wrestling / TV Reports
Winfree’s AEW Dark: Elevation (Ep. 51) Review 2.21.22
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...Alright everyone, time for another episode of AEW’s Elevation. Tonight we’ve got a ton of multi-man action to get through with a couple of singles matches tossed in for good measure. We’ll have Tay Conti, Lance Archer, Chaos Project, Ruby Soho, and more in action tonight. Excalibur, Paul Wight, and Mark Henry are on commentary.
Match #1 – Trios Match: TayJay (Tay Conti and Anna Jay) and Red Velvet vs. Freya States, Angelica Risk, and Arie Alexander
Conti and Alexander start us off, some quick judo tosses from Conti then a leg sweep. Alexander tags out Freya is in. Freya is a rather large woman, she slaps Conti but Conti goes nuts with chops then tries a sunset flip but Freya blocks it. More blows from Conti then a kick to the head and she tags in Jay. Jay sweeps Freya down and tags in Velvet. Velvet lays in kicks then hits a standing moonsault for 2. Freya scoops up the smaller Velvet and hits a swinging uranage backbreaker. Alexander tags in and hits a headbutt then tags Risk. Risk with a hip attack in the corner but she can’t get Velvet to stay down. Velvet hits a jawbreaker then tags in Jay. Norther Lights Suplex from Jay then a series of strikes and a sliding kick to the head but Risk still kicks out at 2. Risk tags in Alexander but she eats a Dangerous J kick, then Velvet and Conti jump the other two allowing Jay to lock in the Queen Slayer and force the tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: TayJay and Red Velvet won in 3:42
Rating: Queensland Blue. . . SQUASH
Delicious squash. It’s nice to see Red Velvet cleaning up her offense lately, she’s not been nearly as dangerous.
Match #2 – 10 Man Tag Team Match: 2point0 (Jeff Parker and Matt Lee), Daniel Garcia, and Gunn Club (Austin and Colten Gunn) w/ Billy Gunn vs. Dean Alexander, Dominic Garrini, Chico Adams, Ariel Levy, and Kevin Ku
Ky and Lee start us off, they tie up then Lee hits a German suplex. Clothesline from Lee then he tags in Parker. Uppercut from Parker then he tags Lee back in so Ku can take some tandem offense. Ku tags in Garrini and Austin tags in as well. Austin lands a clothesline, then they run the ropes as Colten makes a blind tag then hits a drop kick. Garrini takes some tandem offense then Levy tags in but gets hit by everyone from the other side. Garcia wants to tag in, he comes in and runs wild on everyone eventually locking in his Sharpshooter variant and getting the tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: 2point0, Daniel Garcia, and Gunn Club won in 2:55
Rating: Red kuri. . . SQUASH
I’m not opposed to guys getting paid, but this was just kind of a miss mash of bodies.
Match #3: The Bunny vs. Kaitland Alexis
They circle a bit then tie up and Alexis lands a kick to the body then skips around but Bunny lays her out with a clothesline. Bunny gets her leather jacket and starts choking Alexis with it for a bit. Corner kicks and stomps from Bunny then a Sliding D in the corner. Alexis tries to fight back but Bunny drops her with knees to the body then a running knee lift. Down The Rabbit Hole follows and we’re done.
OFFICIAL RESULT: The Bunny won in 2:05
Rating: Trombone. . . SQUASH
Alexis had some timing issues in there, but otherwise just a squash.
Match #4 – 10 Man Tag Team Match: Andrade El Idolo, The Butcher, The Blade, and Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) w/ Jose vs. Shawn Dean, Carlie Bravo, Baron Black, Jameson Ryan, and Chandler Hopkins
Shawn Dean has his own entrance music that his team uses for the entrance, good for him. Kassidy gets us going against Baron. Baron hits a mat return then goes for the arm of Kassidy but Kassidy fights back with an elbow. They run the ropes then Kassidy hits a step over enziguri and tags in Quen. Hilo from Quen but Baron catches him with an Atomic Drop and tags in Hopkins who tries a handspring kick but misses and hits his partner. Butcher tags in and goes for the arm of Hopkins and then catches him with a backbreaker and tags in Blade for some tandem offense. Blade runs into a kick and Ryan tags in but he gets floored immediately and Blade starts laying in strikes. Inverted Atomic Drop from Ryan and he tags in Dean who runs wild on Private Party then tags in Bravo. Quen takes a pump kick into a spinning Flatliner from Dean but everything breaks down after that. A ton of brawling but Quen avoids a rolling elbow and tags in Andrade. Andrade with a Meteora in the corner to Bravo, then the El Idolo connects, but Andrade tags Kassidy in and lets him get the pin.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Andrade, Butcher, Blade, and Private Party won in 4:20
Rating: Turban. . . SQUASH
It was nice to see Dean get some offense in, but this was still a squash match. Post match Matt Hardy shows up on the entrance ramp as Kassidy is congratulated by his team. He seems to moderately approve of this turn of events.
Match #5: Ruby Soho vs. Haley J
Ruby offers a handshake, Haley just shoves her in response. Ruby straight jackets the arms of Haley and starts tossing her around. Shoulder blocks into the ribs of Haley in the corner, but Haley is ale to slam Ruby into the second turnbuckle. Back elbow from Rub, then she slams Haley into the corner and hits hits a series of running kicks in the corner. Haley avoids a back suplex then hits a ripcord clothesline for a 1 count. Ruby lands a knee to the head, then a super kick, then the No Future connects and we’re done.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Ruby Soho won in 2:00
Rating: Valenciano. . . SQUASH
Delicious squash.
Match #6: Lance Archer vs. Joey O’Reily
Archer chokeslams Joey onto the apron before the match, then immediately chokeslams him again as it starts. The Blackout connects and this is over as he just lays in more punches and the ref calls off the match.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Lance Archer won in :23
Rating: Veltruska. . . SQUASH
More delicious squash.
Kiera Hogan gets a promo describing her song on the AEW album and what it means to her. Not as good as Hobbs’s segment from last week.
Match #7 – Trios Match: Leyla Hirsch, Emi Sakura, and Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Skye Blue, Kiera Hogan, and AQA
Nyla and AQA start things off and Nyla overpowers her but AQA fights back with strikes and a drop kick but gets chopped out of the air. Nyla tosses AQA into the heel corner. Hirsch tags in and hits a Meteora for a 2 count. Drop kick from AQA connects but that only gets 1 before she tags in Hogan. Hogan avoids some offense and hits a shotgun drop kick then a running kick in the corner. Blue tags in and Hirsch takes a sandwich superkick for a 2 count. Hirsch kicks Blue off and tags in Emi. Blue rolls up Emi for a 2 count. Emi starts laying in chops in the corner then hits the corner cross body and tags in Nyla. Blue hits a jawbreaker and tags AQA. Nyla tosses AQA around, hits an avalanche in the corner but AQA avoids the cannonball senton. AQA heads up top but Vickie distracts her and that allows Nyla to toss her off of the top. AQA avoids a running splash and tags in Blue. Hirsch tags in as well and Blue lands knee strikes before landing a super kick and Nyla breaks up the pin. Chokeslam from Nyla to Blue, everything breaks down so everyone gets to hit a high impact move before Hirsch kills Blue with a running knee to the head and gets the pin.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Nyla Rose, Leyla Hirsch, and Emi Sakura won in 4:48
Rating: 2 stars
Skye Blue continues to play underdog to Nyla Rose and her team, but it’s a role she plays well. I rather like Hirsch with more of a heel edge, pity her job here was to be in peril most of the time.
Match #8 – 10 Man Tag Team Match: Jay Lethal, Matt Sydal, Frankie Kazarian, Lee Johnson, and Brock Anderson w/ Arn Anderson vs. Chaos Project (Luther and Serpentico) and Wingmen (Peter Avalon, JD Drake, and Cezar Bononi) w/ Ryan Nemeth
Lethal and Avalon are the first legal men. Both men trade Flair struts, Lethal’s is better. Hip toss then a drop kick from Lethal and he tags in Johnson. Avalon tags in Drake but Johnson blind tags Anderson then Drake takes a back suplex from Anderson. Sydal tags in and Drake tags in Serpentico. Jumping kick from Sydal and then Serpentico tags in Luther. More kicks from Sydal but Serpentico attacks him from behind only to get caught in a double move from Sydal. Nemeth trips up Sydal and that allows Luther to hit an enziguri. Everyone dog piles Sydal for a bit then Serpentico tags in and Luther uses him to abuse Sydal for a bit. Drake tags in, then Avalon tags and Sydal takes some tandem offense from them but they can’t keep him down. Bononi tags in and hits knees to Sydal. Sydal avoids a suplex and kicks Bononi then tags in Kazarian. Kazarian runs wild on everyone including a spear for Nemeth. Arn clotheslines Nemeth on the outside to a big pop. Everything breaks down into a brawl, that is highlighted by Lethal hitting a suicide dive onto a pile of bodies. Anderson tags in and drills Serpentico with the Spinebuster. Johnson tags in for a Frog Splash but so does Lethal who hits the Macho Man Elbow and pins to win.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Lethal, Kazarian, Johnson, Sydal, and Anderson won in 6:06
Rating: 2 stars
Solid enough match, again given just how many bodies were in there it was difficult to tell anything like a real story but the action was crisp.
