AEW Dark Elevation results: The Acclaimed, FTR, Santana & Ortiz

By Landon Pipkin for F4WOnline.com

This week’s episode was taped at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, with Tony Schiavone, Eddie Kingston and Paul Wight as commentators.

Emi Sakura (w/Lulu Pencil) defeated Skye Blue

Blue got some offense in early, but Sakura quickly took control by throwing Blue around the ring by her hair. Sakura chopped her to the outside and distracted the referee while Lulu landed some kicks on Blue.

After escaping a camel clutch, Blue mounted a brief comeback by hitting a hurricanrana and then a crossbody off the top rope for a near fall. However, Sakura regained her momentum with a cazadora, followed by the Queen’s Gambit for the win.

Daniel Garcia & 2point0 defeated Shayne Stetson, Justin Corino & The 1ManThrillRide

Garcia and Stetson started off with Garcia getting the better of the two. 2point0 held Stetson while Garcia hit a shotgun dropkick. Corino rolled to the outside but was met by a lariat from Matt Lee. Back in the ring, Garcia locked on the sharpshooter on Stetson who tapped out. This was chaos. The commentary team was all over the place and I’m not even sure they knew who the legal wrestlers were throughout the match.

The Pinnacle (Wardlow & Shawn Spears) defeated Marko Stunt & Fuego Del Sol

The crowd was very hot for the Alabama luchador Del Sol. After some crowd work, Stunt sized up to Wardlow and attempted an unsuccessful flying crossbody. Spears tagged in and went to the top rope, but Stunt kept rolling away. This went on for way too long.

Stunt hit an enziguri allowing him enough time to tag in Del Sol. The two hit stereo tope suicidas on Wardlow. Spears countered a tornado DDT and then stacked Fuego and Stunt on his shoulders for a death valley driver. Wardlow tagged in and power bombed Stunt on top of Fuego. The Pinnacle finished it off with the Casualty of War on Stunt.

Lance Archer (w/Jake Roberts) defeated Louis Bruno

This match presented a rare occurrence where Archer was the smaller guy as Bruno is massive. He immediately went after Roberts, but Archer saved him with a right forearm. Roberts distracted Bruno while Archer got on the apron to land a beautiful cannonball to the outside, taking Bruno out. Archer continued his beatdown and finished Bruno off with Blackout for the win. Even in squash matches, Archer continues to prove he’s one of the best big men in wrestling today.

Abadon defeated Davienne

Abadon is such a freaky character and wearing makeup like that should be outlawed. But, props to her for being so good at it. This was your basic Dark-esque squash match that Abadon won with a face crusher.

— A Gunn Club promo aired where they continued to say they have been overlooked for way too long.

Santana & Ortiz defeated Obariyon & Kodama

Before the match, Schiavone welcomed Mark Henry to the commentary team. Obariyon and Kodama tried to use their power advantage, but did so unsuccessfully. Santana and Ortiz finished this off with a win without even needing the street sweeper.

Kris Statlander (w/ Chuck Taylor & Wheeler Yuta) defeated B3CCA

Statlander continued her strong in-ring work here even though there wasn’t much to this match, Statlander got her boop in and the Big Bang Theory for the pinfall.

The Acclaimed defeated Colin Delaney & Cheech

Caster and Bowens are exceptional on the microphone. Give it a few years and they could be significant players in the tag division. The Rochester crowd was firmly behind the local duo of Delaney and Cheech.

The Acclaimed worked over Delaney with a double Russian leg sweep. Max Caster landed a standing somersault into a cover, which Cheech broke up. Delaney hit a cutter on Caster from the second rope into a cover which Anthony Bowens broke up. Bowens took out Cheech with a spinning neckbreaker and Caster hit the Mic Drop on Delaney for the victory.

FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Zach Nystrom & Elijah Dean

As soon as the bell rang, Dean rushed FTR while they were both still in the ring, but FTR saw it coming and hit the Big Rig. Wheeler speared Nystrom to the outside while Harwood pinned Dean for the win.

Sonny Kiss defeated KM

KM (fka Kevin Matthews) made his AEW debut after being inactive since December of 2019. I was unsure how these two would work together, but it wasn’t bad at all. KM used his power on Kiss, resulting in a near fall. Kiss countered a springboard dive from KM and used his speed to take control. Kiss got the pinfall after he hit what looked to be a jawbreaker into a split, but the two clashed heads on the way down.

After the match, Kayla Rossi made her way to the ring to confront Kiss. Joey Janela appeared from behind Kiss with a steel chair. Janela attempted to attack, but got countered with a forearm knocking him to the outside instead. He and Rossi then escaped.

Final Thoughts:

Dark: Elevation is a great show to pad the stats of signed wrestlers and get more work in for the younger talent. But, I would be lying if I said these Dark and Dark: Elevation should be on your weekly schedule. The matches are mainly squashes, and historically, there have been very few angles shot on each episode. I would much rather have three to four solid matches where the wrestlers are given a decent amount of time than the ten-plus meaningless matches we have been getting.

I will say I’m intrigued by the Kiss/Janela storyline they are running on both Dark shows, but it’s not enough where you need to go out of your way to watch.