AEW Dark Elevation results: Dustin Rhodes, Wardlow, Ryo Mizunami

It’s Monday and you know what that means: a four-match AEW Dark: Elevation that was taped this past weekend at Miami, Florida’s James L. Knight Center.

Dustin Rhodes defeated Gustavo

This was the AEW debut for Gustavo — the first wrestler from Honduras to wrestle in an AEW ring. Rhodes, from the start, worked Gustavo’s left arm with deep armdrags. Rhodes won in short order with a new finisher called the Backlund Driver (in honor of Bob Backlund). His record is 10-2 ahead of his Eliminator Tournament match against Bryan Danielson this Saturday on Dynamite.

Wardlow defeated Will Austin

This was the AEW debut for Austin. As expected, this was a showcase of Wardlow’s strength as he simply threw his opponent around. Fans wanted Wardlow (18-3) to do several power bombs as the finish, but instead, he won by ref stoppage with Spoils of War.

Santana & Ortiz defeated Jaka & Sean Maluta

This match was the AEW debut for Jaka while Maluta has been on Dark before. Santana was able to showcase his prowess in amateur wrestling in some spots. He and Ortiz dominated with their offense with the best spot being a catapult cutter from Ortiz to Jaka. Santana and Ortiz (12-3) won with the OIC (Outlined in Chalk).

Diamante, Emi Sakura & Nyla Rose (w/ Lulu Pencil & Vickie Guerrero) defeated Red Velvet, KiLynn King & Ryo Mizunami

This match marked the return of Mizunami to AEW. This match had a lot of good combo moves from each team. Sakura and Velvet had a great spot with a rolling surfboard and Velvet also hit a great spanish fly on Diamante that had the crowd amazed. The heels won thanks to a Beast Bomb from Rose to King.

Final Thoughts:

This was a short installment of Elevation at under 30 minutes. Mark Henry was on commentary and came off as more comfortable than in his other commentary appearances. The best match of the night was the trios main event.