AEW Dark: Elevation Review - November 1, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nyla Rose and Emi Sakura def. Kris Statlander and Ryo Mizunami

This was an interesting match because both Rose and Statlander are established and are in the AEW TBS Championship Tournament, so I was curious who would lose between the two. Neither one of them was getting pinned, of course, which is why Sakura and Mizuami were involved. I don't care much for Sakura or Mizunami, but the match was well wrestled on the whole with good work from all four women.

Frankie Kazarian def. Victor Benjamin

Did I miss something or was Kazarian not announced as The Elite Hunter? He isn't wearing all black anymore, so I think he's finally moved on from that gimmick. It made sense in the immediate aftermath of the fall of SCU, but there was never really an endgame because The Elite weren't breaking up, so the best thing they could have done was quietly move on from it. This was a fairly standard showcase for Kazarian to give him a needed singles win.

Riho def. Kayla Sparks

As I mentioned in my Dark review from last week, it feels like AEW is slowly bringing Riho back into the fold, which would explain why she's been having more matches on the Dark shows as of late and not as much on Dynamite. I could also be wrong and AEW simply has no plans for her, not to mention it's weird she wasn't included in the AEW TBS Championship Tournament. Nonetheless, this was a fine match while it lasted with Riho picking up the quick win.

AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR def. Waves and Curls (Non-Title)

I absolutely love Waves and Curls. You probably aren't familiar with them unless you've caught them on the northeast independent wrestling circuit, but they won me over as soon as I saw them in action at an event earlier this year. Their energy is infectious. I doubt everyone in this crowd knew who they were, but they had zero trouble endearing themselves to the audience. I would've loved a longer match between these two teams, but I understand it was designed to put FTR over strong. Still, I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Tay Conti def. Little Mean Cathleen

Anna Jay didn't accompany Conti to ringside for this match, which was disappointing to those of us in the building. Maybe because she came out later in the night for the main event of Dynamite in her cow costume or whatever it was? The match itself was short, sweet and straight to the point. It's already been established that she'll be challenging Britt Baker for the AEW Women's World Championship at Full Gear, so this gave her another mini momentum boost.

Best Friends (Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor) and Wheeler Yuta def. The Acclaimed and Serpentico

I still don't know whether Yuta is officially considered to be a part of Best Friends or if he's just their protégé at their point. He's basically replaced Trent while he's been out injured, but at least Yuta is talented and has been impressive. I'm an Acclaimed guy and enjoy their work, but there was no way they were winning against the uber-popular Orange Cassidy. Serpentico was only there to take the pinfall loss. It was an entertaining main event and justifiably the longest of the night.

Overall Show

I arrived at the building a little later than I was expecting and thought I'd miss some matches from the Elevation taping, but apparently not. I was in my seat for the opener and caught everything else from that point. The back-to-back tapings of Elevation, Dynamite and Rampage are a marathon, but this was a fun 30-minute show. We got to see some stars, and although none of the matches stood out in a major way, each of them served a purpose and didn't overstay their welcome. I'm biased because I was there, but I found this to be a thumbs-up show.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews