AEW Dark: Elevation Review - November 15, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Gunn Club (Billy, Colten, and Austin Gunn) def. Nasty Russ, Shawn Cook and T-Money

It's been over two months and we still have had hardly any follow-up with the Gunn Club heel turn on Dynamite. Given how little I care about the group, I'm personally fine with them being relegated to the Dark shows, but if they're undefeated as a unit, then why are their wins not amounting to anything? This was a fairly standard showcase for Gunn Club. The best thing I can say about it was that it was kept on the shorter side.

Nyla Rose, The Bunny and Emi Sakura def. Riho, Ryo Mizunami and Skye Blue

It's interesting that a lot of the joshi wrestlers are being putting in matches with each other. They obviously work well together, but it'd be nice if AEW switched it up more so we weren't seeing a lot of the same pairings. Shouldn't they be here to work with the newer faces, anyway? This was nothing new from what we've seen from them in recent weeks, but it was decent enough and I liked Blue being thrown in the mix. I'm still waiting for her to be offered a contract if she hasn't been already.

Hardy Family Office (Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy and The Blade) def. The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Alan "5" Angels)

They're back to referring to Angels as "5" even though I thought we moved away from that when he ditched the mask, so I continue to be confused as to what to call him. Nonetheless, I felt like I had deja vu watching Dark Order and Hardy Family Office face off. The feud was done to death over the summer and I have zero interest in seeing them revisit it. As a match, though, this was enjoyable and the crowd was into it. Dark Order losing so soon after beating The Elite was weird (much like when they lost to Gunn Club a week ago), but at least Hardy got to maintain momentum following his win over Orange Cassidy on Rampage.

Andrade El Idolo def. Lord Crewe

It's about time we got more of Andrade in the ring. Granted, this didn't last long at all, but it didn't need to. Crewe was some random no-namer and shouldn't have gotten any offense over Andrade, so this was exactly what it needed to be. I'm curious what's next for him after losing that tag team match to Cody Rhodes and Pac at Full Gear. There doesn't seem to be any obvious feud for him unless he keeps having matches with Cody and Pac.

Ruby Soho def. Charlie Kruel

This was less of a match and more of a homecoming for the Indiana native. The crowd went nuts for her and she looked extremely happy. She even had a chance to bring out her Billy Roc and celebrate in the ring with him afterward. There was nothing to the match itself, but it was wisely kept under two minutes. My money is on Soho going all the way in the AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament and taking the title.

John Silver def. QT Marshall

As I've said before, Marshall does a really nice job of working with the younger guys and putting them over strong. He's much better in the heel role than he ever was as a babyface and gets good heat from the crowd. Put him up against someone as beloved as Silver and you have yourself a quality match. It was the perfect length and Silver got to shine on his own coming off his impressive performance versus Adam Cole on Rampage. He has future breakout singles star written all over him, and I applaud Marshall for helping elevate the new guys.

Overall Show

Elevation is at its best when it's right around an hour and features between four and six matches. It has a great combination of squashes and competitive matches that don't overstay their welcome. Soho, Andrade and Gunn Club picked up showcase wins while the other three matches were well wrestled and filled the time well. The women's match and Hardy Family Office vs. Dark Order were more of the same, but the main event was solid stuff and capped off the evening nicely.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews