AEW Dark: Elevation Review - July 26, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jungle Boy def. Marq Quen

Jurassic Express has been feuding with the H.F.O. for a while, not to mention that Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus will be teaming with Christian Cage to take on Matt Hardy and Private Party on Wednesday's Dynamite, so this match made sense. This was a smart choice for the opener as it started the show off hot and was well wrestled to boot. They received an ample amount of time and made the most of it. I also appreciate the outside interference being kept to a minimum.

Yuka Sakazaki def. Amber Nova

I continued to be amazed by the loud reactions Sukazaki has been getting since returning to AEW. She's super popular with the fans despite not having a ton of standout matches in the last month. Thankfully, this was one of her better bouts yet and Nova had a solid showing as well. I applaud Nova trying to do something different by adopting a mechanic gimmick (Paul Wight said she owns a shop or something like that?), but it hasn't gotten over very well so far.

Thunder Rosa def. Myka Madrid

Rosa has consistently been getting great reactions everywhere she's been going. There should be zero doubt that she'll be the one to dethrone Britt Baker for the AEW Women's World Championship at some point. I just wouldn't have it be at All Out in September because I feel that's too soon. Madrid is a new face to AEW but barely got any offense in. In other words, this was exactly what it needed to be.

Luchasaurus def. Jora Johl

Johl has worked almost entirely on the Dark shows up to this point, so I'm not surprised by the flat reaction he got. He also hasn't won many matches (if any at all) and viewers have been given zero reason to care about him. Thus, there was no reason for this to be anything but a standard squash for Luchasaurus, which it was. Luchsaurus won decisively and quickly and that was all there was to it.

Scorpio Sky def. Fuego Del Sol

I don't think there's a single unsigned talent that AEW has used over the last year that is more over than Fuego. He's a massive babyface with most crowds and is perfectly cast as an underdog. As I've said time and time again, he's grown on me. The crowd is waiting with anticipation to see if he'll hit the Tornado DDT, but Sky was able to prevent him from hitting it before connecting with his own finisher. This was a fun little sprint.

Angelico def. Marko Stunt

Jungle Boy branching out on his own into singles competition was expected. Luchasaurus wrestling singles matches here and there also makes sense. Stunt, however, has no business being in the ring. He served his role well in this match and did the honors for Angelico, but Angelico selling at all for Stunt was a joke. I know The Hybrid2 aren't the best booked tag team in the company, but Angelico should be beating a guy like Stunt with ease.

Kris Statlander and Tay Conti def. The Bunny and Madi Wrenkowksi

I like Wrenkowski and believe she has potential, but The Bunny chose poorly for her partner considering Wrenkowski's win-loss record isn't the best while Statlander and Conti have been on a roll recently. Statlander and Conti worked really well as partners and the heels put them over nicely. It was a well-paced and entertaining encounter on the whole with the babyfaces continuing to build momentum.

Wardlow def. Bear Bronson by Referee Stoppage

Bronson has fared well on his own while his partner has been out injured, but he had zero chance of victory here against the dominant Wardlow. It wasn't a total squash as Bronson was able to look competitive at a few different points, but the outcome was never in question. Wardlow winning by referee stoppage in his matches continues to be a nice touch and unique to his character. Jake Hager sitting in on commentary unfortunately means we haven't seen the last of those two against each other.

Lee Johnson def. Luther

The only good thing Luther is good for at this point is putting other people over, specifically those that could use the win like Johnson. Granted, beating Luther doesn't mean much, but it does for a rookie like Johnson who should be facing guys on the roster (as opposed to the unsigned guys) more often than he does. This was a serviceable outing, but that Spiral Tap from Johnson looked scary. Maybe he should use another finisher instead. Miro emerged afterward to announce that he'll be defending the AEW TNT Championship against Johnson next week on Dynamite.

Eddie Kingston def. Serpentico

Serpentico was at ringside for Luther's match right before this, so he may as well have stayed out there instead of making an entrance again. Kingston's crowd reaction would've been louder had he not already been out earlier to commentary for the first few matches. This served to give Kingston a singles win and nothing more. On a side note, I had no idea until now that Kingston's finisher was called Backfist to the Future, which is awesome.

Mark Sterling and Jade Cargill Addressed the Audience

Jade hasn't wrestled since early June. However, she's remained a regular on AEW programming in the form of vignettes with Sterling offering her new business ventures, announcing new partnerships and sponsorships, etc. It's been something different, but this segment was fairly basic and uninteresting. They scored some cheap heat from the crowd, but it didn't seem to serve a purpose otherwise. I don't think "Team Jade" needs anyone else because then it's yet another faction on a roster already full of them.

The Lucha Brothers def. The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels and Preston "10" Vance)

Dark Order received a nice reaction when they came out, but Lucha Brothers instantly became the fan favorites when they were announced as their opponents. It was great getting Lucha Brothers back together for the first time in several months. If the two of them can remain healthy, I don't see any reason why they can't be AEW World Tag Team Champions by the end of the year. The crowd was hot for everything Lucha Brothers did and it made for a quality contest. Vance and Angels are the weakest duo of all the regulars teams in Dark Order, so it was fine that they lost.

Brock Anderson and Gunn Club (Billy and Colten Gunn) def. Chandler Hopkins, Cameron Cole and Izzy James

Anderson was an honorary member of Gunn Club for the night, though I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. It's well documented that I couldn't care less about Gunn Club, but at least helped to give Austin Gunn as well as Anderson more experience. Their opponents were the few unsigned enhancement guys on the show, so this was harmless. It also didn't overstay its welcome, which was a plus.

Pac def. Chuck Taylor

I know Best Friends and Death Triangle don't have a shortage of bad blood for each other, but I didn't think this was exciting enough to justify it being as long as it was. It worked as a main event because the crowd was into both guys when they came out, but they were mostly quiet for the match itself. It wasn't your typical Pac match as there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about it, but it was decent. Andrade El Idolo came out on the stage to stare down Death Triangle and to tease a future face-off.

Overall Show

Was it really necessary to do 13 matches in front of a crowd? I'm honestly surprised they were as lively as they were for most of them. Props to the fans in attendance for keeping the energy all episode long. It was a thumbs-up show on the whole by Dark: Elevation standards with some solid in-ring action, showcases for certain stars, and hype for stuff coming up on Dynamite. The fact this show was two hours was unnecessary, but at least there was a decent amount of star power and not every match felt the same.

SEE MORE: Dark: Elevation Reviews