AEW Dark: Elevation Review - May 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Jungle Boy def. Adrian Alanis

I know there's quite a few fans in attendance as it is, but Jungle Boy is going to be over huge in front of full capacity crowds. As I've said several times over, he has a ton of potential. I always enjoy seeing him showcased in singles competition and I thought he had an impressive outing here. I'm glad he's picking up wins, but I maintain that he and the rest of Jurassic Express could desperately use some direction at the moment.

Dustin Rhodes def. Aaron Solow

Man, I really couldn't care less about Solow. He's technically fine in the ring, but there's nothing about him that stands out as special whatsoever. The same can be said about The Factory on the whole, but at least it's being used as a vehicle to get Anthony Ogogo over. I assumed AEW was building toward Dustin vs. QT Marshall eventually because of their history as a team, but it looks like it might be Dustin vs. Nick Comoroto instead. Bull Rope match at Double or Nothing? Dustin vs. Solow lasted longer than I thought it would, but it was pretty good. The Dark shows are the perfect place for matches like this one.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston def. Danny Limelight and Royce Isaacs

What happened to the dude Isaacs was teaming with previously? Limelight and Isaacs are a first time team, but at least it made some sense with Moxley having faced and defeated Limelight in last week's main event. It was weird for Moxley and Kingston to beat Milk Chocolate in under a minute last week and then have a competitive match here. It was well-wrestled and I like Limelight, but Moxley and Kingston should be steamrolling through the competition en route to Double or Nothing.

Lance Archer def. Bear Bronson

As much as I love an Archer squash match, it's nice for him to take on someone similar in size every now and then. Bronson is coming off a hell of a hoss fight with Brian Cage last week and he looked credible in defeat here as well. AEW is smart to be using the tag team wrestlers on the Dark shows while their partners are out injured. This was slightly slow at certain points but was a solid match on the whole.

"Legit" Leyla Hirsch def. Natalia Markova

Hirsch has been rocking and rolling on the Dark shows. Can we please get more of her on Dynamite soon? I'm not saying she should be in the AEW Women's World Championship picture tomorrow, but she deserves to get more exposure eventually. All of her matches feel like highly physical, hard-hitting affairs as everything she does looks, well, legitimate. I see her moving up in the women's title rankings fairly quickly.

"All Ego" Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky def. Jaylen Brandyn and Traevon Jordan

I've complained my fair share about Page and Sky teaming up despite the fact that both guys should be getting the singles spotlight right now. They're obviously being built up for a match against Darby Allin and Sting at Double or Nothing, so I'll hold out hope that they'll go their separate ways after they lose. That said, I will admit that they have strong chemistry together and that was on full display in their fun squash here.

The Bunny def. KiLynn King

I'm still waiting to see a memorable match from The Bunny in AEW. Most of her matches have been subpar and this was unfortunately no exception. King has been a workhorse for the women on the Dark shows during the pandemic, but she and The Bunny didn't gel well here at all. On the bright side, Big Swole made the save for King afterward (because of their established friendship) from The Bunny, so at least this served to set that up.

The Acclaimed def. Kevin Bennett and Kevin Blackwood

The Acclaimed are preparing to face Moxley and Kingston on Wednesday's Dynamite (got to boost that win-loss tag team record before Double or Nothing!), so this gave them a win before then. With that in mind, there was no reason for this to be as long as it was. Seriously, wo the hell are Bennett and Blackwood anyway? It wasn't like they had this stellar performance that justified them getting in as much offense as they did. Max Caster's pre-match rap was better than the match itself, but then again, that tends to be the case more often than not.

QT Marshall def. Baron Black

I was hoping we had our fill of The Factory earlier in the evening, but apparently not. I assume Marshall will continue to be a regular in the ring and stack up wins despite recently losing to Cody Rhodes at Blood and Guts. Black lost to Comoroto last month, so there was some history behind this bout. Other than that, this wasn't very good. I'd say that Marshall would be best suited as a mouthpiece for Ogogo, but he can talk for himself (and better than Marshall at that). Maybe Marshall can talk for Comoroto? Any time I see a match of Marshall's, I'm tempted to fast forward righ through it.

Joey Janela def. Daniel Garcia

Is there honestly any point in giving Janela enhancement wins at this point? It's clear he isn't getting any higher on the card than he currently is, but I guess everyone has to get the obligatory squash wins on the Dark shows. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by how long it took him to defeat Garcia. There wasn't anything wrong with the match, but a few minutes would have shaved off this lengthy episode had it no happened.

Private Party def. The Dark Order (Alex "3" Reynolds and Alan "5" Angels)

The matches Dark Order have been having with the H.F.O. have been fine, but they're really just trading wins for the sake of trading wins at this point. Perhaps the idea is to build to some sort of a multi-man match at Double or Nothing, and although I like a lot of the guys in both factions, I honestly can't bring myself to care. This was a quality tag team match that furthered the feud, but they need to heat it up in order to get me more invested. Matt Hardy interfered to protect Dark Order in defeat and put more heat on the heels. On a side note, I guess Private Party will be wrestling in their street clothes going forward. 

Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake def. Roman Rozell and Derek Pisaturo

I haven't been super fond of Nemeth's in-ring work since he came to AEW, but I actually really liked his sit-down interview with Paul Wight earlier in the evening. He and his little crew are getting a ton of time on the Dark shows, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what your thoughts on them are. This was a perfectly average tag team match and I was glad Drake got to shine for a bit.

Tay Conti def. Kiah Dream

Conti doesn't have much going on right now following her failure to become AEW Women's World Champion last month, so it's nice she's been able to maintain momentum with wins on the Dark shows. She's really coming into her own and is going to be a top talent in the AEW women's division sooner than most expected. She's putting it all together and having standout showings every time she's in there.

Penta El Zero Miedo def. Robo

Penta officially has his own ring music, unless he's had it for a while and I just missed it. Does that mean AEW is testing the waters for him on his own at some point? If so, I'm not complaining because I feel like he and Rey Fenix have been greatly underutilized in AEW. I'm digging his pairing with Alex Abrahantes as well. I know this was Robo's AEW debut, but I wish Penta just squashed him in a minute or so. This edition of Dark needed more of those short and sweet squashes.

Thunder Rosa def. Robyn Renegade

I believe this marked Renegade's AEW debut. She was trained by Marshall, so that explains why was given a chance despite looking super green in this match. Even someone as seasoned as Rosa wasn't able to get a serviceable matchup out of her. That was especially evident during the finish when she didn't sell Rosa's submission properly. Rosa sticking to her winning ways is nice, but everything else about this was a mess.

FTW Champion Brian Cage def. Mike Sydal (Non-Title)

I'm sorry but I couldn't give two craps about Mike Sydal. He and his brother Matt are decent as a team, but there's nothing there with Mike as a singles. He's really just in there to take a beating, which is exactly what happened here. Cage killing dudes is always a blast, though this could have been a minute or two shorter and been even better. Fellow Team Taz member Powerhouse Hobbs recently destroyed Mike, so at least there was a little consistency there.

Overall Show

This show clocked in at almost two hours and 30 minutes. That's ridiculous. I was definitely starting to feel it at the end. I totally understand why AEW has the Dark shows and I think that's tremendous, but cutting out an hour wouldn't kill the company, or at the very least making some of the matches shorter. There was a bunch of stuff I liked on this show, but it gets tough toward the end when it gets to the Janela and Luther matches, for example. I found the first half to be significantly better than the second half, but it was fairly average episode on the whole.