Death Triangle, Dark Order, Jurassic Express, and more!

The stars at night are big and bright for AEW Elevation! Multiple factions are in full force as we head for Fight for the Fallen 2021!

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Jungle Boy w/ Jurassic Express VS Marq Quen w/ the Hardy Family Office; Jungle Boy wins.
• Yuka Sakazaki VS Amber Nova; Sakazaki wins.
• Thunder Rosa VS Myka Madrid; Rosa wins.
• Luchasaurus w/ Jurassic Express VS Jora Johl w/ the Hardy Family Office; Luchasaurus wins.
• Scorpio Sky VS Fuego Del Sol; Scorpio wins.
• Angelico VS Marko Stunt; Angelico wins.
• Madi Wrenkowski & The Bunny w/ The Blade VS Tay Conti & Kris Statlander; Conti & Statlander win.
• Bear Bronson VS Wardlow; Wardlow wins.
• Lee Johnson w/ Dustin Rhodes VS Luther w/ Serpentico; Johnson wins and will challenge for the AEW TNT Championship at Dynamite Homecoming.
• Eddie Kingston VS Serpentico; Kingston wins.
• The Lucha Brothers w/ Alex Abrahantes VS Alan Angels & Preston Vance w/ The Dark Order; Lucha Brothers win.
• Six Man Tag: Brock Anderson & Gunn Club VS Chandler Hopkins, Cameron Cole & Izzy James; Anderson & Gunn Club win.
• PAC w/ Death Triangle VS Chuck Taylor w/ Best Friends’ Friends; PAC wins.

MY THOUGHTS

Another show that’s over two hours for Elevation, is this only going to slow down once Rampage starts in August? But Eddie Kingston on commentary was great, as was opening with the growing rivalry between the Hardy Family Office and the friends of Christian Cage. Jungle Boy opens, fans love Jungle Boy, Jungle Boy wins a really great match with Quen that had proper overbooking given everyone was ringside. A little disappointed that they again didn’t take advantage of that in the card order, though. Luchasaurus was right there, Jora Johl was right there, HFO can order Johl to start a fight with Luchasaurus and they could have the match right there instead of fourth in line.

That said, Luchasaurus VS Johl was good, especially with the character work where Johl wanted to be respectful but the HFO wanting anything but that. More good overbooking as Luchasaurus wipes out the HFO and then takes out Johl fast. On a similar level, they could’ve given us Angelico VS Marko Stunt sooner, but sixth is still a good spot. Actually, why didn’t they build to Jungle Boy VS Quen? That was the best match of the three, as fun as they all were. They could’ve started with Angelico VS Stunt since they didn’t have anyone ringside, then move up to Luchasaurus VS Johl, then JB VS Quen. Just some small things that I feel just make sense in the actual execution of Elevation.

Sakazaki VS Nova was very good, Nova gets a great showing but the Wrestling Magical Girl wins to stay strong now that she’s back in AEW. Fans came alive for Rosa being she’s from Texas, and she had a very good match with Myka to stay strong as second ranked contender. Scorpio beats Fuego but it was a very good match. The fans love Alabama’s Favorite Luchador and he does have skill so I’m sure Fuego will get something good some day. Good interview promo from Bunny Allie and a very good women’s tag to follow it. Kris and Tay had great teamwork and innovation in it, Madi got a great showing, but the Faces win big here to propel the story of Kris VS Bunny.

Jake Hager joining commentary for Wardlow’s match makes a lot of sense, since he has unfinished business with the Pinnacle’s big man. Wardlow’s match with Bear Bronson was great stuff as a hoss match, just big guys who can hit hard, and Bronson is continuing to show me he can be big in the next few years. Wardlow wins, though, because if he and Hager ever tie up again, Wardlow needs to stay strong for it. The AEW Elite General Manager Invitational thing was a neat little idea, and I like that we got a diehard Luther fan setting him up against Big Shotty for a really fun match. Nice little belt for James Darnell, too.

Speaking of which, Johnson VS Luther was good with good overbooking as Serpentico helps out, and is also used as a weapon. I figured Johnson would win, but that tornillo attack was really risky. He has the TNT Championship match for Dynamite Homecoming that Miro was hyping up, and it’s a good thing that’ll be August because Johnson has time to recover just in case. Miro showing up was a good surprise and his promo was solid. I am sure Miro wins but Johnson will give him one hell of a match.

I don’t remember them advertising Kingston VS Serpentico, but that’s another case of where they could’ve just had Serpentico wait at ringside and Kingston goes to the ring from commentary. The match itself was good, Serpentico showing fire at the start and great comedy from there after in his Spider-Man based gear. Jade Cargill also makes a surprise appearance, and Mark Sterling has a good promo as he panders to then buries Texas fans. He gets good Heel Heat on the “smart states” that deserve it, and I like that they’re really piling on her trying to be undefeated in wrestling while also crossing over a la The Rock or Cena. This has to be her losing her first match back in the ring.

A little surprised Lucha Bros VS Dark Order weren’t the penultimate but the third-to-last match. It was an awesome match, but Lucha Brothers of course win their first match back together, they’re getting ready to take on Andrade El Idolo as well as getting back on track towards the AEW World Tag titles on the side. Brock Anderson getting to be in the penultimate match was great for him, but I would’ve traded this one with the Lucha Bros VS Dark Order, a match with the obvious AEW Dark jobbers just doesn’t measure up. I do like that Brock was matching the Gunn Club with the Jacksonville Jaguars teal gear.

PAC VS Chuckie T was a great choice for main event, and it hearkens back to the short lived feud between Death Triangle and Best Friends & Friends. With Trent out with another injury, we sadly can’t get that feud again, unless they throw Wheeler Yuta in. The match itself is really good, but on the same level as Lucha Bros building momentum, Pac builds his so he can take on Andrade, too. And speaking of which, the reason this was the main event (though this could’ve worked if Lucha Bros main evented, too) was so Andrade could show up! Chavo pulls a good Heel Manager move by telling his client to reconsider the fight, but that fight is coming soon enough.

My Score: 8.4/10