AEW Dark: Elevation Review - September 19, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zack Clayton def. Conan Lycan

Clayton is still going by "The Reality" as his nickname even though barely anyone is familiar with what he did in reality television. Hell, most people aren't familiar with what he's done in wrestling, either. He's a perfectly competent competitor and has shown signs of potential but has come off as Generic Heel #45 from a character standpoint. This was fine but hardly the strongest opener for the show.

Nyla Rose def. B3CCA

Rose has been directionless for so long now that her squashes are practically all the same at this point. I genuinely don't know what you do with her, but what I do know is that this alliance with Vickie Guerrero and Marina Shafir isn't helping her in the slightest. Speaking of Shafir, she cut a promo afterward that absolutely sucked. She won't improve unless she gets reps, so that's probably the purpose this was supposed to serve, but it was honestly abysmal enough to where it should have never made the air.

Private Party def. Aggro and Danger Kid

As I've said before, the biggest downside of Being The Elite being on hiatus at the moment is that Private Party and Matt Hardy aren't able to further their storyline right now with Hardy trying to make amends with them. That said, I still don't know what the endgame is supposed to be as I have no idea to see them link back up again. This was nice little sprint and I'm all for Private Party racking up wins, but they don't mean anything if none of them occur on Dynamite or Rampage.

Skye Blue def. Chica Carreras

I think it's safe to say Blue has been under a deal to AEW for some time now despite never receiving the "all elite" graphic. She remains a work in progress in the ring but has a natural connection with the crowd. She definitely loses more than she wins, so this was a necessary victory for her. She had a decent performance for the most part, but I can't say the same for her opponent who wasn't overly impressive.

ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dalton Castle and The Boys def. Boujii, Rick Recon and Omar (Non-Title)

I was starting to think the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship was retired considering we haven't seen the titles or the champions since they won them at Death Before Dishonor two months ago. I'm a big fan of their act, but I wish we'd see them on AEW programming more, even if it was on the Dark shows. They work well together and this served as a solid showcase for them.

Frankie Kazarian def. Jora Johl

I feel like we see Kazarian so infrequently nowadays and it's a bummer because he can never build any real momentum as a result. He had a renewed push earlier this year when he was briefly involved in the AEW TNT Championship picture, but that was about it. Johl also isn't going anywhere fast now that The Andrade Family Office is basically a thing of the past, but this was a well-wrestled, competitive contest while it lasted.

Mascara Dorada def. Serpentico

This marked the AEW debut of the artist formerly known as Gran Metalik in WWE. He's fresh off a brief run in IMPACT where he recently unsuccessfully challenged Mike Bailey for the Impact X-Division Championship. I feel like fans have forgotten what he's capable of, and unsurprisingly, he's even better than he was in WWE because he no longer has any limitations. Serpentico is a goof, but he played his role well here and it was an enjoyable outing. Can we please give Bryan Danielson what he wants (a match with Dorada) sometime soon?

The Butcher and The Blade def. Liam Davis and Mike Anthony

I know Butcher and Blade are New York natives and headlined Elevation last week in their hometown of Buffalo, but did they really have to headline over Dorada's AEW debut (which was a much better bout)? Personally, I don't find them interesting at all, though their intensity helps them stand out. This was pretty standard stuff with Butcher and Blade winning in a matter of minutes as they should have.

Overall Show

Let the record show that this edition of Elevation was 46 minutes long, and two of those minutes were wasted on that atrocious promo from Shafir. Sadly, that will be all anyone talks about coming out of this show, and that includes what I thought was a strong debut for Dorara. What a shame. Shafir's embarrassment of a promo aside, this was a rock solid episode and par for the course with what to expect out of Elevation.

SEE MORE: Elevation Reviews