AEW keeps ramping things up for the summer!

The Pinnacle is preparing for war with The Inner Circle, and they’re tuning up on Dark: Elevation! Will Wardlow and Shawn Spears be sharp for the summer?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Wardlow VS Jason Hotch; Wardlow wins.
• Dustin Rhodes & Lee Johnson VS VSK & Travis Titan; Dustin & Johnson win.
• Angelico w/ Jack Evans VS Mike Sydal w/ Matt Sydal; Angelico wins.
• Shawn Spears VS Falco; Spears wins.
• Private Party w/ The Hardy Family Office VS Dean Alexander & Carlie Bravo; Pretty Party wins.
• Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero VS Megan Bayne; Nyla wins.
• Orange Cassidy w/ Best Friends VS Cameron Cole; Cassidy wins.
• Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero M w/ Alex Abrahantes VS Arik Cannon & Kevin Blackwood; Kingston & Penta win.
• Julia Hart w/ Varsity Blonds VS Dani Jordyn; Julia wins.
• QT Marshall & Aaron Solow VS Deonn Rusman & Joe Keys; QT & Solow win.
• Scorpio Sky w/ Ethan Page VS Alex Reynolds w/ The Dark Order; Scorpio wins.

MY THOUGHTS

First off, I’m surprised they uploaded the video rather than used “premiere” streaming. Just an hour and 13 minutes, I should’ve paid attention and gotten this done sooner with the power to speed up the video. At the same time, I do need to eat dinner before Monday Night Raw… Anyway, I’ll start by saying Scorpio VS Reynolds in the main event is great for both guys. Scorpio & Ethan are going strong, and Scorpio has to go strong into the Handicap Match with Darby Allin. I have a feeling Ethan will have a very similar match on Dark classic tomorrow to also get momentum, and we wait to see how it goes on Friday.

Opening with Wardlow’s interview promo was good. Wardlow already tells us that he’s got a match for Dark classic on top of tonight and Friday, so he’s gonna put in some work before facing Big Hurt Jake Hager. Wardlow being the opening match also makes sense, because why wait after his promise to knock out Hotch? The draping drop to the knee smash needs a name already. War Hammer? This is War? Something menacing, that’s for sure, because that thing is wild. Hotch even had a great sell, he was just folded inward against the buckles. Dustin & Johnson have a good match and of course they win. Dustin’s still got it and Johnson’s proving he has it, too.

I’m thinking Jack Evans is a bit more banged up than AEW is letting us know, because otherwise I think we could’ve gotten The Hybrid2 VS The Sydal Brothers tonight. But Angelico VS Mike Sydal was still really good, with great technical exchanges and agility. Matt Hardy showing up late to being ringside with Angelico is good detail for this story he’s building with TH2. With The Butcher still out, Big Money Matt still needs big money mercenaries, TH2 make great substitutes. Therefore, it makes sense for Angelico to win, as he seems to be Hardy’s top choice for technical assassin. Maybe the Sydals help Christian Cage against the Hardy Family Office during all the July specials.

Why are all the Pinnacle guys using just the Pinnacle theme? What happened to their individual themes? Wardlow used it, Spears used it, when both of their individual themes are still great themes. Spears VS Falco was a solid match, but the Pinnacle members are going to build momentum as they need to stay strong going into individual battles with the Inner Circle members. Schiavone needs to keep track of finishers better, but thankfully he has Paul Wight. The Wingmen have a real good promo to hype up Cassidy VS Bononi, but I feel like this was made before they knew the match was going to be confirmed.

Private Party have a good match with Alexander & Bravo, really using that Heel playbook well. Again, pretty sure #HardyParty takes on Christian Cage & The Sydals at some point. I feel like Vickie is the one thing keeping Nyla a Heel as she’s about to face Britt Baker who is also a Heel. Though, that in itself isn’t so bad, I commend AEW if they’re trying to give us Heel VS Heel for the women’s title. Rebel and Vickie should definitely have some kind of shouting match ringside when Nyla and Britt meet. Naturally, Nyla destroys whoever is in the ring against her, but it looks even more impressive when she absolutely obliterates Bayne, one of the few women taller than her.

Orange Cassidy’s theme is extra catchy when sped up to 1.25, that’s like a dance mix. Cassidy of course wins to go strong into his match with Bononi, but the character work is always a bonus. I liked his lackluster call for a test of strength, and his equally casual evasion of the missile dropkick. Then he shifts gears and actually gets going fast to finish it off. Penta and Kingston of course win, continuing the momentum from winning on Dynamite to go into the next Dynamite for their Six Man Tag with Matt Jackson & The Good Brothers. Cannon & Blackwood get a good showing, but that helps show the toughness of Kingston and the vicious precision of Penta.

Julia Hart having the third-to-last match tonight is pretty big for her. She’s steadily moving up the ranks being alongside The Varsity Blonds, and it was a missed opportunity for Dani Jordyn to not have her Burn Book with her. It was a good match, Julia wins here to get momentum going into her match with Penelope Ford on Friday, but there’s no way she’s winning that. Ford hasn’t been around in a bit, she needs her return to be a success, and Julia makes a fitting Face to job to her.

QT Marshall & Solow of course win tonight, and I think I saw Rusman and Keys in ROH with QT during a Top Prospect Tournament. The Factory has to stay strong as QT heads for his Strap Match with Cody Rhodes that I fully expect him to lose because it’s against Cody, but it was good for Solow to get the pin here so he gets something for himself. Solow and Johnson really should have more of a feud within the feud since they were a tag team before the Nightmare Family VS Factory story started. Let those two young guys have at least an Elevation main event, go No Disqualification and give them a solid 20 minutes, that’d be awesome stuff.

My Score: 8.1/10