AEW Dark: Elevation Review - September 20, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Thunder Rosa def. Kaia McKenna

This was one of the usual Thunder Rosa squashes where she'll let her unknown opponent score some offense before hitting her own signature spots and going over decisively. Unfortunately, McKenna didn't impress whatsoever. You'd think Rosa would carry her to a competent contest and she tried, but McKenna wasn't able to hold her own. That's a shame, but at least Rosa keeps rolling in singles competition.

Gunn Club (Billy, Austin and Colten Gunn) def. Anthony Bennett, Leon St. Giovanni and Ray Jaz

I have no idea Giovanni, better known as LSG to some fans, wasn't under a Ring of Honor contract, unless it recently expired. Hell, he was on today's episode of ROH TV where he lost a Pure Rules Gauntlet match. Maybe he has a deal that allows him to do stuff like this? Either way, seeing him in there was cool, even though he was just another guy in a trio that Gunn Club beat. Gunn Club mentioning they were undefeated last week on Dynamite yet not being ranked at all makes zero sense to me, but I assume they'll start climbing the rankings now that it's been acknowledged. This was a perfectly fine showcase for them.

The Dark Order (Alan "5" Angels and Preston "10" Vance) def. The Dark Order (Evil Uno and Colt Cabana)

The Dark Order civil war continues. I'm sure there's a handful of people who are actually invested in it and those that are not considering they've been a joke stable for the better part of the year. I still enjoy Dark Order, but I'm more curious what the endgame is going to be than anything else. The storytelling was well done here. Angels losing his mask for a few minutes was notable, even though his identity was never in doubt. It's also worth noting that Uno refused to shake his hand afterward, so we'll see where that leads.

Orange Cassidy def. Mike Verna

I was bummed Cassidy didn't come out to his own entrance music here. Is there a reason for that? At any rate, I loved seeing Verna make an appearance here. He's been a regular on the northeast independent scene for many years and I've had the chance to see him make a few appearances for Northeast Wrestling lately. He's terrific and I'm glad AEW brought him back for Elevation after not using him for a while. Granted, this was a minute long and was all about Cassidy, but it was a cool cameo by Verna, nonetheless.

Private Party def. Jorge Santi and Teddy Goodz

I was all for the idea of Private Party pairing up with Matt Hardy and turning heel at the onset of 2021, but now I'm of the mindset it's the worst thing for them. They're far less important and over than they were even a year ago. They'll win matches like this on the Dark shows but never when it matters most on Dynamite and Rampage. Anything involving the H.F.O. immediately loses my interest at this point and sadly this was no exception. It was what it was.

Hikaru Shida def. Masha Slamovich

I've quickly become a fan of Slamovich in the few appearances I've seen her make for AEW and the NWA. I'd say someone should sign her, but according to a report I read over the weekend (no spoilers), she already has, which is terrific news. Shida has had some fairly easy squashes on the Dark shows since losing the AEW Women's World Championship earlier this year, but she was pushed to her limit here. It was an entertaining affair for as long as it lasted.

Sonny Kiss def. Joey Janela

I haven't been the biggest fan of this feud, simply because it's been dragged out for months and I truly can't bring myself to care, but it's weird that it wasn't positioned as the main event of this show considering it's been the most prominent storyline going on the Dark shows all year. The effort was there, I'll give them that. Janela is just abysmal in the ring in my opinion, but this was decent enough. Despite Kiss winning, the rivalry isn't over yet as Janela's new bodyguard/enforcer Kayla Rossi attacked Kiss afterward with one of the coolest moves I've seen on this show in a while. It was a standing moonsault but better.

Santana and Ortiz def. Avery Good and JT Dunn

AEW is clearly heating Santana and Ortiz up with wins to get them ready for an eventual AEW World Tag Team Championship match with The Lucha Brothers and I am beyond ready for that. In fact, those two teams will take on The H.F.O. in eight-man tag team action this Friday on Rampage. This was simple stuff, and of all the squashes on this show, I wouldn't have minded seeing this go longer as Dunn is just fantastic. I'm truly shocked he hasn't been picked up by a promotion yet, but hopefully in time.

Dustin Rhodes def. QT Marshall

Trust me, you won't find many people who care less about The Nightmare Factory than me, but I'm still surprised this would be given away without much hype behind it. Maybe it was mentioned on one of last week's shows, but I have no recollection of it. This was actually the feud I wanted to see over Marshall vs. Cody Rhodes since at least these two were former tag team partners. Nonetheless, they exceeded my expectations and had a fun, competitive main event. Marshall does nothing for me as a character, but this was honestly one of the better bouts I've seen him have, while Dustin continues to kill it at his age.

Overall Show

There were way more familiar faces on this show than usual, and I'm not talking about the contracted talent. Maybe that's because this show emanated from Newark, New Jersey and I'm aware of most of the people on the northeast wrestling scene? Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and Elevation really seems to be finding its stride with this new shortened format. The last three matches were above average by Elevation standards and made this an easy thumbs-up show. This is what I was hoping Elevation would be from the start.

SEE MORE: Dark: Elevation Reviews