AEW Dark: Elevation Review - April 25, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, def. Luther, Bulk Nasty, Tito Oric, Jake Omen and RC Dupree

Was it really necessary for Luther and his legion of losers (none of whom are under contract to the company, by the way) to get a televised entrance? What a waste of time (and yes, I realize it was only 30 seconds or so). These Dark Order multi-man showcases usually last a while for some reason, but thankfully, this was on the shorter side. All five guys had their time to shine and that was all there was to it.

Kris Statlander def. Julia Hart

I will continue to make fun of Hart for wearing the stupid eyepatch until she finally ditches it. Seriously, it's been months since she got sprayed in the face by Malakai Black. Is she basically blind for life at this point? She looks completely ridiculous. I like that we've seen her show more of an aggressive side, but this was not very good at all. Statlander is one of the better women's wrestlers AEW has, but she and Hart did not have any chemistry, unfortunately.

Konosuke Takeshita def. Brandon Cutler

I'm aware not everyone watches Being The Elite, but I liked the little build this match got on that show with it being mentioned that Takeshita took Cutler's place in a multi-man tag team match around this time last year when Cutler got hurt, so Takeshita has some history with The Elite. Cutler acted like a total goof in this match and I hated that he scored as much offense as he did, but Takeshita was very impressive.

Tony Nese def. Steel City Brawler

Mark Sterling got on the mic before the bout and noted that Nese has been undefeated since joining forces with him. Well, I'd sure hope so considering they just came together a few weeks ago. Nese has skills, but my mind hasn't changed: he's an undercard competitor with a limited ceiling because no one will look at him as anything more than what he is. His squashes tend to be pretty boring, but this was serviceable.

Minoru Suzuki def. QT Marshall

Suzuki coming out must have been a surprise because he got the loudest pop of the night. I don't think anyone was expecting him to pop up on Elevation of all places. He almost always loses in AEW, so it was nice to see him pick up a victory for a change. I'm glad this was more of a straightforward squash than a competitive contest because Suzuki killing Marshall was exactly what needed to happen. I probably would have put this on last instead.

John Silver def. Vince Valor

It's interesting that Silver was the one member of Dark Order to be spotlighted on his own this week while the others were bunched together for a pointless 10-man tag team match. I'm a Silver fan, so I'm not complaining, but it makes me wonder if they're building him up for another singles match one of these days on Dynamite or Rampage. Either way, this was only around 90 seconds long and exactly what it needed to be.

Ruby Soho, Anna Jay and Skye Blue def. Nyla Rose, The Bunny and Emi Sakura

I could've sworn we just saw this match a week or two ago, but maybe someone else was in there instead of Rose. Nonetheless, I've grown tired of seeing the same five or six women face other on the Dark shows in tag team matches. Rose escaped Dark purgatory for a month or two when she challenged Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women's World Championship, but now that she's lost, it's back to the same old stuff for her. There wasn't anything technically wrong with this, but it wasn't overly interesting or entertaining at all, either.

Penta Oscuro def. Max Caster

I love that we haven't seen any less of Caster despite Anthony Bowens being out hurt for the time being. He's gotten quite a few opportunities in singles competition and he's made the most of them. The same can be said for Oscuro, who has largely been on a roll since being repackaged. This wasn't overly long (nor did it need to be), but what we got was good and the crowd was into both guys.

Overall Show

This was the first edition of Elevation to come close to the hour mark in quite some time, likely because there were eight matches instead of the usual six or seven. Eight is acceptable, but I would've trimmed off at least the Dark Order tag team match and the Silver match. Statlander vs. Hart was the weakest of the night, but at least Statlander will benefit from racking up another win. Suzuki making a rare appearance was cool and the main event was enjoyable to an extent, making this show worthwhile this week.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews