AEW Dark: Elevation Review - August 2, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Red Velvet def. Angelica Risk

This marked Risk's AEW debut. I've never heard of her before, but I thought she fared well. As I've said before, Dark and Dark: Elevation are the perfect places for Velvet to continue to improve and get experience. She's coming along nicely, and considering she's currently ranked number five in the AEW Women's World Championship power rankings, I'm curious if AEW is building her up with wins ahead of an eventual title shot against Britt Baker. Either way, this was wisely kept short and sweet.

Lee Johnson def. Marcus Kross

I still find Kross' Dragon Ball Z shtick to be goofy as all hell, but he's a competent jobber and sells well for his opponent's offense. That was once again the case here in what was a solid showcase for Johnson. Johnson is getting a shot at Miro's AEW TNT Championship on Wednesday's Dynamite, so this meant to give him some last-minute momentum before then. We also heard from Miro afterward, who hasn't been on AEW programming in the last month given he's the TNT Champion.

Kris Statlander def. Ashley D'Amboise

D'Amboise is one of those enhancement talents AEW has used this year that has stood out in a positive way and has been impressive in most of her outings. Thus, it was great to see her back even with AEW being back on the road. As for Statlander, she's been shining on the Dark shows and in the appearances she's made on Dynamite, so I hope she's next in line for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship. This a nice little match and I liked the vignette that aired beforehand where she got a rare chance to speak.

The Factory (Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto) def. Rosario Grillo and Hunter Knott

We've seen so little of The Factory in recent weeks (basically since their rivalry with Cody Rhodes ended) that I honestly forgot they were still on the roster. Unsurprisingly, they got the quietest reaction of everyone on this show when they made their entrance. There wasn't anything technically wrong with this match, but I found it to be pretty boring. Comoroto has some potential, but he definitely lost some of that monster aura when he came up short against Dustin Rhodes back in June. Solo, on the other hand, does absolutely nothing for me.

Yuka Sakazaki def. Dani Jordyn

Sakazaki continues to garner strong reactions everywhere she goes. That's impressive for someone who hasn't had a whole lot of exposure on AEW programming. It's just a testament to how she can connect with a crowd. She's not among my favorites in the women's division, but she is fun to watch and thankfully her last few matches have been better than her first few matches back. Jordyn getting an ample amount of offense before eating defeat was cool to see.

Darby Allin def. Bear Bronson

Allin works well with just about everybody, but I do enjoy when he's up against bigger opponents such as Bronson. Bronson dominating a majority of the match was a pleasant surprise and I liked how Bear Boulder (who will hopefully be back in action soon) and Sting faced off at ringside. This was a quality main event with Bronson looking credible in defeat and Allin winning as he should have. Allin would be an excellent choice as CM Punk's first opponent if that's the direction they go in.

Overall Show

Eddie Kingston sat in on commentary for a few matches early on, but the real treat was getting to hear from David Crockett in the second half of the show. I love how AEW respects the legends by bringing them in for stuff like that. On the whole, this was a thumbs-up edition of Dark: Elevation. AEW is wildly inconsistent with the Dark shows nowadays as far as whether they're 45 minutes, and hour, 90 minutes, or two hours, but I was happy that this one was on the shorter side. Six matches is the perfect amount, the crowd was lively, and the show breezed by.

SEE MORE: Dark: Elevation Reviews