AEW Dark: Elevation Review - August 8, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ruby Soho and Skye Blue def. Nikki Victory and Megan Meyers 

Soho was being featured regularly again on Dynamite and Rampage around the time she made it to the finals of the women's Owen Hart Cup, but she's been back to Dark and Elevation duty lately, at least since losing to Anna Jay on Rampage late last month. She and Blue made for a fun team here, but I feel like it's meant to benefit Blue more than anything else. This was all about them and it was a decent match.

Parker Boudreaux def. Casey Carrington

Boudreaux is, of course, the former Harland from WWE NXT. He already wrestled on an episode of Dark and has since joined The Trustbusters with Ari Daivari and Slim J (a really random trio, I know). The kid has size to him and has explosive intensity in the ring, leaving you to wonder why WWE would cut him. Although we have yet to see what he's capable of in a longer match, this served as a solid showcase for him.

Athena def. Queen Aminata

Athena is obviously headed for an AEW TBS Championship opportunity against Jade Cargill in the near future, so having her maintain her winning record in the meantime makes sense. As long as she's not relegated to Dark and Elevation permanently if she loses to Cargill, then I'm content. As I've said before, she's appeared to be more motivated than she has been in years since signing with AEW and that was once again apparent in this outing.

Kiera Hogan and Leila Grey def. Freya States and Alice Crowley

Grey is still an interim "baddie" in the absence of Red Velvet. I forgot what Velvet went down with in the first place, but hopefully she's not out for much longer. Grey is basically there to take losses instead of Cargill and occasionally Hogan, but it's logical to give her a win here and there so it's not totally pointless when she gets beaten. That's why this match existed, even though it wasn't exactly a smooth encounter.

The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. T.U.G. Cooper and Lord Crewe

Silver and Reynolds are now officially the best tag team in Dark Order with Stu Grayson gone and Evil Uno teaming with Preston "10" Vance instead. They're a treat to watch, but it's almost impossible to care about the group at this point with how deemphasized they've become on AEW TV. I don't see that changing, but giving them a rare victory prevents them from becoming total losers, I suppose. This was a well-worked sprint.

The Lucha Brothers def. The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth)

Lucha Brothers will be facing Andrade El Idolo and Rush in a match I've been waiting a long time for on Wednesday's Quake by the Lake edition of Dynamite, so this match was designed to give the former AEW World Tag Team Champions a quick momentum-building win before then. Okay, so it lasted a little longer than I would've thought, but at least Lucha Brothers were on offense throughout and the crowd was hot for them. They also stared down Andrade and Rush, who walked down to the ring afterward.

Overall Show

Any edition of Elevation that's around 30 minutes long gets an automatic thumbs-up in my book. Six squashes is the perfect number and it worked wonderfully for this episode, especially in front of a lively crowd. Lucha Brothers being in action was a welcome boost and the other five matches were serviceable despite not featuring a ton of star power. This is the formula Elevation should follow every week.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews