AEW Dark Elevation recap (May 23, 2022): We’ve got a fly Mercedes

Episode 64 of AEW Dark: Elevation is in the books! If you missed the live broadcast click here for the Cageside Seats stream. The announce team was Mark Henry and “No B.S.” Paul Wight. Let’s talk about what went down (or up) on Elevation this week!

Ethan Page vs. JD Griffey

Page brought a record of 24-8 to the ring along with Dan Lambert. Griffey had a record of 0-1. Scorpio Sky joined commentary for this contest. “We’re the Men of the Year. We don’t lose on YouTube.” Griffey tried to get on track with a high knee but got tossed like a sack of potatoes and hit with some ground and pound. When the ref tried to pull him off Page screamed “Get out of my face!” Griffey blocked a suplex and went for another high knee, but got taken off his feet with a shoulder tackle and finished with Ego’s Edge. Good night.

ROH World Women’s Championship Match: Mercedes Martinez vs. Hyan

To my surprise this was the second match of the episode instead of the main event, but it’s still the main event to me. They still gave the full title match introduction to both women courtesy of Justin Roberts, with your referee in charge being Aubrey Edwards. Hyan brought a record of 0-2, hailing from Houston, Texas. Martinez brought a record of 5-3 as the reigning and defending champion from Brass City, Connecticut. They shook hands and the action got underway!

Wight and Henry complimented the ring intelligence of Martinez. Hyan responded to her acumen and got an arm drag, a hip toss, and a dropkick for a two count. This fired Martinez up for some lariats and a spinebuster to get her own near fall. Martinez applied a chin lock to slow things down, but Hyan broke free with a chin breaker, and Martinez gave her two rolling Germans and some ground and pound for her trouble. Hyan shoved her into the turnbuckle and fired up for a running knee and a sit out suplex for a near fall. Martinez countered into a roll up for a two count off it, then threw Hyan into the ring post and clubbed her in the back of the head. Elbow to the back of the head, Brass City Sleeper, Hyan tapped immediately. You wouldn’t expect Martinez to lose here — and she didn’t. They exchanged a hug afterward. At times Hyan seemed to be in slow motion but on the whole I liked her work and Martinez held the match together.

The Butcher and The Blade vs. The Varsity Blonds

The Blonds brought a record of 28-14 sans Julia Hart (which commentary noticed). Butcher and Blade brought Bunny and a record of 23-11 to the ring. Garrison didn’t take long to tag in Pillman, and Butcher responded in kind by tagging in Blade. Blade stood on him in the corner and Bunny screamed “How do you like that?” at him. Pillman hit a couple of deep arm drags and went for a roll up, then unloaded chops before tagging Garrison in for the assisted dropkick.

Pillman tagged back in and nearly collided with his partner. Blade gave him a neckbreaker and tagged Butcher back in. Butcher whipped him pillar to post. Henry: “He looks like the guy who burned the Christmas tree down.” Blade tagged in to stomp and kick him and Butcher came in for a double team pair of kicks and a near fall. Henry: “A lot of resilience in Pillman. He could have taken his ball and gone home.” Butcher and Pillman met mid ring and both went down hard. Henry: “That was meet slapping.” This led to a double tag and Garrison hitting a high back body drop, drawing praise from Mr. Wight. Blade tried a roll up, hit a knee to the face, but Garrison hit a lariat and the Butcher had to break up the pin. Pillman gave him a superkick for his trouble, tried to give one to Blade too, but he hit Garrison by mistake. This made it easy for Butcher and Blade to Drag the Lake for the pin.

Lee Moriarty vs. Alex Reynolds

Moriarty brought a record of 7-4 for 2022 to this contest. Reynolds brought his Dark Order cohorts and a record of 45-34. The crowd was hot for this match with dueling “let’s go Alex” and “let’s go Lee” chants breaking out early. Moriarty tried to snap Reynolds’ left shoulder off but he escaped, ran Moriarty into the turnbuckle, took his elbow pad off and smacked him with a forearm. Big boot, to the top rope, moonsault missed! Moriarty threw a series of muay thai knees, threw Reynolds down on his face, and applied the Border City Stretch to get the submission. Wight: “A very aggressive Lee Moriarty tonight!”

Nyla Rose & Emi Sakura (w/ Vickie Guerrero) vs. Skye Blue and Yuka Sakazaki

Blue and Sakazaki had records of 10-23 and 8-6 respectively. Sakura and Rose brought records of 29-25 and 67-27 heading into this bout. Sakura was having her way with Sakazaki until Blue came in to make the save. Rose ran interference to even up the odds and got tagged in to sit on Sakazaki and fish hook her nose. Sakazaki got away and hit a drop kick from the top rope before tagging in Blue. Sakura got tagged in and hit with a spinning head kick, but Rose reached through the ropes with a boot to break it up. She tagged in as did Sakazaki, who did a front roll and a knee before getting caught and spiked on her head. She kicked out at 2 and 9/10ths. Rose draped her off the ropes and leapt off the top but Sakazaki got out of the way and did a splash off the top. Sakura broke up the pin and got thrown out. Blue tagged back in as Sakazaki wiped out Sakura on the outside. Blue went for the crossbody and got caught. She tried a head scissor and this too was countered. Rose gave her a Beast Bomb and brought this match to its end. Guerrero hit the ring to celebrate.

Anthony Ogogo vs. The Mysterious Q

This is not the match I would have expected to main event any show, not even AEW Dark Elevation, so I question who put the order of this episode together. Ogogo brought a record of 12-1 to the ring. “‘Ello Guv’nor.” Meanwhile Mysterious Q was making his AEW debut here. Henry: “These fans here in Houston are really enjoying Mysterious Q.” That’s because they’ve seen him with Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling in person or on local TV. His momentum was halted by a hard left hand and a series of stomps that got the crowd booing Ogogo. He followed up with a series of uppercuts and unwrapped the tape from around his left hand, which Wight criticized as poor boxing technique. It also gave Q time to recover and throw some chops. Ogogo responded with a belly to belly suplex and a lariat, then unwrapped the tape on his right hand too. He threw Q in the air for an uppercut, draped the flag over his opponent, and the ten count made it official.

What to watch/skip

This week’s “what to watch/skip” is brought to you by “Public Enemy No. 1” because for the second week in a row we’ve got a fly Mercedes (Martinez) in the main event — and that’s the way the story goes, that’s just the way the story goes. I have no “skips” this week for you. I don’t understand the progression of the show from start to finish, but every bout was good or better. Hyan needs the most improvement out of anybody on tonight’s show but I still want to see her come back for another episode.

Cageside commentary crew! Share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you love pro wrestling find me on Twitter too. See you tomorrow night for AEW Dark!