AEW Dark: Elevation Review - May 3, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Miro def. Will Allday

Kicking off the show with a Miro squash was a smart call. He's been killing dudes left and right since breaking away from Kip Sabian and the thing is, it's exactly how he should have been booked from the get-go. It's not like he was getting pinned left and right while with Sabian, but he wasn't as much of a monster as he is now. He keeps calling out AEW's champions and I'm sure he's getting that title shot sooner rather than later.

Abadon def. Ryo Mizunami

What a weird clash of styles this was. It's well-documented that I'm not an Abadon fan by any stretch, but her matches can be serviceable depending on who her opponent is. My biggest pet peeve when it comes to the Abadon character is how everyone acts afraid of her, usually because the acting isn't very good. For example, Mizuami jumping out of the ring because she was terrified of Abadon was stupid. The match was fine otherwise and thankfully Mizunami won.

Jon Moxley def. Andrew Palace

Moxley being put in the third match on the show, as opposed to first or last, was slightly surprising. He's the biggest name to appear on these Dark shows, so I would make his appearances matter more. Palace is the dude that tries to come off like a madman, but he looked like a goof against a guy like Moxley. I would have had Moxley beat him a bit quicker than he did, but it served its purpose in giving Moxley another win.

Preston "10" Vance def. D3

Vance is coming off an impressive outing against Darby Allin for the AEW TNT Championship in the main event of last week's Dynamite. I'm glad AEW kept his momentum rolling with incredibly dominant performance here. If he eventually unmasks, he's a guy I could see doing big things down the road. He's been making strides and it's been cool seeing him get more of the spotlight lately.

Orange Cassidy def. VSK

Cassidy's entrance music will never get old. He's a glorified comedy character to me and I enjoy him as a character, but the biggest positive of his appearances on Dark and Dark: Elevation is getting to hear that song. It fits him perfectly. VSK has been used quite a few times in the past, but he's never really stood out to me, so I had no issue with him being squashed so quickly by Cassidy here, who's clearly climbing the rankings right now.

FTR def. The Hughes Bros.

FTR are going to be competing in Blood and Guts on Wednesday night, so it made sense to give them a showcase win before then. Everything they do is so crisp and clean and it's clear they take tag team wrestling seriously. As for The Hughes Bros., they're the sons of D-Von Dudley and have competed on Dark before. They've impressed me in the past and they did again here. They previously went by TNT, but they must have been told to change their name because I doubt they would have been able to use it long-term.

Nyla Rose def. Madi Wrenkowski

I appreciated that this match actually had some storyline support behind it as Wrenkowski cost her and Nyla a tag team loss last week on one of the Dark shows. It appeared Wrenkowski was being scouted Vickie Guerrero for her stable at one point, but not anymore. She obviously had no chance here, and although she tried to attack Rose right from the bell, she was put away quickly and decisively. This was exactly what it needed to be and was the most dominant Rose has looked in a while.

Nick Comoroto def. Baron Black

Comoroto and Anthony Ogogo are probably the only redeeming members of The Factory in my opinion. QT Marshall is about as interesting as watching grass grow, while Aaron Solow is as bland as could be. Comoroto has size on his side and seems to be making the proper improvements. I have no clue if he can work a full-length match yet, but to his credit, he's come across extremely well in these short and sweet squashes he's had lately.

Red Velvet def. Reka Tehaka

Velvet is another one of the up-and-comers who has been impressing me more and more I've seen her in action. Brandi Rhodes getting pregnant and leaving Velvet to fend for herself might have been the best thing that could have happened to her. She may have come up on the losing end of her rivalry with Jade Cargill, but she continues to roll with wins on the Dark shows. Velvet was fine here, but she and Tehaka never meshed well.

Private Party def. Duke Davis and Ganon Jones

As over as Private Party were as babyfaces, I feel like they're in their element as heels as far as their characters are concerned. The turn has made their matches more entertaining, but nothing about this match in particular stood out as special. I was hoping we'd see them challenge The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Championship eventually, but I assume we won't be getting that any time soon now that the Bucks are heels as well. 

Thunder Rosa def. Willow Nightingale

Due to her obligations to the NWA, I understand why there hasn't been much focus on Rosa recently, but it is slightly strange when you think about how she won that grueling Lights Out main event against Britt Baker two months ago and has been spinning her wheels since. Hey, I guess giving her wins such as this one is better than not featuring her at all. She always brings the intensity and this was no exception. Nightingale is clearly inexperienced, but at least she had Rosa there to help her through. Props to Tony Khan for giving independent wrestlers a paycheck during a pandemic, but can he please stop bringing in people who have no business being on this big of a platform?

QT Marshall def. Dillon McQueen

I don't think I've ever seen McQueen before, but he definitely stands out from the rest of the enhancement talent AEW uses. I have no clue how long he's been wrestling for, but unfortunately, this was a bad match and he didn't make the strongest first impression from an in-ring standpoint. I liked how Marshall beat up on one of Cody Rhodes' pupils, but the match itself did nothing to get me excited for Marshall's upcoming outing with Cody on Wednesday's Dynamite.

Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Chaos Project

As I've said time and time again, as little as I care about Gunn Club, a big reason for that is Billy Gunn and how often he tends to wrestle. When it's just Austin and Colten, they're at least passable and may have potential with more seasoning. They're coming along nicely, but I would have rather seen them face a team a bit better than Chaos Project. Serpentico is killed, but Luther is atrocious. Seriously, there is no reason for this guy to be on the roster at this point with how many people AEW now has under contract.

"Big Money" Matt Hardy and The Blade def. The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels and Colt Cabana)

Apparently The Butcher is out injured, so Hardy is teaming with The Blade in his absence. I still thinking Hardy would be fine with just Private Party, but I applaud him for making the faction work to the best of his ability. I just don't sense any chemistry between him and the trio of Butcher, Blade and The Bunny. Meanwhile, Angels and Cabana were a bit of a random duo. This was a good main event and better than most matches on this show, but the abundance of interference was annoying.

Overall Show

This honestly might have been one of my favorite Dark: Elevation shows yet. I grade with different criteria than most people. For example, if the show is around an hour and a half like this one was, that gets an automatic thumbs-up from me because there's no reason for it to be any longer than that. Additionally, there was more star power on this show than usual and that was another plus. Granted, none of the matches were overly memorable, but they didn't overstay their welcome either and the time flew by, so by my standards, I enjoyed the episode.