Elevation brings the heat from Fyter Fest Night One!

If everything’s bigger in Texas, no wonder there’s more from Fyter Fest! Can former #1 contenders, Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero M, rebound from Road Rager?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Lance Archer w/ Jake the Snake Roberts VS Zachariah; Archer wins.
• Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor w/ Kris Statlander & Wheeler Yuta VS Chaos Project; Cassidy & Chuck win.
• Hikaru Shida VS Dulce Tormenta; Shida wins.
• “Powerhouse” Will Hobbs w/ Team Taz VS Lucas Chase; Hobbs wins.
• Frankie Kazarian VS Baron Black; Kaz wins.
• Jungle Boy w/ Luchasaurus VS Angelico w/ Private Party; JB wins.
• Red Velvet VS Julia Hart w/ Varsity Blonds; Velvet wins.
• Gunn Club VS Lee Johnson & Brock Anderson; Gunn Club wins.
• Luchasaurus w/ Jungle Boy VS Fuego Del Sol; Luchasaurus wins.
• Dante Martin VS Captain Shawn Dean; Dante wins.
• Tay Conti & Serena Deeb VS Vertvixen & Jazmin Allure; Conti & Deeb win.
• Eddie Kingston & Penta El Zero M w/ Alex Abrahantes VS JD Drake & Cezar Bononi; Kingston & Penta win.

MY THOUGHTS

Another ninety minutes and a dozen or so matches, pretty par for the course these days. Opening with a promo from Eddie & Penta, then them in the main event, great way to bookend the show. The promo was great, the main event tag was of course great, and while The Wingmen got good showings, of course Eddie & Penta win. Great bonus promos from them and Alex to close out the night, too, poking a little fun at how Eddie took his shots at WWE. I am still waiting for Eddie & Penta to get in on their own faction warfare with The Elite alongside #EliteHunter Kazarian, maybe even Pac, Fenix and maybe even Moxley. I did like that they spun an apparent airport into a promo and motivation for JD and Cezar, the Wingmen are lowkey creative geniuses.

Opening with Texas’ own Murderhawk Monster demolishing poor Zachariah was a great move to also get us ready for the coming Texas Deathmatch against Jon Moxley. That match is going to be badass but I feel like Moxley retains to eventually lose it to a full-time NJPW wrestler. Cassidy & Chuck, aka “Good Friends,” had a very good match with Chaos Project, a great blend of comedy and hard-hitting action. I like that Luther wanted to put his hands in Cassidy’s pockets, as if that was as dangerous as a sleeper hold. Naturally, Cassidy & Chuckie T win, Cassidy is going in strong against The Blade for Fyter Fest, but what a great way to finish the match with that double pin pose.

Best Friends may be without Trent, but I feel like Wheeler Yuta could sub in for him in this feud with Hardy Family Office. Blade coming out to remind Cassidy of the brass knuckles was good, but again, why not have Blade’s match or Bunny’s match right after? I know they’re scheduled for Dark classic, but just have them be in the ring here since they’re here. No sense in the extra travel and work during the week if they don’t have to.

Shida VS Tormenta was good, with a good showing for the debuting Dulce, sister to El Tirano, Rey Lagarto and El Triton, all from El Paso, Texas. The inverted surfboard cradle was very creative from Tormenta but Shida is staying strong. As I said last time, she could become a bit of a gatekeeper in the women’s division as she holds onto her top five ranking. We got a good promo from #JadeBrand as they plug the possible Hollywood angle. On one hand, I do wish she was having more matches, but this is a clever way to get to the “split focus” angle where she starts looking a bit weaker in the ring.

Hobbs also gets to destroy a trainee of Dustin Rhodes, just like Archer did, and Starks gets to show off that he’s FTW Champion now. Hobbs needs to go after Miro and the TNT Championship, make it orange and black for Team Taz. Or have Starks challenge Miro, title for title. Hobbs had a good promo to explain things to Brian Cage, and that totally sets up Cage VS Hobbs before Cage VS Starks II. Frankie Kazarian gets win number 20 in 2021 off the EmpBRUH, but Baron Black got a good showing. The Elite Hunter is staying strong as he now gets to have a match with Gallows for Fyter Fest, and I love that Brandon Cutler bungled his attempt at eliminating Kaz. Kaz got to really fire that crowd up beating up Cutler, but of course Gallows takes Kaz out himself to further set up the Fyter Fest match.

We did get some matches that, to a degree, could’ve gone either way in my opinion. Jungle Boy VS Angelico felt like one of those because of this growing story between HFO and Team Christian Cage. At the same time, it makes sense Jungle Boy wins, he’s Jungle Boy! JB beating Angelico with a submission is big for JB with Angelico being the submission specialist. The only thing about this match is I don’t think Paul Wight or Tony Schiavone could keep up with what moves Angelico was doing, the Navarro Death Roll did not happen tonight.

Red Velvet VS Julia Hart was another, as both have been running strong. A very good match as both are equally very agile and flexible, and they each got to show just a bit of their edge. Velvet winning with an ax kick into an Overdrive was great stuff, and it makes sense as Julia is just not quite ready for the top five. Gunn Club VS Johnson & Anderson was an interesting match just on how both teams are under the Nightmare Family umbrella. But in the end, it was a very good match of the rare “friendly Face competition,” with a good win for Gunn Club so that they stay undefeated in tag competition. There was a bit of tights holding so maybe things get chippy in a rematch.

Dante VS Captain Dean felt like another, because I feel it’s inevitable that Dean gets his first win in AEW. But at the same time, Dante has been on a roll, that kid isn’t stopping any time soon. This match was another example of what Elevation is for, maybe Dean should get a TNT title opportunity. However, Luchasaurus VS Fuego was not one of those, no offense to Fuego. Fans love Fuego, but they also love Luchasaurus, and Luchasaurus is literally so big and strong. Fuego got a great showing, though, so there might be hope for him some day. I do like the character stuff of Luchasaurus feeling bad he knocked Fuego out. He’s a big, strong dinosaur, but he isn’t that cold-blooded.

The women’s tag getting penultimate spot in the broadcast is great for all four involved. Conti & Deeb make a great combo because of how technically skilled they both are, and that in itself is reason enough for them to win. But again, another case of Schiavone not really keeping up with the holds, the Serenity Now wasn’t used in that great 2v1 reversal Deeb used. That was a modified deathlock on Allure, snapped off by the snap suplex to Vert. Conti and Deeb each stay strong in the AEW ranks, and NWA has a big all-women event coming, #EMPOWERRR, I would love if they brought some AEW women over, such as Conti, Shida or Velvet.

My Score: 8.3/10