AEW Dark Elevation recap (May 9, 2022): Tony Deppen’s AEW debut!

Episode 62 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 Mark Henry and Paul Wight. Let’s talk about what went down (or up) on Elevation this week!

Ryan Mooney, Diego, Josh Fuller & Brandon Scott vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, Alan “5” Angels & Preston “10” Vance)

An eight man tag kicked the action off this week with Mooney, Diego, Fuller & Scott “making their debut” in a division that is unlikely to ever have championship titles. Rumor has it that Tony Khan has already made six man titles but is waiting for Kenny Omega to come back to debut them. If that’s true given how many injuries Omega needed time off to address, we could be waiting a long time to see trios champions in AEW.

Reynolds lost his elbow pad and someone on the outside threw it back in to him. Uno got the tag and ran over all of our competitors in the ring, gave two of them a noggin knocker, and tagged in Vance. The crowd chanted “ten ten ten” as he did a delayed vertical suplex, one of the “carpenters” came in to break it up, and he got put in the vertical instead. Angels did a backflip off the apron to take out the group and Uno hit a power bomb on the man with yellow trunks for the pin. Henry and Wight gave up on calling which enhancement guy was in the ring and I don’t blame them for it.

Abadon vs. Emi Sakura

Sakura came out first with a record of 28-23. Abadon crawled out to the ramp with a record of 32-3. Wight’s explanation for how you wrestle Abadon was as follows: “You keep your fingers and toes inside the car.” Sakura got said same fingers bit, but recovered and put Abadon in the corner for chops and a crossbody. Sakura hit her with a knee and promptly got countered and reversed on her next move, before Abadon rolled off the ring to wipe Sakura out on the floor. Back in the ring Sakura recovered again and stomped on her head and neck, this time her backbreaker wasn’t blocked, but Abadon kicked out at two anyway. Abadon bit Sakura’s neck like a vampire and hit her with a bulldog. Senton, ground and pound, then Abadon pulled Sakura back to her feet by the hair. Sakura hit a couple of chops that Abadon no sold. Abadon hit a lariat and gave her the hurricanrana DDT for the pin.

Sonny Kiss vs. Peter Avalon

Avalon was accompanied by Ryan Nemeth and sported a 2022 record of 0-1 heading into this match. Kiss brought a 2022 record of 4-2 and got a nice reaction from the live crowd heading down to the ring. Avalon stared a hole through Kiss as the opening bell rang. Kiss did a kip up but got knocked down with a shoulder tackle. Kiss did a leapfrog, arm drag, backflip elbow, but Avalon did a kick to the gut and went up to the top rope. Kiss fought back with punches and kicks and picked up Avalon for a delayed press slam. Nemeth reached in to grab a leg from the outside and Avalon took advantage as the ref admonished them both. Avalon gave Kiss a chop and threw Kiss back into the ring for a near fall. Kiss fought back with forearms and kicks, did the splits, but got kicked in the head for two. Scoop slam, to the top rope, moonsault missed. Kiss laughed at him and did a backflip dropkick. Avalon kicked out of a crossbody. Nemeth distracted Kiss on a split legged pin attempt but the heels did a noggin knocker and Kiss got the roll up for the pin.

Tony Deppen vs. John Silver

Silver came out first for the co-main event with a record of 49-27. Former ROH TV champion Tony Deppen was already waiting in the ring.

The two locked up for a test of strength and eventually Silver turned it into a headlock followed by a shoulder tackle. Deppen did a leapfrog, missed with two lariats, and ate an uppercut. Henry: “Once an object is in motion, it stays in motion.” Deppen stopped that motion with a knee to the head and some ground and pound. Deppen threw a chop and Silver answered with a bigger one. Deppen threw a forearm and Silver hit a bigger one again. Deppen went for a knee but Silver cleaned his click with a lariat. Lawn dart into the turnbuckle, running knee, Spin Doctor for three. Everything Deppen did looked good here, I just wish we had gotten to see more of it. I get that Silver had to get the win before facing Punk on Dynamite so I’m not mad about it.

Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. QT Marshall & Nick Comoroto

I don’t think anybody had any doubt who would win the Elevation main event this week. Marshall and Comoroto brought a tag team record of 1-1 to the ring and were accompanied by Aaron Solo. Strickland’s AEW record to date was 3-3, while Lee’s was 7-2. Henry was getting excited to see Strickland and Lee “knock that smug look off Marshall’s face.” The Baltimore crowd did the “Whose house? Swerve’s house” chant to start the match. Strickland nailed Marshall with a few chops and tagged in Lee. “Keith Lee, woop woop!” The crowd was really into this match. They were even singing soccer chants. Lee destroyed Marshall with a double chop and Henry yelled “Thank, GOD!” Lee gave him a biel all the way across the ring and naturally Comoroto tagged in. The Factory worked him over 2-on-1 in the corner for a while. Marshall knocked Strickland off the apron to keep him from making the save and heat the Baltimore crowd up even more. Lee finally escaped Comoroto and got the hot tag, and Strickland came flying off the ropes to attack Marshall with a forearm to the head. Comoroto took a near fall before Lee got tagged in again. Solo grabbed a leg to keep Strickland from going up the ropes for a double team. Marshall hit a superkick and Comoroto hit a spear for a near fall on Lee. Strickland did a double stomp to Marshall, Comoroto tried to throw him out, he landed on his feet and knocked Solo out. Keith Lee hit the Big Bang Catastrophe on Comoroto for the pin and that was that!

What to watch/skip

This week’s “what to watch/skip” for Elevation is brought to you by (what else) Deppen’s theme music from ROH. Skip the opening match and watch everything other than that. That’s a short summation for a short episode of Elevation. I hope this isn’t the last we see of Tony Deppen in AEW, and that the next time we see him he gets to do a little bit more.

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!