestling Council and World Wrestling League.
Programming note: The September 16th episode of AEW Dynamite will air on September 17th instead due to TNT airing the NBA playoffs. Make sure to set your DVR in order not to miss any of the action!
Stay tuned to Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TNT and AEW DARK Tuesday nights at 7 PM ET on YouTube. All Out airs on PPV on September 5th.
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