Welcome back to another review of AEW Dark Elevation and Dark. As a quick start, Elevation clocked in at just under 1 hour and 48 minutes while Dark was just over 90 minutes. Given the format of both shows, when they are under two hours, they have a much better flow and are easier to watch.
There was a lot of interesting stuff on Elevation but my two recommendations for that show are Lee Johnson versus Daniel Garcia match and Royce Isaacs versus Ren Narita. Each of those matches showcased some new talent and both matches were competitive with some good back and forth wrestling from each of the participants. If nothing else, check out Thunder Rosa’s match against Ashley D’Amboise. She had some really impressive offence with regards to getting in and out of holds.
On Dark, I found I was more interested in individual wrestler performances compared to matches. If I had to choose a match or two, I would recommend Dante Martin versus Jason Hotch (that’s them in the top photo, Jason Hotch telling everyone to be quiet) and Angelico versus Ryzin but, from a performance perspective, I was really impressed with Nick Comoroto who looks better every week, KiLynn King and Tesha Price who looked good in her match against Julia Hart even in a losing effort. As a final thought, Ricky Starks came out to join Tazz and Excalibur on commentary during the Leyla Hirsch/Vertvixen match. The three of them were very entertaining on the mic.
AEW Dark Elevation Results – 05/24/21
- QT Marshall (w/ The Factory) beat Robo with the Diamond Cutter. Robo is a good looking kid who got some good offence.
- Abadon hit a Cemetery Driver on Leila Grey for the win.
- Thunder Rosa submitted Ashley D’Amboise with the Peruvian Calavera Necktie.
- Gunn Club promo with Austin and Colton talking about what it was like growing up with Billy Gunn and wanting to get into the business. Very interesting piece that I would love to see on Dynamite.
- Lee Johnson beat Daniel Garcia with a Brain Dog. This was one of my matches of the night. Solid back and forth match and as I said last week, Lee Johnson continues to improve every week.
- Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky cut a promo on their upcoming singles matches against Alex Reynolds and Alan ‘5’ Angels respectively, later in the show.
- Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) hit a Beast Bomb on Robyn Renegade for the quick win.
- Ethan Page used an impressive looking Ego’s Edge to beat Alex Reynolds.
- Tay Conti pinned Queen Aminata after hitting the DDTay.
- Penta El Zero Miedo (w/ Alex Abrahantes) got the pin on Mike Sydal (w/ Matt Sydal) after hitting the Fear Factor piledriver.
- Scorpio Sky (w/ Ethan Page) submitted Alan ‘5’ Angels with a heel hook.
- Matt Hardy promo about forming the MFO stable and wanting to take care of Matt Hardy.
- Matt Hardy used the leech to submit Fuego Del Sol.
- Ren Narita beat Royce Isaacs with a Northern Lights Suplex into a pin with a beautiful bridge. This was my other match of the night. It was a good match featuring two guys making their debuts on AEW TV.
- In the main event, Rocky Romero used La Majistral to beat JD Drake (w/ The Wingmen). After the match, the Wingmen attacked Rocky but the Best Friends came out and made the save. It was also nice Roppongi Vice reunion.
AEW Dark Results – 05/25/21
- Nick Comoroto (w/ The Factory) hit a Last Ride Powerbomb for the win in a very quick squash match. After the match, QT Marshall called Justin Roberts to announce Aaron Solow’s match.
- Aaron Solow hit a Pedigree to beat Gannon Jones. As a thought, given who uses the Pedigree, Solow might be better served to either get better at doing the move or stop using it as was very sloppy and awkward looking.
- Preston “10” Vance submitted Dillon McQueen with the Full Nelson. McQueen was billed as a star pupil of the Nightmare Family and was given a lot of offense.
- Evil Uno/Colt Cabana beat Steven Andrews/Simon Lotto when Uno used a Rip Chord Flatliner on Lotto.
- Big Swole/KiLynn King beat The Bunny/Madi Wrenkowski when Swole hit Wrenkowski with a spinning forearm. I was really impressed with KiLynn King in this match as she got some very high impact offence during the match.
- The Gunn Club (Bill Gunn/Colton Gunn) got the pin on Kal Herro/Liam Gray when Colton hit the Colt 45 on Gray. During the match, it looked like Gray landed on the back of his neck when he missed a Top Suicida. I hope he’s OK.
- Diamante cut a promo about her upcoming match against Reka Tehaka
- Leyla Hirsch made Vertvixen tap to a cross armbreaker.
- Dante Martin beat Jason Hotch with a 450 splash. This was a good competitive match and one of my matches of the night.
- Dasha did an interview backstage with Angelico talking about his upcoming match with Ryzin.
- Diamant got the pin on Reka Tehaka after hitting a Code Red…kinda (she almost botched it). That said, Diamante is a little bulldog and I’d like to see her get more of a push.
- Joey Janela (w/ Sonny Kiss) hit an off the top rope elbow to beat Bear Bronson in what I consider a mild upset.
- Angelico used a Navarro Death Roll submission to beat Ryzin. Angelico is a good wrestler and is someone who is underrated and underutilized on this roster. This was my other match of the night.
- Alex Marvez backstage with Joey Janela talking about Sonny Kiss’ upcoming match with Brian Cage.
- Julia Hart (w/ The Varsity Blondes) beat Tesha Price with a Splitting Leg Drop. Tesha Price looked good and got some solid offence at the beginning of the match. Given the experience level of both women, this was not a bad match at all.
- In the Main Event of the night, Brian Cage (w/ Hook) hit a Weapon X to get the win over Sonny Kiss (w/ Joey Janela). After the match, Hook attacked Kiss. Janela looked like he was going to make the save but ended up leaving the ringside area which could be leading to a split with Janela and Kiss.
Thanks for checking in and c-ya next week.
