AEW Dark Elevation results: ROH title match, Bandido vs. Daniels

This 90-minute edition of AEW Dark: Elevation was taped before and after Dynamite last Wednesday at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington. Paul Wight and Matt Menard were on the call.

Brian Cage (w/ Prince Nana) defeated Schaff

This was a perfect match to start the show: hard-hitting, unpredictable and featuring a hometown star in Schaff. They tested each other’s power with shoulder tackles but this match was more about agility. Cage hit an inverted DDT and started taunting Schaff and the crowd. Schaff powered out of a rear chinlock with help from the crowd, but Cage countered with a knee. 

Schaff got the heat back and connected on a senton for a near fall. He went for a power bomb, but Cage hit a knee and fireman’s carry slam for another near fall. He followed with another exploder for a near fall that even got me. They went back and forth a little more, leading to Cage hitting the drill claw to finally close out a really good match.

– Ethan Page was in the back with Lexy Nair hyping up Hardy Party’s match tonight. Matt Hardy interrupted and let Page know that he had been added. Page was upset, but Hardy presented him with green bedazzled trunks as a “late Boxing Day present.” Page was ecstatic and accepted the match. Isiah Kassidy had to ask Hardy if he was deadass and he, in fact, was deadass.

The Kingdom (w/ Maria Kanellis) defeated The Bollywood Boyz

Each team got its own entrance and during The Kingdom’s, Wight and Menard were quick to point out how hot Maria was. The Boyz were obviously over with the Seattle crowd, being from British Columbia, Canada. They started on the offensive, but an elbow to the back of the head of Gurv Sihra turned the match around. 

A chopping match ensued but nothing changed until Gurv Sihra got the hot tag. He hit an elbow drop onto Mike Bennett but Matt Taven broke up the pin. They double-teamed Gurv Sihra until they hit an assisted running knee for the win.

It was just their second AEW tag team match (and win) and third match overall in AEW/ROH since debuting in October.

– ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli was with Lexy Nair putting over Josh Woods ahead of their match later tonight. Nair mentioned how Woods is a former ROH Pure Champion. Castagnoli called himself the final boss and that he was the bar. Get it? 

House Of Black (w/ Julia Hart) defeated Ari Daivari & The Wingmen (Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth)

This went exactly as you thought it would, but it was the debut of Avalon’s new haircut, so it wasn’t all bad for them. Malakai Black dominated the three of the House’s opponents one by one. Buddy Matthews joined in on the fun, but was hit by a big right hand from Nemeth. He did not take too kindly to that. 

Daivari came up behind Matthews and hit him with neckbreaker on the apron to turn the match around for a little bit, but Brody King made his way in and destroyed Nemeth and Daivari. The HOB focused on Daivari and hit a cool cannonball/kicks combo to win the match.

Powerhouse Hobbs defeated Vinny Pacifico

Hobbs made his way out with the Book of Hobbs in his hands. He seemed offended by the competition tonight, but Pacifico almost got back into this a couple of times. In the end, this was mostly dominated by Hobbs and ended with a spinebuster. 

Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero) defeated Amira & Danika Della Rouge

They are still planting seeds of dissension between Shafir and Rose and Guerrero stayed on the stage instead of going down to the ring. Rose ran over Amira, acted as her teammate, and tagged herself in which was really funny. Shafir made her way in and dared Della Rouge to fight her which went exactly as expected. Rose chokeslammed her on to a downed Amira to set up the double-team spike DDT to get the win. Guerrero walked off the stage to the back right after the pin.

– The Butcher and The Blade were backstage talking about how 2023 was gonna be different for them and that they smoke a lot of weed. That was about it.

ROH Champion Claudio Castagnoli (w/ Wheeler Yuta) defeated Josh Woods (w/Mark Sterling) to retain the title

“Claudio” chants and pure mat wrestling started this match, prompting Menard to mention the only reason he can’t wrestle like that is that he doesn’t like cauliflower ears. Castagnoli went for an early swing, but Sterling interrupted on the apron. Woods was aggressive getting back into it with kicks and an ankle lock and Castagnoli sold the effects the rest of the match. 

Another ankle lock stopped Castagnoli’s momentum that he briefly got from some uppercuts. The challenger then turned the lock into a bridging German suplex for a near fall. Castagnoli was right back up, though, putting Woods in the giant swing until his knee gave out. One great thing about this match was Woods messing with the champion’s knee in any way he could, even in little things like pulling him around and trying to pin him.

Woods went for another German suplex, but Castagnoli countered with a knee and a super loud uppercut that got him the pin. This match was great and Woods looked good.

The Firm (Ethan Page, Isiah Kassidy & Matt Hardy) defeated Cody Chhun, Guillermo Rosas & Sonico

Page came out and stopped the music like he always does, but he said since he and Hardy are on good terms now, he restarted the song and started doing Jeff Hardy’s old moves and gyrations. This was really funny, but Kassidy was quite upset. Page kept the mic on him during the match and was yelling at both Hardy and Kassidy throughout. 

Hardy Party was dominant in the early going. Kassidy went to tag in Page, but he told everyone how well Kassidy was doing and didn’t tag in. When Hardy hit the Side Effect, Page finally tagged in, but it was to the detriment of The Firm. It briefly turned the match around for the DEFY regulars on the other side of the ring. 

The Firm quickly turned it back around and set up a Twist of Fate for Page which he hit for the win. Kassidy was upset again, but this whole angle is still great. It’s a perfect way to have a comedy bit without losing Page’s credibility.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena defeated Viva Van in a non-title match

Van is a very popular indie star on the West Coast, but she had no chance here against the champion. All of Athena’s matches are about the same, but also different at the same time. She set up Van on the outside against the ring steps and hit a double knee right into her face. She then rolled her back into the ring and locked in the crossface for the win. 

Athena attacked Van after the match, but Marina Shafir made her way out. Athena continued her attack without Shafir stopping her. They then had a staredown that resulted in Shafir issuing a challenge for the title which was accepted.

Eddie Kingston & Ortiz defeated Eddie Pearl & Ricky Gibson

If you thought other crowds were loud for Kingston, you need to hear this one. Angelico joined the commentary team and the three had great banter and were also great at calling a match. Angelico reminds me a lot of Nigel McGuinness — a guy that is experienced in the ring and also good at the desk.

Pearl and Gibson had to resort to dirty double teams, but even that didn’t work well. Gibson was able to turn it around with a backbreaker. Pearl then came in the ring and hit his own backbreaker, followed by him mooned the hard cam. Yes, he pulled down his pants with his butt towards the camera. Thankfully, he had another pair on underneath. The babyfaces fought back after a Kingston hot tag and he soon ended things with a DDT onto Pearl for the win.

Bandido defeated Christopher Daniels

A friend of mine in the building told me about how great this match was last week and of course with these two, it had all the makings of it. 

This was smooth from start to finish as they started going back and forth in a great sequence. Bandido had the heat first, mostly working out of the corners with chops and strikes. Daniels went heel, raking the eyes and using the ropes. Bandido hit a twisting crossbody and followed it up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a near fall. He went to the top again and paid homage to Eddie Guerrero with a frog splash for another near fall.

Daniels later rolled up Bandido but used the ropes for leverage in doing so. The referee caught him, but I really didn’t like how the ref simply stopped the pin with no reaction, no emotion, no anything. Daniels hit the Angel’s Wings for a two count, but Bandido kicked out and hit a gorilla press slam and an inverted GTS for the win.

Best Friends (w/ Danhausen) defeated Chaos Project (Luther & Serpentico) (w/ Angelico)

It was main event time after nearly 90 minutes of action which is out of the ordinary for Dark: Elevation. Angelico got up from the desk to go manage Spanish Announce Project or Chaos Project in this case. They attacked Best Friends before the bell, but the Friends turned it around with the Dosey Doe and went for the hug, but the heels knocked them down. They then singled out Trent Beretta and cut off the ring. 

Luther started using Serpentico as a weapon and it actually hurt him. They then went for their own hug and the cameraman did the zoom out I thought was reserved for Best Friends. Danhausen got in the ring and tried to eject the referee. 

Luther and Serpentico then held Danhausen to attack but he moved out of the way so Serpentico punched Luther in the groin, followed by a punch by Danhausen to Serpentico’s groin. This set up Best Friends hitting their assisted piledriver for the win to end the show.