AEW Dark: Elevation Review - November 21, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rush, The Butcher and The Blade def. Doug Love, Channing Thomas and Brett Gosselin

I have no clue what connection Rush has with Butcher and Blade at this point since I thought The Andrade Family Office crap ended a while ago. I guess it's just an excuse to keep Butcher and Blade featured alongside someone more relevant than them. This was total domination for Rush, Butcher and Blade, but as I've mentioned before, it was cool seeing Thomas and Gosselin in action action. They're two standouts from the northeast independent scene and deserve a look by AEW.

Hikaru Shida and Willow Nightingale def. Leva Bates and Emi Sakura

Shida and Nightingale make for a fun team. I realize AEW doesn't have a women's tag division (nor should they at this point), but I'm all for them teaming up more regularly because it benefits both of them in my opinion. They had quality chemistry together here and more of Nightingale is never a bad thing. Bates being involved was my only issue with this match because she's abysmal, but at least she ate the pinfall loss as she should have.

Brian Cage def. Brandon Cutler

Cutler's been acting like a total goof since returning to AEW programming, and I don't mean that as a compliment. He's played a babyface in some matches and a heel others, so I'm not exactly sure what he's supposed to be and I don't really care. The best part about this was Cage completely killing Cutler in a matter of minutes. I'd love for this to be Cutler's write-off from AEW TV, but I know he'll be back next week.

Jericho Appreciation Society (ROH Pure Champion Daniel Garcia, "Cool Hand" Angelo Parker and "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard) def. Leon Ruffin, Hot Sauce Tracy Williams and Tony Deppen

Man, what the hell happened to Garcia? He was all over AEW TV for a few months and now the dude can't buy a minute of television time. AEW is likely keeping him out of the minds of fans before he eventually resurfaces to tease tension with Chris Jericho again, but he's largely been relegated to Dark duty as of late without doing anything of note on AEW TV. This was a standard squash for Jericho Appreciation Society, a group that ran its course a while ago.

ROH Women's World Champion Mercedes Martinez def. JC (Non-Title)

This marked Martinez's first match in several months and apparently she's been injured this whole time. It was cool she returned in her home state of Connecticut, but it was alarming how little of a reaction she received. This was a straightforward showcase for the returning champion, though. Most people probably weren't aware she was gone, but I'm glad she's back in time for next month's Ring of Honor Final Battle pay-per-view.

Wheeler Yuta def. Zack Clayton

I really liked the intensity we saw from Yuta during that backstage interview he had with Bryan Danielson a few weeks ago and that intensity carried over into this match as he made quick work of Clayton. They've been building up Clayton in recent weeks, but I'm not complaining because it's not as if he's gained much from the wins he's scored. I hope we see this side of Yuta more often because he feels lost in all of the ongoing turmoil within Blackpool Combat Club at the moment.

Matt Hardy and Private Party def. Encore and The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari and Sonny Kiss)

Hardy and Private Party work well as a trio, but I do question the booking decision to put them back together after Hardy derailed any momentum Private Party had the first time two years ago. Granted, it can't get much worse for Private Party and AEW does need trios right now, but I would have liked to see them get a real run on their own as babyfaces. Encore was the best part about Trustbusters' team, for the record. Hardy wasn't allowed to hit Twist of Fate during the match, so he hit it afterward instead.

Alex Reynolds def. Kip Sabian

Reynolds and Sabian are both at the bottom of the totem pole, so it virtually didn't matter who won here. The Dark Order has hit a dead end and Sabian is already back to where he was on the card before he got hurt last year. To their credit, both guys are good wrestlers, but they didn't have a chance to show much here because the match was so short. I appreciate they didn't waste more time than what was necessary, if nothing else.

AEW All-Atlantic Champion Orange Cassidy and Best Friends def. The Factory (Lee Johnson, Cole Karter and Aaron Solo)

This was a mini version of what we just got at Full Gear over the weekend. What's funny is that this was taped before the pay-per-view, but it didn't matter because the outcome was the same. The Factory are as boring as it gets and their only chance of garnering my interest is when they're in the ring with a team like Best Friends and Cassidy. The crowd liked this for as long as it lasted. Much like Reynolds vs. Sabian, this was wisely kept short and sweet.

Overall Show

This Connecticut crowd hardly cared about a lot of what they got on this show other than the main event and I can't say I blame them. Elevation tends to be a quick and painless watch most weeks, and while this along those same lines, there wasn't anything I'd recommend watching whatsoever. Everything was essentially a squash, and while I'm fully in favor of shorter matches across the board, it would've help if there was at least one competitive match on this episode that was somewhat entertaining.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews