AEW Dark: Elevation Review - December 19, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Marina Shafir def. Jazmin Allure

A Marina Shafir match is never the best way to kick off any show. Okay, I kid (kind of), but at least she kept it short and (somewhat) sweet. That kick from Shafir where it looked like she legitimately struck Allure in the face was embarrassingly bad, though. I know she has a legitimate MMA background, but she simply has not adjusted well to wrestling and should stay out of the ring. It doesn't help she's a charisma vacuum as well.

The Bunny and Emi Sakura def. Lady Bird Monroe and Gigi Rey

The Bunny teaming with Sakura instead of Penelope Ford (her usual tag partner) was interesting, because it's not as if they lost and Sakura was there to eat the pinfall. Instead, they were in control of their opponents the entire time. This was perfectly fine for what it was, but I'm not sure what it was supposed to accomplish other than giving The Bunny and Sakura a tag win that won't amount to anything.

The Firm ("All Ego" Ethan Page, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy), Top Flight and Konosuke Takeshita def. The Trustbusters (Sonny Kiss, Slim J and Jeeves Kay) and The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon, Cezar Bononi and Ryan Nemeth)

With this being a 12-man tag team match, I expected it to be an absolute mess (as most multi-man tag matches in AEW are), but it managed to be decent. Realistically, The Firm and company should have won with ease considering they're opponents were all undercard bums, but I appreciated the story they were telling with Page continuing to get under Hardy's skin by giving him orders throughout and mocking him by hitting his finisher for the victory. It's not an angle I'm super invested in, but at least it's something for Page and Hardy to do.

Eddie Kingston and Ortiz def. Hagane Shinno and Steven Andrews

Kingston and Ortiz have a reached a point as a team where them beating unknown enhancement talent isn't doing anything for them whatsoever. It doesn't help that the power rankings are officially dead, so it's not as if they're climbing the rankings and are going to challenge for the AEW World Tag Team Championship any time soon (maybe they will, who knows). Shinno and Andrews gave them more of a fight than I thought they would, but this was a straightforward squash otherwise.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Vertvixen

This marked Athena's first appearance since becoming champion at Final Battle. We've seen Vertvixen in action on the Dark shows before, but needless to say, she was no threat to the title. Rather, this was more about giving Athena an easy first win as champ. She completely killed Vertvixen and went over in decisive fashion. The ROH Women's World Championship was regularly defended on Elevation when Mercedes Martinez held the gold, so I can Athena occupying a similar spot on the show until ROH TV gets going again soon.

Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta) def. The Workhorsemen

Castagnoli and Yuta are golden again coming out of Final Battle. The future of Blackpool Combat Club is still up in the air following the real-life departure of William Regal from the company, but I'm all for these two continuing to team because they have quality chemistry together. The Workhorsemen were good opponents for them as well since they can go in the ring as well. This was a fun sprint while it lasted.

Overall Show

Elevation was back to basics this week with six matches and a 47-minute runtime. Getting Blackpool Combat Club in the main event (and an enjoyable one at that) was a nice boost as well as a defense of the ROH Women's World Championship. Even the 12-man tag team match exceeded my expectations and furthered the storyline with Page and Hardy. The other three matches were whatever, and that Shafir squash was unnecessary, but it was a solid show on the whole.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews