The violence and pain of Dynamite wasn’t enough, was it?

The Blood & Guts of Dynamite was only the start! Before he defends his IWGP United States Championship in AEW, Jon Moxley headlines Elevation!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Lee Johnson VS David Ali; Johnson wins.
• Eddie Kingston VS VSK; Kingston wins.
• Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky VS Fuego Del Sol & Baron Black; Ethan & Scorpio win.
• Thunder Rosa VS Renee Michelle; Rosa wins.
• Chuck Taylor w/ Best Friends VS Vary Morales; Chuck wins.
• Leyla Hirsch VS Dani Jordyn; Hirsch wins.
• Matt Sydal VS Manny Smith; Sydal wins.
• Jade Cargill VS Reka Tehaka; Cargill wins.
• Matt Hardy & Marq Quen w/ Isiah Kassidy VS Dean Alexander & Dillon McQueen; Hardy & Quen win.
• Britt Baker w/ Rebel VS Raychell Rose; Britt wins.
• Tay Conti VS Madi Wrenkowski; Conti wins.
• Jurassic Express VS Chaos Project; Jurassic Express wins.
• Isiah Kassidy w/ The Hardy Family Office VS Alex Reynolds w/ The Dark Order; Reynolds wins.
• Jon Moxley VS Danny Limelight; Moxley wins.

MY THOUGHTS

“Big Shotty” Lee Johnson and David Ali opening was good, definitely another case of what Elevation is all about. Commentary could still do better on knowing moves, because Johnson’s move was a fisherman ushigoroshi, not Blue Thunder Bomb. We got more clear winner matches, of course, that isn’t going to change any time soon as far as I can tell. VSK got a good showing against Kingston, and I like the detail that the finish was the frog splash flop and Oklahoma Roll. It makes the defeat more a point of inexperience, not ability or skill. Kingston had a great promo on the Young Bucks, but that’s because Kingston can literally cut a great promo on anything. There’s a video of him cutting a killer promo on chocolate chip cookies. Kingston and Moxley VS The Young Bucks is going to be awesome.

I almost feel like Fuego and Baron got too good of a showing against Ethan & Scorpio, but I suppose that just makes Ethan & Scorpio look even better by comparison. Renee Michelle got herself a very good showing, but Rosa pulling out a submission hold was nice, gives her moveset some depth. A little surprised Chuckie T didn’t face Penta or Pac as a way to both get some tune-ups in before Dynamite’s Pac VS Orange Cassidy, but I suppose Chuck needed a win since he lost to Rey Fenix last week. Leyla’s armbar is becoming the strongest armbar in wrestling today, it ended her match with Dani Jordan quick!

Mark Sterling trying to be Jade’s manager was interesting, it’d be quite the swerve on this story they’re building if she went with him and not someone more established like Vickie Guerrero. A good detail of The Hardy Family Office tonight was that they were all in street clothes. It implies a new level of arrogance, where they didn’t feel the need to go to the locker room and get dressed for their matches. Conti using that top rope back senton, that needs to be treated as a more devastating move, Madi recovered a little too soon to me. Maybe also make the top rope back senton something saved for the big time matches, like when a title or title opportunity is more directly on the line.

The last three matches were all great, deserving of the bulk of hour two. Marko Stunt being in the Jurassic Express match this time was a nice surprise, he and JB made for a good combination against Chaos Project. Kassidy VS Reynolds was great, and having tag guys in singles matches is a great way to show the strength of the tag division. We saw it when Nick Jackson and Rey Fenix faced off 1v1, too. If the individuals are this good, then of course the teams are amazing. And in the case of these factions, the Hardy Family Office and Dark Order, it shows that they can dominate all divisions, no matter who competes where. Reynolds and Silver are a great tag team, but each guy could be a TNT Champion at some point.

Story wise, it was great for Reynolds to win only for the HFO to stand tall. This can build to something big, but we just got Blood & Guts so maybe we get Stadium Stampede 2 or a 10 Man Elimination Tag a la WWE Survivor Series. Getting an interview with Limelight was great, it really establishes he’s solidly AEW. It’s also pretty cool that he and Paul “Big Show” Wight met because of WWE Tribute to the Troops, though they couldn’t say that themselves. His story is powerful, it’s obvious he’s a great talent in the ring, and he was a great choice for the main event with Moxley. Limelight can definitely find himself as far as being on the mic, he could grow into a big name right before our eyes.

My Score: 8.3/10