AEW Dark: Elevation Review - March 28, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lee Moriarty def. Serpentico

Chaos Project has been nearly insufferable in their recent appearances on the Dark shows, but if they're going to appear, I'd rather it be Serpentico in the ring and not Luther. Granted, Luther's ringside antics are awful, but I guess I'll take that over him being in the ring. Moriarty has fallen under the radar this year it seems, so this was a nice, well-wrestled outing to get him back on track. It probably could have been better if they picked up the pace a bit more.

Abadon def. Danni Bee

I've said it once, I'll say it a million times more: Abadon is a waste of a roster spot at this point. She has quite literally maybe two or three televised matches with AEW since the start of 2021 (and no, that's not a typo). I don't care about her gimmick and it's not like she's all that great in the ring, either. Sure, she'll win the occasional squash like she did here, but these wins mean nothing if AEW has no plans to do anything with her. Anyone know when her contract expires?

Penta Oscuro def. JPH

Penta killing fools will always be a blast to watch. He hasn't done much since Death Triangle's feud with House of Black ended, but I'm totally fine with him getting a bit of a singles push until Rey Fenix returns from injury soon. Honestly, I'd like to see them do their own thing even when he is cleared to compete again because they've already held the AEW World Tag Team Championship. This was pure annihilation from Penta as it should have been.

Frankie Kazarian def. Brandon Cutler

Remember when these two were feuding for a good stretch of time last year? Yeah, I'd like to forget about that, too. To his credit, Cutler has become a lot better as The Young Bucks' stooge than he ever was as a babyface, so props to him for playing the role well. It also helps that Kazarian was able to beat someone on the roster for a change. The comedy crap didn't do much for me, but a win is a win for Kazarian.

Jamie Hayter def. Rache Chanel

I remember Chanel from when AEW used her in the early days of the pandemic, and no, she was not impressive in the slightest. Thankfully, this didn't last long and was instead all about Hayter, who deserves more television time than she gets. At one point, she and Britt Baker were teasing tension, so we'll see if that picks up again once Baker returns to TV at some point or if they'll move on from it again.

Max Caster def. Sonny Kiss

I'll never forget when The Acclaimed faced Kiss and Joey Janela a while back on Dark and Caster made a crack about Kiss' ass. He did again before this bout, but whatever he said/sang the first time almost had me in tears. He could just rap without wrestling and I wouldn't mind. The matches are simply a bonus. This was pretty good stuff and it was nice to see Caster beat someone that isn't an uncontracted indie wresterl

Hikaru Shida def. Madi Wrenkowski

We haven't seen a whole lot of Wrenkowksi in AEW since they started touring again, but it's nice to see her whenever they do use her because she's made strides from when she first wrestled for AEW two years ago. She's actually getting a lot more exposure in the NWA these days. With all of that said, this was a serviceable squash for Shida, who looks to rack up some wins as she rekindles her rivalry with Serena Deeb.

Ruby Soho and Anna Jay def. Charlette and Robyn Renegade

This is nothing new, but Soho and Jay are such a random team. Soho was aligned with other women for a while in AEW while Jay obviously has her alliance with Tay Conti. In other words, all of those other women are busy at the moment, so AEW decided to pair these two up just because. Yes, they have chemistry as partners, but it also emphasizes how directionless they are right now. This was a basic bout designed to get them on the show and keep them in the minds of fans.

Roppongi Vice def. The Factory (QT Marshall and Aaron Solo)

Although I've always been a Best Friends fan, I may honestly prefer Beretta branching out to do a full-blown Roppongi Vice run with Romero in AEW because the Best Friends stuff has run its course by this point. They can be taken much more seriously and they work really well together. Unfortunately, we were subjected to The Factory being in the main event with them, but at least this was a fun affair while it lasted with the right team going over.

Overall Show

At almost 50 minutes, I can't complain about the length, but this edition of Elevation felt like it was longer to get through because of the overabundance of squashes. I realize that's the intent of this show, but some of these matches were pointless. It'd be nice if we got more competitive matches throughout the hour like what we got in the main event (except without teams like The Factory and Chaos Project involved). Getting a Roppongi Vice reunion was a treat, if nothing else.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews