AEW Dark: Elevation Review - February 7, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bobby Fish def. Robert Anthony

I've been disappointed by the lack of reDRagon recently, but I assume that's due to Kyle O'Reilly going on paternity leave for the time being. I'm looking forward to his return so he and Fish can really rip it up in the tag team division. At least Fish had a chance to pick up a rare singles win here, though the contest was more competitive than I would've liked. I know Anthony has been wrestling a long time and is a seasoned veteran, but he's only ever been utilized as an enhancement talent on the Dark shows, so I don't think it was necessary for him to take Fish to the limit.

The Bunny, Diamante and Emi Sakura def. Skye Blue, Queen Aminata and Heather Reckless

Blue is a Chicago native, and because this was taped before last Wednesday's Dynamite in Chicago, she received a nice reaction from her hometown crowd here. She had a decent showing, but this was more about giving the heels a tag team win that means nothing. It's not like we ever see Diamante or Sakura on the main shows. I couldn't care less about Sakura, but I wish they'd use Diamante more. This was perfectl fine for what it was.

Scorpio Sky def. Stephen Wolf

It's been almost a year since he debuted, but I've already soured on Ethan Page. I know he wasn't in action here, but he was on commentary and the guy is just a goof. Sky deserves better. This was a fairly standard squash, and although Wolf had a flurry of offense at one point, Sky quickly recovered and put him down for the three count. Sky has bragged a lot about being undefeated in one-on-one competition since last March, but since almost all of those wins have come on the Dark shows, the undefeated streak doesn't mean that much.

Julia Hart def. Arie Alexander

It's been months at this point and Hart is still wearing the stupid eyepatch. I'm sorry, but it looks ridiculous as hell and she needs to ditch it as soon as possible. That said, I appreciate that she's been acting more aggressive lately, so it's not like her being blinded hasn't affected her character. I don't know if she'll be turning heel or not, but the intensity has been nice to see and I liked that she won quickly and decisively with a submission hold.

Dante Martin def. Aaron Solo

Solo is a competent competitor in the ring, but he's beyond boring as a character. I guess that makes him a perfect fit for The Factory. In all seriousness, this served its purpose in giving Martin a singles win. Martin is far more fun to watch work and his athleticism is always awe-inspiring. I hope he can continue to rack up victories so he can eventually contend for a championship. Of course, he has to finish his feud with Team Taz first, which feels like it's been going on forever.

Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) and The Acclaimed def. Lee Johnson, Brock Anderson, Matt Sydal and Lee Moriarty

My thoughts on Gunn Club have been well documented over the last two years, but to their credit, they're getting more and more heat from the crowd. Granted, it can be argued it's the wrong type of heat, but at least they're eliciting some sort of a reaction going into their AEW World Tag Team Championship this Friday on Rampage. These multi-man tag team matches on the Dark matches blend together after a while, but this was solid stuff and the heels won as they should have.

Best Friends (Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor) def. Chaos Project

I believe this marked the first time Beretta and Taylor have teamed up by themselves since Beretta's return to the ring two months ago. I prefer this version of Best Friends and hope they team up more often going forward. Chaos Project, on the other hand, does absolutely nothing for me. You could audibly hear the crowd sitting on their hands whenever they were on offense (and Luther's constant screeching is unbearable), but the right team won. That's about the only positive thing I can say about this.

Overall Show

The brevity of these Elevation episodes is always appreciated. They keep it under an hour and there isn't usually more than seven or eight matches. However, I found this to be one of the weaker episodes in recent weeks as there wasn't a single match that stood out. The main event wasn't anything special whatsoever and anything involving Chaos Project immediately loses my interest. The rest of the show was pretty paint-by-numbers stuff and featured nothing you need to see.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews