AEW Dark: Elevation Review - August 19, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Santana and Ortiz def. Warren Johnson and Zack Mason

​It's unfortunate that Cash Wheeler got hurt in FTR's most recent match with Santana and Ortiz because now the feud has had to be put on ice until Wheeler is good to go again. Santana and Ortiz specifically are left with nothing to do, and that's a shame because I really want them to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship at the New York City next month. They can't do that until they avenge their loss to FTR, though. This was very brief and exactly what it needed to be.

Nyla Rose def. Steff MK

Rose failed to win the AEW Women's World Championship from Britt Baker last month, so now she's basically stuck doing squashes on the Dark shows. It'd be nice if they came up with something else for her to do, but I'm not holding my breath. And no, Vickie Guerrero screaming after every one of her matches isn't over. That gets go-away heat from me, personally. The MK twins tried to use twin magic at one point but to no avail. This was a short and sweet squash.

Emi Sakura def. Madi Wrenkowski

Sakura is back in AEW and, to be blunt, I couldn't care less. I hated the Freddie Mercury cosplay crap during her first few months in AEW back in 2019 and her matches didn't impress me at all. She had better performances during the women's tournament earlier this year, but she still doesn't excite me whatsoever. Wrenkowski, on the other hand, is still green but has a presence about her and lot of upside. I'm glad Wrenkowski got some offense in before eating defeat.

Private Party def. Will Allday and Edge Stone

I didn't think another wrestler that used the name "Edge" existed, but here we are. Allday has been a regular on the Dark shows for a while now and has looked impressive in the past. However, this was all about Private Party as it should have been. They'll be on Rampage this week in a first-round eliminator against Jurassic Express with the winners advancing to the finals next week on Rampage. I honestly feel like they've lost a lot of their luster/momentum as heels, but this was a fine showcase for them.

Daniel Garcia def. Matt Sydal

Garcia is gearing up to face Jon Moxley on Friday's Rampage. Putting him in the main event of Elevation before then against Sydal of all people made sense considering Moxley made it clear that him and Garcia will be the main event of the show. I still feel like we know very little about him, but from an in-ring standpoint, he has shown signs of potential and is very good. This was a quality contest and Sydal did a great job of trying to get Garcia over like only he can.

Overall Show

This was definitely one of the shortest episodes of Dark or Dark: Elevation I've seen yet at just over 30 minutes. I believe it was also the first edition of Elevation to air on anything but a Monday. I assume this was taped before or after Dynamite on Wednesday, but I'm not sure why they opted to air it when they did. Maybe to give Garcia a big win before he faces Moxley on Friday's Rampage? Either way, this was an absolute breeze of a show with five quick, efficient matches. You'll get zero complaints out of me here.

SEE MORE: Dark: Elevation Reviews