The 101st edition of AEW Dark: Elevation was filmed last Wednesday before Dynamite in Dayton, OH, at the Nutter Center. Paul Wight and Matt Menard were on commentary for most of the show.
Jericho Appreciation Society (Angelo Parker & Matt Menard) defeated The Boys (Brandon & Brent)
Menard was involved in the first match instead of on commentary, so Wight took over the duties by himself. It caused some dead air here and there, but Wight has a lot of great insight and the dead air was filled by the arena sound effects which was interesting.
The JAS tried a lot of heel stuff by distracting the ref and keeping The Boys locked off in their corner. The Boys got a little offense in and showed some great teamwork, but this one didn't last long. Menard got rid of Brandon with a massive lariat, which led to a double DDT onto Brent for the win.
Lexy Nair had Ari Daivari, Tony Nese and "Smart" Mark Sterling in the back for an interview about tonight's main event. Sterling noted that last week's Elevation got the most views out of any Elevation ever because of their match with Top Flight. Sterling also pointed out that the BCC has been a thorn in his side for years even though they were formed 11 months ago.
Juice Robinson defeated Jake Crist
First of all, Robinson's music is incredible. I love the country rock style...but he came out in graffiti jeans which I didn't like the style of.
Crist, the longtime Impact Wrestling veteran, used his size early keeping Robinson in the corner. He hit a crossbody off the top, but Robinson caught a kick and started raining down punches. For some reason, he got in referee Aubrey Edwards' face and called her "Audrey" which was really funny. Crist got up and hit some loud kicks, but Robinson landed a tall flapjack, a Russian leg sweep, and a DDT for the win.
Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno & John Silver) defeated Crash Jaxon, Matt Brannigan & Renny D
A really popular few guys from the Midwest indies were up against the Dark Order in this one. Jaxon actually had a great match with Steve Maclin the night after this taping at Pro Wrestling Revolver, which also featured a lot of AEW talent.
Brannigan started with Silver to the usual "Johnny Hungie" chants. The indie team established themselves as the heels by attacking Silver, but Dark Order came back and singled out Jaxon. Brannigan found himself alone in the ring with the rest of Dark Order and they hit their assisted backdrop for the win.
Yuka Sakazaki defeated Billie Starkz
Starkz held her own against another top-level talent which was great to see. She even hit a somersault leg drop onto Sakazaki who was on the apron that looked absolutely brutal. Sakazaki came back with her own missile dropkick. Both that and a sliding clothesline got near falls. Starkz got her own nearfalls with a high-angle German suplex and a swanton bomb. Sakazaki powered up and hit a body slam followed by the Magical Dream Girl Splash which was enough to put Starkz away.
The Boys were backstage with Lexy Nair, but Dark Order interrupted again. Nair tried to call them out, but they just told her that she had her sassy pants on today. Due to their loss earlier, they believed The Boys needed a change of scenery so they offered them a spot in Dark Order. When The Boys seemed unimpressed, John Silver started doing a variation of the twist. Yes, the dance.
Brandon & Brent started dancing along, but when Nair tried to join in, Silver started yelling at her and telling her to just stand there. Evil Uno offered The Boys a contract which was just a bundle of blank papers with the words "Dark Order Contract" on the top. They all started dancing away and Brent grabbed a couple of sheets of paper and shoved them in his mouth. I don't know whether to be really confused or really amused.
Best Friends & Orange Cassidy defeated Spanish Announce Project (Luther & Serpentico) & Zack Clayton (w/ Angelico)
This was a very interesting matchup. Cassidy tried to get right to it with the pockets, but Serpentico delayed it for a few seconds. Eventually, Cassidy got them in there. The two teams went back and forth cutting off the ring, but when Best Friends did it, it just consisted of Danhausen distracting the ref while each member wretched Serpentico's arm. Cassidy even hit Taylor with a few lackadaisical ones.
SAP and Clayton singled out Cassidy and actually hit him with a triple bear hug, but Cassidy fought out and baited Clayton into punching, not one, but both of his own teammates. Beretta got the hot tag and he took out Clayton. Taylor and Beretta got rid of each one of their opponents and went for their big hug, but Clayton broke it up only to get triple-team choke slammed for the pin.
After the match, Angelico got in the ring and called out Cassidy and then got hit with his powerful kicks. Danhausen snuck up behind him and cursed him, followed by a big Best Friends hug.
Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Corey Calhoun
This was the epitome of short and sweet -- a squash as they call it in the business. Hobbs just kind of threw him around until he decided he wanted to end it with the burning hammer for the win.
Top Flight defeated The Butcher & The Blade (w/ The Bunny)
Butcher and Blade obliterated Dante Martin before the bell even rang with Blade chopping the hell out of his chest. They did a great job of cutting off the ring and it was cool to see Darius Martin get the hot tag for a change. He hit Blade with an impressive Spanish fly for a near fall that Butcher had to break up. He followed the pin attempt with a run-up DDT off of Dante's body for another near fall.
Blade turned the match back around when he hit a brutal-looking knee onto Darius. Butcher and Blade got Darius up for Drag The Lake, but Dante was the legal man the whole time. Dante used a headscissors to throw Butcher out and hit his Nosedive for the pin and win.
Diamante, Emi Sakura, Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) defeated Hyena Hera, Madison Rayne, Queen Aminata & Skye Blue
This was a lot more here than I expected. Blue got most of the work for the babyface side, but everybody got their time on the heel side in the early going. But, we eventually saw every combination you can see in this match (I don't know how many total as I didn't become a writer because I was good at math) before it eventually fell apart.
They all congregated to the outside where Blue and Rayne each hit moves off the top rope. Hera found herself alone in the ring with Shafir and Rose who hit the Beast Bomb for the win. Shafir gave Rose the evil eye after the match.
Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) defeated Ari Daivari & Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling)
If you were waiting all night for the Mark Sterling Ohio Law jokes, you're in the right place. This week on the way out, he pointed out how it's illegal to fish for whales on a Sunday. He apologized to the bachelors of Ohio who now had one less day to find Ohio women. He then called the BCC a couple of "Moby Dicks" and said after his team was done, they would have some caviar. (Caviar is fish eggs and has nothing to do with whales.)
The crowd let out a big pop for the BCC. Nese spent the early going trying to show off his physique to two ROH champions which was an interesting strategy. Daivari made his way in and tried chopping Castagnoli, but the ROH Champion followed it with a European uppercut that dazed Daivari so much he tried tagging in Yuta. Yuta actually got tagged in, only for Daivari and Nese to cut off the ring with some help from a distracted referee.
Yuta connected on a clothesline and finally got Castagnoli back in the match. Nese ate a ton of European uppercuts and went down, but Daivari broke up the pin. Daivari got his own uppercut and fell out of the ring. Castagnoli reversed a backslide and tried to get a big swing going, but Sterling got on the apron.
Instead of just swinging Nese, he gave Sterling the big boot. Nese used the distraction to hit a kick and then his 450 splash, but Castagnoli kicked out, After things broke down and Daivari was taken out of the match, Castagnoli launched Yua into a flying DDT on Nese. Daivari went for a dive, but Castagnoli caught him and hit a backbreaker, taking him for a swing until Yuta delivered a dropkick mid-swing to get the pin and win.