AEW Dark Elevation recap (Mar. 21, 2022): Top Flight needs better competition

Episode 55 of AEW Dark: Elevation is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream. The announce team this time was Tony Schiavone and Excalibur. Let’s talk about what went down (or up) on Elevation this week!

Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) vs. Robyn Renegade

Vickie Guerrero came out screaming “excuse me” and yelling about “Tweedle Dee” and “Tweedle Dumb” in reference to the Renegade Twins. She finally said “sweetheart turn around” and Charlette Renegade got destroyed. Robyn did the “magic twins” switch with her but it didn’t help at all as she got a Samoan drop and a Beast Bomb for the pin. Short, violent and one-sided. The Renegades never even got officially announced.

Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue

Blue brought a 3-4 record to the ring for this contest. Hart’s 2022 record is 2-1. Lately I’ve been thinking she should start doing things to spice up the eye patch she wears. Maybe one week she could come out with it being “heart” shaped. Another week she could have the red cross symbol on it like California Mountain Snake dressed up as a nurse. Hart slammed Blue into the steps and gave her a boot to the face when she tried to get back into the ring. Then she repeatedly kicked her and stomped on her throat as she was slumped in the corner. Hart did a moonsault press but Blue kicked out at two and Hart screamed in fury. She did a front handspring into the corner but Blue countered with a thrust kick for a near fall. Schiavone criticized the move Hart did for being too showy and taking too long. He’s not wrong. It’s not a move you’d do in a real fight. Then again you wouldn’t put your feet on the ropes to make a pin either, and that was how Hart finished this match off.

The Gunn Club (w/ Billy Gunn) vs. Masada & Aaron Mercer

The Gunn Club brought a 2022 record of 7-1 to this match. Austin was trying to plug his ears to not hear “Ass Boys” chants, but Excalibur claimed it was because he didn’t want to hear “this vaporwave Giorgio Moroder entrance music.” If you don’t know who Moroder is just picture the movie Scarface in your head, and if you’ve never seen the movie Scarface well I don’t know what else to say but “go watch it.” Masada and Mercer were wrestling as a tag team for the first time, which didn’t bode well for their chances here. While Austin and Colton took turns stomping and punching on their hapless foes, Excalibur and Schiavone made jokes about convenience store chains (Wawa and Bucky’s). Aubrey Edwards had her hands full trying to get everyone follow the rules, but when Masada tagged in Colton made that academic by bringing the match to a quick end. If you’re a Masada fan this was a disappointment. He could and should have gotten to do a lot more.

Top Flight vs. Chaos Project

Chaos Project brought a woeful record of 0-5 for 2022 to the ring. Top Flight’s overall team record was listed as 7-4. I know the purpose of the Dark shows is (1.) to test people before signing them to a deal (2.) to pad out the W/L record of people on the roster and (3.) to give more people ring time when they can’t get it on Dynamite or Rampage. That said there are times when the results are way too obvious before the match even takes place and this bout was one of them. Darius did a good job of selling for Luther until Dante got the hot tag though, and it’s always fun to see a babyface make that 1-on-2 comeback. Dante tagged Darius back in but Serpentico managed to get a boot up on the Martins as they came flying in (pun intended). Serpentico went to the top rope though and he always misses when that happens, and Darius promptly gave him a schoolboy roll up. Not the usual aerial action we expect from Top Flight, but given their mediocre opposition, this was “fine.”

The Bunny & Emi Sakura vs. Ruby Soho & Anna Jay

33-21 and 26-18 were Bunny and Sakura as they made their way to the ring. 20-4 and 28-11 for Soho and Jay respectively. Sakura and Bunny took their turns giving Jay a beating as Soho had to wait on the apron. Schiavone: “I can see The Bunny being in a horror movie as the main character. You close the medicine cabine and she’s in the mirror standing behind you.” Sakura tagged in for the “we will rock you” crossbody. While the ref was distracted the Bunny did an illegal sliding strike. Sakura tried to follow up and missed, allowing Jay to dive for the hot tag. Soho unleashed on Bunny with kicks and a headbutt, Sakura broke up the pin, and all four women got in the ring despite the protests of the ref. Sakura and Bunny set up for the simultaneous Down the Rabbit Hole, but Soho and Jay countered with a double kick and Soho made sure the Bunny had “no future.” Fun match.

Lance Archer promo

Archer proceeded to call San Antonio a “cesspool” and then said he almost broke his neck for these stupid fans “but never again.” Archer: “You can’t hide me in the dark for much longer. And when I step into the light you’re going to regret everything you made me do. When I said everybody I didn’t stutter because EVERYBODY DIES.” To prove his point he attacked a plant holding a sign that said “Lance Archer sucks” and threw him into the ring. Schiavone meekly said “We need security. Somebody needs to stop this.” Nah, they don’t. The plant took the Blackout and that brought the segment to an end.

The Factory (Aaron Solo, QT Marshall & Nick Comoroto) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & John Silver)

The Factory brought a 3-2 record in trios action to the main event. Their opponents were listed by their individual records though — 52-31, 53-18, 42-26 for Uno, Grayson and Silver respectively. They were flanked by the rest of the Order at the top of the ramp before heading down to the ring. Silver begged Uno for a tag so he could come in and flex his biceps in Comoroto’s face. Comoroto petted him on the head so Silver took him down and returned the favor. Grayson got tagged in and they tried to double team Comoroto but he hit a double clothesline instead. It’s perplexing that a guy with Comoroto’s size and look continues to be featured largely on the Dark shows, and losing more often than he wins at that. The more I think about it though the more that might be a good thing. If they think he’s too green to get a main roster run, there’s no point putting him on TV like the E does Omos.

Marshall and Comoroto took a backflip double kick from Grayson before Evil Uno got the hot tag. Solo got tagged in as the rest of The Factory was trying to recover. Uno hit a neckbreaker on Solo and a big boot to Comoroto for good measure. Uno hit Something Evil but Solo kicked out at two. Grayson tagged in looking to do a double team move but got cut off. They went to the next move in their playbook — the senton 450 combo, but Grayson was only able to get a near fall. Marshall hit a Diamond Cutter and Comoroto hit a spear but Silver made the save at the last second. Silver hit a release German suplex on Solo. Uno hit a neckbreaker on Marshall. Comoroto picked him up for a power slam. Grayson gave Comoroto a DDT. Solo hit Grayson with an elbow strike as he came off the ropes. Grayson wiped out Comoroto and Marshall on the floor as he flew over the ropes on a whip. John Silver gave Solo the Spin Doctor for the pin. The last minutes were hard to keep up with!

What to watch/skip

This week’s “what to watch/skip” for Elevation is brought to you by brutalmoose, simply because I find anything on that channel more entertaining than Luther. Besides Ian usually cheers me up when I’m a little annoyed, and it’s only a little, but the booking of this week’s Elevation was even more obvious than usual. Skip the Nyla Rose squash, skip Archer beating up a plant, but the rest of the show was okay and the best was definitely last.

Cageside commentary crew! Share your feedback and thoughts in the comments section below. You can also hit me up on social media. See you tomorrow night for AEW Dark!