‘AEW Dark: Elevation – Episode 73’ Review
Welcome to this week’s review of AEW Dark: Elevation, the opening salvo in the AEW wrestling week. Once again we’ve got Excalibur, Caprice Coleman and Mark Henry on commentary and I’m digging the switch-ups we’ve had on the commentary team in recent weeks… Let’s see what the show has to offer!
Match #1: Angelico and Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) def. AR Fox, Liam Gray and Adrian Alanis
My Thoughts: There was nothing remarkable about this match as Private Party continue to coast along and not live up to the hype of their signing back at the beginning of AEW. In fact, Private Party on Being the Elite is BETTER than Private Party in the ring! So in the end we get an average score for an average match.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #2: Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose def. Angelica Risk and Shalonce Royal
My Thoughts: I don’t know about anyone else but I’m really liking the team of Shafir and Rose. This was a squash match, as should be the case for such a dominant pair of women, but what matches and team-ups like this do is help the performers and it really feels like Marina Shafir is truly benefitting from going out there with a partner – she gets to wrestle AND show some personality too!
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #3: Toni Storm def. Emi Sakura
My Thoughts: This felt very much like a strong-style match for AEW, with both Storm and Sakura really taking it to each other. And this one got enough time to make it really feel like a competitive match rather than a “throwaway” match for YouTube.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #4: Kris Statlander def. Brittany
My Thoughts: And this was the exact opposite of the match that proceeded it. This was a squash of the highest order, the kind of squash that is meant to make the winner look strong and rack up the wins for the all-important AEW stats. Hey, at least Brittany got SOME offence in!
My Score: 1 out of 5
Match #5: Hikaru Shida def. Robyn Renegade
My Thoughts: I like the Renegade sister’s gimmick of switching places to try and win matches but when they don’t look the same it does work. And that was the case here. But hey, can’t complain when we get a match from Hikaru Shida!
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #6: Dark Order (Evil Uno and 10) def. The Factory (Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto)
My Thoughts: Even with this NOT being the main event, seeing Dark Order and The Factory go at it again is getting wearisome. Which isn’t a fault of either team or ANYONE involved in the match. It’s just lazy booking… Or fan booking – after all, these matches are crowd pleasers for those in attendance. Just for us at home we’ve seen it over and over again.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #7: Baron Black def. Brandon Cutler
My Thoughts: Baron Black gets the win? Baron Black gets the win?! Baron Black gets THE WIN! What the hell just happened? That was never the expected out come for this match. Ever. Gotta love it!
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #8: Konosuke Takeshita def. JD Drake
My Thoughts: Two of my current favourite wrestlers – thanks to their appearances for AEW – in a match together? My kind of heaven! THis was a fantastic main event that was hampered by being shorter than it needed to be. Given more time this would’ve felt like more of a big deal. What is a big deal is the fact these two guys seem to be able to wrestle ANYONE and match them sill for skill, so to see them go head to head was a joy!
