AEW Dark: Elevation Review - April 17, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Maki Itoh def. Ashley D'Amboise

The last I heard, D'Amboise was signed to an AEW deal, though I'm inclined to believe she'll primarily be wrestling in Ring of Honor based on what happened with her and Athena on last week's episode. As for Itoh, the AEW audience loves her, so I'm surprised she was relegated to Dynamite and didn't appear on one of the main shows last week. I don't care much for her shtick, so I don't mind either way. This was competitive while it lasted before Itoh went over in the end.​

Jericho Appreciation Society (Jake Hager, "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker) def. Zack Clayton and Mike Magnum and Jack Tomlinson

I'm completely out on anything involving Jericho Appreciation Society at this point as the group simply does not need to exist, but at least this was kept short and sweet with Hager, Menard and Parker dominating their opponents. They'll be facing The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn in a six-man tag team match on Wednesday's Dynamite as part of their program, so this was a warm-up for them before then.

The Firm (Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy) def. Brett Gosselin and Bobby Orlando

Despite Hardy's confusing comments last week on Dynamite, I'm pretty sure he and Kassidy are still under contract to The Firm until they beat them in a multi-man match soon, which Matt announced will take place on the Hardy Compound at some point. Either way, they're fully back in babyface mode (even though that never really changed despite teaming with Ethan Page) and this win was designed to get them back on track. I'm curious when Jeff Hardy will be medically cleared to compete if he hasn't already so we can see him and Matt team up again. On a side note, I was stoked to see northeast indie standpoint Brett "BRG" Gosselin in action here.

Emi Sakura def. Mizuki

I was surprised to see an Emi Sakura enhancement match slotted in the main event of Elevation, especially considering there was nothing out of the ordinary about this and I don't believe Sakura is being built up for anything at the moment. Nonetheless, Mizuki had a solid showing and they had a nice little sprint in the time they were allotted. I know nothing about Mizuki, but I was impressed by her performance in this outing.

Overall Show

Both Elevation and Dark were under 30 minutes last week and had four matches each. If that's the new norm, then count me the hell in. As someone who attempts to watch all of AEW's wrestling, it's much more manageable, especially if we are getting a Saturday show soon. This was another breeze of a show with the women opening and closing the show in well-wrestled matches and the two squashes in the middle being what they needed to be.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews