AEW Dark Elevation results: Dark Order vs. 2point0 & The Acclaimed

It’s Monday and you know what that means. 

This week’s AEW Dark: Elevation matches were taped last Wednesday in Independence, Missouri, before Dynamite. Excalibur, Paul Wight and Mark Henry were the broadcast team once again. 

Powerhouse Hobbs (w/ Hook) defeated Danny Adams (1:37) 

My preview listed Adams as “Dan the Dad.” He wore skin-tight jorts and glasses and looked like young Tony Schiavone with a beard. Despite all that, he stood no chance against Hobbs who hit Town Business for a near fall (he pulled Adams up at two). Hobbs then put Adams up in the torture rack to get the submission. Hook walked over Adams’ dad bod after the match. 

The Butcher & The Blade (w/ Bunny) defeated Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Wheeler Yuta) (7:14) 

This was Butcher & Blade’s first match back as a team as Blade has been out of action working through depression and anxiety issues which he revealed last week. Yuta and Taylor combined to suplex the much larger Butcher early on. Butcher came back with the low crossbody block which knocked the wind out of Taylor. Butcher and Blade cut Taylor off from Yuta and took control. Blade dumped Taylor on the floor and went to attack with a steel chair, but the referee took it away before Blade could use it. Butcher tackled Taylor on the floor and back in the ring, Blade hit a flying clothesline for a near fall. 

Taylor mounted a comeback by hitting Soul Food on Blade and tagging Yuta. Yuta came in with a crossbody off the top and german suplexed Blade and then Butcher, which impressed the crowd. Taylor came back in and got a near fall off of a falcon arrow. Taylor caught Blade with a knee strike and Yuta followed up with a frog splash for a near fall. Taylor went for a plancha on Butcher, but Bunny pulled him out of the way and Taylor found the floor. Blade hit a spinning tombstone on Yuta and then combined with Butcher to hit Dredge the Lake (suplex/powerbomb combo) for the finish. 

Riho defeated Tootie Lynn (2:43)

Lynn, who according to the commentators has a legitimate black belt, looked good early on. Riho got her with a tiger feint kick for a near fall. Lynn regained control, but missed a charge in the corner and Riho hit a flying knee strike. Lynn avoided a double stomp from the top and went for a german suplex, but Riho rolled through and hit a standing foot stomp. The former AEW Women’s Champion got a northern lights suplex for a near fall, following that up with the diving foot stomp from the top rope for the pin. 

Matt Hardy defeated Dean Alexander (3:41) 

Ah yes, on the show that’s about elevating young talent, here’s Matt Hardy. Well, I guess he’s young compared to the age of the universe. He did get a pop from the crowd though. Alexander got the “hometown” pop for being from Kansas City, Kansas (they were in nearby Independence, Missouri) and wearing a Kansas City Chiefs color scheme. Hardy ran down Alexander on the mic before the match.

Alexander took a nasty spill out of the ring along the ring steps. Hardy then caught him with a slingshot throat first into the middle rope. Alexander broke free of a sleeper attempt and caught Hardy with an Olympic Slam into a neckbreaker. Alexander went to the top, but Hardy crotched him. Hardy hit a superplex and locked in the Leech for the tap.

— A commercial for Jon Moxley’s book aired. Watching the show on my computer, I noticed a lot of positive comments from the fans for Moxley on his road to recovery. Good luck, Jon! 

Ryo Mizunami & Ruby Soho defeated Emi Sakura & Nyla Rose (w/ Lulu Pencil, Mei Suruga and Vickie Guerrero) (4:55)

Suruga is another one of Sakura’s students, making her AEW debut in the heel corner. There was a weird bit when the music was cut and then the audio got real bad in the middle of Soho’s song.

Rose and Mizunami began the match by exchanging heavy forearms before Rose slammed her. Sakura went for her finish, but Mizunami backdropped her and made the tag to Soho. Rose caught Soho with a spinebuster after Guerrero tripped her up. Rose went for a power bomb on Soho, but Soho rolled through the attempt and got the tag to Mizunami. Mizunami hit Rose with a spear and then threw Soho into Rose for an assisted spear. 

The match settled back down to Rose and Mizunami and Rose took her down with a straight jacket neckbreaker. Rose went for a senton atomico, but Mizunami rolled out of the way. Tags were made on both sides and Soho got a roll-up for a near fall. Soho and Sakura exchanged near falls until Soho hit No Future (her version of Soul Food) for the pinfall. 

After the match, Rose and Sakura hit their finishers on Soho until Kris Statlander ran in with a steel chair to make the save. Statlander and Soho did the handshake/respect thing until one of them held onto the handshake for a little too long. Then they had a bit of a standoff ahead of their clash in the next round of the TBS title tournament.

Once again, there were weird sound issues at the end that made me think they were going out of their way not to play Soho’s music.

Dark Order (Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, Alex Reynolds, John Silver) (w/ Colt Cabana) defeated The Acclaimed and 2point0 (6:53) 

Caster got tons of great cheap heat by making fun of both the Chiefs and Kansas City barbeque in his rap to the ring. 

Evil Uno and Anthony Bowens started out by exchanging a ridiculous number of shoulder tackles with neither going down until Uno changed direction and took down Bowens. Silver and Grayson then took down the 2point0 guys with shoulder tackles. Reynolds got into it on the floor with 2point0 who dropped him with the double team hotshot against the ring barricade. 

Reynolds took a beating from the heels while the fans chanted “Johnny Hungee!” Matt Lee hit a backbreaker on Reynolds for a near fall. Reynolds eventually got the tag to Grayson, who hit a belly-to-belly suplex on Lee. He went for a quebrada on Caster who caught him and tried to turn it into a tombstone (an impressive bit of strength), but Grayson spun the move into a DDT and got the tag to Silver for a huge pop. 

Silver went nuts, hitting offense on everyone in and out of the ring. The match broke down from here. Caster charged at Silver, but he got backdropped over the top. Silver and Reynolds hit their finishing sequence on Parker and then Uno and Grayson hit the Fatality for the win to end a crowd-pleasing match. 

Final Thoughts: 

After the eight-man, I want to see a one-on-one match between Max Caster and John Silver at Full Gear. This was a fun show, so try to catch the main event if you can.