‘AEW Dark: Elevation – Episode 37’ Review
Welcom to the first of this weeks AEW reviews, AEW Dark: Elevation, the first in the post-Omega, new champion ‘Hangman’ Adam Page era of AEW; on the road to Dynamite’s third “season” and the move to TBS in 2022.
Match #1: Gunn Club def. Nasty Russ, T Money & Shawn Cook
My Thoughts: Meh… More Gunn Club shenanigans. I’m over it I really am. Austin and Colten and good when they’re the fun, high energy duo but as heels, with their father? Just doesn’t work for me. This was a squash by any other name with the local talent given a brief chance to shine. And I do mean brief.
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #2: Nyla Rose, The Bunny, and Emi Sakura def. Riho, Skye Blue, and Ryu Mizunami
My Thoughts: Another good women’s trios match As usual Nyla Rose and EMi Sakura were booked strong; though it was good to see Skye Blue given an outing in this match. By now though I’d be expecting Rose and Sakura to be an ACTUAL womens tag team, however AEW don’t have a women’s tag division – which is a shame as they’ve got some good tag teams (or women put together as a tag team) on the roster. Once again Ryu Mizunami elevates the match with her reactions in and out of the ring.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #3: HFO (Matt Hardy, The Blade, and Isiah Cassidy) vs. Dark Order’s Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & Alan “6-inch” Angels
My Thoughts: The losing streak of Dark Order really is back isn’t it? Despite putting in a brilliant performance and pretty much carrying the entire match the Dark Order lost when Isiah Cassidy revrsed a pin into a crucifix pin. Though to be fair to Dark Order, they can lose and still look 100 times better than they’re opponents. Especially “Bad Gimmick” Matt Hardy. The entire score goes to Uno, Grayson and Angels. Screw the HFO.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #4: Andrade El Idolo def. Lord Crewe
My Thoughts: Lord Crewe looked the part, and apparently has bare-knuckle boxing experience but that didn’t stop him getting squashed by Andrade, who ridiculously won the match with split pants, hitting Crewe with a huge hammerlock DDT.
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #5: Ruby Soho def. Charlie Kruel
My Thoughts: Soho came out with her longtime trainer Billy Roc to face AEW debutant Charlie Kruel in front of an excited crowd and pretty much kicked her ass with ease. Not even enough offence from Kruel to call this a quasi-squash, this was a literal squash!
My Score: 1.5 out of 5
Match #6: Jon Silver def. QT Marshall
My Thoughts: This one was a surprisingly good main event. Jon Silver is endlessly entertaining and Marshall worked well with Silver… If Dark Order are on a losing streak then Silver is definitely on a winning streak. This one felt like it was cut short for some reason (and there’s no reason to do that on a ever-changing runtime YouTube show) but other than that this was great.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Final Verdict: 2/5
This was a innocuous episode of Elevation that wasn’t fantastic but didn’t disappoint either. Too many squash matches detracted from the show but focus on Trios matches added to it. A great main event pretty much sent everyone, inclduing the YouTube audience, home satisfied.
