AEW Dark: Elevation Review - January 16, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nyla Rose. Marina Shafir and Emi Sakura def. Johnnie Robbie, Vipress and Zyra

Rose, Shafir and Sakura are practically the female faces of Elevation at this point seeing as how they're featured almost every week. I've grown to not mind Sakura as much, but Shafir has dragged down Rose and their duo does nothing for me. I don't understand wasting time giving them wins that don't amount to anything. This match was perfectly fine for what it was, but it wasn't exactly the strongest start to the show.

Daniel Garcia def. Kevin Blackwood

It's amazing how Garcia's momentum has completely vanished since his teased babyface turn at the end of the summer. Fans were ready to cheer him, but he's been on ice for so long that it's difficult to care about him at the moment. Obviously, he's still super skilled with a bright future ahead of him, so I'm sure he'll rebound eventually. Wins like this will only help his cause. Plus, that DDT he won with looked awesome.

The Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver and Alex Reynolds) def. Ari Daivari, Zack Clayton and Nick Ruiz

Isn't it strange to anyone else how Daivari continues to team with random losers despite having a faction of his own? The Trustbusters are already dead in the water it seems. In all seriousness, he and his trio of jobbers had zero chance of winning, even though he and Clayton are established members of the AEW roster. Crowds continue to love Dark Order and this was a pretty straightforward showcase for them.

La Faccion Ingobernable (Rush and Preston Vance) def. Misterioso and Diego Valens

It looks like La Faccion Ingobernable is making a comeback in AEW after having a run in Ring of Honor. Rush ran the group over there, and if Andrade El Idolo ever returns, I don't see why he wouldn't be a part of it as well. Also, it looks like Perro Peiligroso (?) will be the nickname for Vance going forward and not his actual name. He works well as a heel, but he hasn't been featured consistently enough on television these past two months for it to matter. That said, I liked how they made quick work of their opponents here and aggressively beat them up afterward.

Brandon Cutler and The Firm ("All Ego" Ethan Page, Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy) def. The Wingmen ("Pretty" Peter Avalon and Ryan Nemeth) and Chaos Project

Yes, Cutler teaming with The Firm is very random, but I believe they offered an explanation for it on this week's edition of Being The Elite. He basically filled in for Marq Quen, who is currently out injured. The Wingmen and Chaos Project bore me to tears, but credit to Cutler and The Firm for making this better than it would have been otherwise. Plus, they again effectively progressed the story with Page, Hardy and Kassidy.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage def. Willie Mack

It was really cool to these rip it up again, especially considering their history on the west coast in Lucha Underground. They had a memorable feud on that show and always worked well together, so I loved that they had the chance to rekindle that rivalry here. Mack is capable of some incredible stuff for a guy his size and I was disappointed he was mostly booked like a stepping stone during his time in IMPACT. This was a super fun match as they still have excellent chemistry together. The crowd getting behind Mack as much as they did was also encouraging and could lead to him getting signed by AEW.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena def. Zeda Zhang (Non-Title)

Zhang was previously under contract to WWE years ago. In fact, she was in NXT while Athena was there, so they probably know each other from then. This was no different than any other Athena squash we've seen on the Dark shows in recent months, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing, I've been ready for her to get a step up in competition. Thankfully, she got that last week when she defended against Shafir on Dark and Yuka Sakazaki emerged here as well. That eventual championship clash should be a blast.

Top Flight def. The Butcher & The Blade and Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli and ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta)

It's not often we get three-way tag team matches on the Dark shows. This came out of nowhere with nothing at stake, but it ended up being a real treat with all three teams having wonderful chemistry and it being all action. Top Flight are on a roll right now, so giving them the victory over Blackpool Combat Club was a pleasant surprise, not to mention they'll be facing The Young Bucks on Wednesday's Dynamite and this served as a credibility boost for them before then.

Overall Show

By Elevation standards, this was an above-average episode with a lively crowd to boot. Definitely seek out Cage vs. Mack as it was one of the best bouts I've seen on the show in recent memory. What's cool is that it wasn't a one-match show as the main event was also entertaining. Elevation would greatly benefit from more matches like that. Throw in the hour-long runtime and this was a strong show on the whole.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews