wrestling / TV Reports
Winfree’s AEW Dark: Elevation (Ep. 76) Review 8.15.22
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...Alright everyone, time to check out the latest episode of AEW Dark: Elevation. Tonight we’ve got a tag team heavy event, The Acclaimed, Thunderstorm, and Private Party are all in action plus a Dark Order 8 man tag team match. Excalibur and Matt Menard are on commentary, this will either be very good or a total train wreck of a pairing.
Match #1 – Tag Team Match: Josh Woods and Tony Nese w/ “Smart” Mark Sterling vs. Arik Cannon and Tristan Davis
Hey, an Arik Cannon sighting. Good for him, Cannon is one of the forgotten guys from the golden age of the indy scene. Woods and Davis start us off, Woods out wrestles Davis early before crushing Titan with a knee strike. Nese tags in and hits a suplex. Davis flips out of a back suplex and tags in Cannon, who lands some strikes and a clothesline. Super kick from Cannon then a rope assisted neckbreaker and Woods has to break up the pin. Davis goes after Woods but Woods kills him with an intercepting knee. Cannon sends Woods out of the ring but takes a shotgun dropkick from Nese, Woods tags in and hits a running knee in the corner then we get a combination neckbreaker and Angle Slam on Cannon to end things.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Tony Nese and Josh Woods won in 2:40
Rating: Green Hubbard. . . SQUASH
It’s nice to see Cannon still around, and he got a pretty good reaction from essentially his hometown. Woods and Nese might have something as a tag team, and that finisher is solid.
Match #2 – 8 Man Tag Team Match: Dark Order (Evil Uno, John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and 10) vs. TUG Cooper, Drew System, Rylie Jackson, and Adam Grace
Silver and Grace start us off, they tie up and Silver grabs a side headlock then shoulder blocks Grace down and he poses. They hit the ropes and Silver lands a drop kick then Grace tags in Jackson. Back body drop from Silver then he tags in Reynolds. Again they hit the ropes and Reynolds lands a flying elbow then tags Silver back in, now Uno tags in and Jackson takes some triple team moves before tagging in System. System eats a neckbreaker from Uno then Uno tags in 10. 10 runs wild and wipes out Cooper with a Brodie-line. Silver tags in and System eats the Ragnarok triple team and we’re done.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Dark Order won in 2:25
Rating: Hubbard. . . SQUASH
Delicious squash.
Match #3: Serena Deeb vs. Sierra
They tie up, and Deeb quickly begins out wrestling Sierra then walks over her back. Deeb with an armlock takedown then grabs a front headlock. Sierra fights to her feet and lands a few rights but Deeb fights back with chops and uppercuts. Deeb sends Sierra to the apron and hits a hangman’s neckbreaker through the ropes. Sierra fights out of a cravate and hits a super kick but Deeb avoids a corner splash and spins around Sierra with a few backslide attempts then transitions into the Deebtox which connects. While we could be done here Deeb decides she’d rather lock up the Serenity Lock and forces Sierra to tap. Menard on commentary bet the under on 3 minutes, looks like he cashes by just a couple of seconds.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Serena Deeb won in 2:58
Rating: Kiszombori. . . SQUASH
Despite being a squash I kind of liked what Sierra showed here.
Match #4: Konosuke Takeshita vs. Cezar Bononi
They tie up but Bononi’s size and power overtake Takeshita at first but Takeshita hits an arm drag and a calf kick to fight back. Bononi catches Takeshita and sets him in the corner then stomps him out of a half tree of woe position. Takeshita blocks a suplex then hits one of his own. Elbows from Takeshita then they hit the ropes and Takeshita hits a flying clothesline. Bononi lands an elbow but Takeshita blocks a clothesline and lands a stiff elbow strike. Bononi hits a neckbreaker then a Tiger Driver for a 2 count. Takeshita fights back with a boot then a flying knee off the second rope and follows up with Zahi to a kneeling Bononi and that will end things.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Konosuke Takeshita won in 2:37
Rating: 2.5 stars
Takeshita continues to be a very good professional wrestler, and credit to Bononi who’s definitely improving.
Match #5: Julia Hart vs. Free-Range Kara
Hart just stares down Kara for a bit, then kicks her in the face. Another boot from Hart and Kara rolls out of the ring to recover. Hart follows her out of the ring and hits a clothesline. Back in the ring Hart sends Kara into a corner and unloads on her with strikes. Kara tries to fight back with punches of her own but Hart catches her by the throat then trips Kara down and chokes her for a bit. Northern lariat from Hart then she locks in her arm trapped Rings of Saturn and gets the tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Julia Hart won in 2:41
Rating: Kabocha. . . SQUASH
Hart continues to grow into this gimmick, which hides some of her still present flaws.
Match #6 – Tag Team Match: Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) vs. Jah-C and JDX
Quen and JDX start us off, Kassidy quickly cheap shots JDX then tags in and Kassidy cheap shots Jah-C then they hit the old Poetry in Motion on JDS. Bit of a dive from Quen onto Jah-C, meanwhile JDX hits a jawbreaker but he’s cut off with an enziguri. Quen tags back in, as Kassidy hits a draping Backstabber, then Quen follows up with a 450 splash onto JDX as he’s on the knees of Kassidy. That might have tweaked Kassidy’s knee as he’s limping a bit on the apron, meanwhile Jah-C tags in and Quen blasts him with an enziguri. Kassidy tags back in and the Gin and Juice connects to end things.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Private Party won in 1:49
Rating: Mammut. . . SQUASH
A bit heavy on the squashes tonight, aren’t we fellas?
Match #7: Penelope Ford vs. Heather Reckless
They tie up and Reckless grabs a side headlock then hits a takeover. Ford counters into a headscissors, which Reckless escapes and we get a stand off. Some kicks from Ford now then her own side headlock into a shoulder block. Ford with stomps, Reckless fights back with strikes and a back elbow which sends Ford out of the ring. Reckless follows Ford but eats a right hand then Ford launches her into the barricade. Back in the ring Ford hits a handspring back elbow then a fireman’s carry into a double knee gutbuster. Ford then locks up the Muta Lock to get the tap.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Penelope Ford won in 2:46
Rating: Queensland Blue. . . SQUASH
Not a bad return from injury for Ford, Reckless was a good choice of opponent as she’s a very safe worker.
The Acclaimed are up next. Caster says they’ll run up on everyone like the FBI did on Trump, calls the little guy of their opponents helpless and likens the other to a broke ass Christopher Daniels.
Match #8 – Tag Team Match: The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) vs. Justin Fowler and JT Energy
Fowler and Caster start us off, Caster starts wrestling then decides against it and chops Fowler. Bowens tags in and hits his usual flurry of strikes before they hit the ropes and Fowler lands a jumping knee strike and both men tag out. Caster drop kicks Energy then tags out and Energy takes some corner offense then Caster hits a powerslam. Bowens lays out Fowler with a super kick then slams Energy down to set up a Mic Drop from Caster that ends things.
OFFICIAL RESULT: The Acclaimed won in 1:47
Rating: Red kuri. . . SQUASH
Not one of Caster’s better raps, but the Acclaimed seem to be working well enough now as faces instead of heels.
Match #9 – Trios Match: Hikaru Shida and Thunderstorm (Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm) vs. Emi Sakura, Marina Shafir, and Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero and Baliyan Akki
Shida and Emi get us going, things break down into a brawl right away and Shida drops Emi with a tilt a whirl backbreaker. Emi responds with one of her own then she ties up Shida and poses on her back. Rose tags in, Shida runs into an avalanche but then avoids a senton and hits a meteora. Shida avoids a corner splash and tags in Storm, who flies in with a crossbody and takes out the enemy corner before dropping Rose with a neckbreaker. Emi gets ejected but the distraction lets Rose hit a super kick on Storm to take over. Shafir tags in but Rose gets low bridged. Shafir avoids a DDT but Storm drops her with a shotgun drop kick then the corner hip attack and plants her with the pendulum DDT to end things while everyone else is brawling on the floor.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Hikaru Shida and Thunderstorm won in 2:45
Rating: 2.5 stars
I’m not quite sure how to rate this one, it was oddly booked unless there was some legitimate reason to keep Thunder Rosa out of the ring entirely. I mean if someone got hurt then I get it, but otherwise that was just weird. The faces pose to end the show.
