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Pops & Botches: AEW Elevation & Dark – 4.19.2021 & 4.20.2021

AEW Dark Elevation Pops & Botches

 

As the news from south of the border keeps getting cheerier, us Canucks are entering the lockiest lockdown that ever locked. Thank goodness for the buena vista of AEW content funneling up the series of tubes. Here’s what kept me entertained on April 19’s Elevation and April 20’s Dark.

Last time on Dark…

Angélico introduced a bucket hat to his gimmick, and it’s perfect. Konosuke Takeshita showed up from DDT. Baron Black continued to shine in loss. Check out all the Mane Events in our April 12/13 recap.

Elsewhere in the AEW Arcadia…

Last week’s Dynamite featured an absolute stonker of an opening bout between The Young Bucks and Death Triangle, truly a match of the year candidate. Anthony Ogogo fittingly won his first wrestling match with a thundering uppercut to Cole Karter’s breadbasket. It was a great episode all round, be sure to check out the recap for all the details.

Being The Elite episode 252 continued the story of the Bucks going heel. Their new, white, furry outfits are great. They teased the idea of entering to Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son, which is a Supernatural/wrestling crossover we all deserve. Best Friends (feat. Kris Statlander) started to murder Brandon Cutler, but he escaped certain death by offering them a blast from the past: a BTE Mailbag bit! After surviving the Best Friends, “Young Boy” Cutler finds his friends the Bucks, only to have them heel all over him like the assholes we always knew they were. It’s great.

A few weeks ago on Sammy Guevara’s vlog they showed some outtakes from filming the new Kip & Sammy Show. It’s been a long wait, but here’s episode 8! Featuring Ricky Starks as Fuego del Sol. And Alan “5” Angels, exasperated at the incompetence of our hosts. Still the YouTubiest AEW YouTube show.

Back on the main vlog (episode 316), Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin and Charlie Ramone rub my locked down nose in it as they attend a con in Alabama. Dean Alexander totally gets himself over by being the most boring guy to audition for the Alan Angels/Griff Garrison/Fuego del Sol boy band. Aaron Solow, Negative One and “The Captain” Shawn Dean dump on “The Best Fucking Extra” Baron Black. He is becoming the most sympathetic character on the show!

Let’s move on to episode 6 of Monday Night Elevation.

BOTCH: I hadn’t even adjusted my dial

Opening the show tonight is Adam Page versus Spencer Slade.

Adam Page hits a bunch of lariats, and Spencer Slade gets pinned. I’d barely even gotten the YouTube cued up before it was over. Meh.

POP: Most improved award goes to…

Another main roster star inflating their win/loss record is Britt Baker, although at least she’s open about it. She has Tesha Price.

Price is really settling in to television wrestling. She screams and squirms convincingly as Baker stomps on her. Price even connects with a few nice moves of her own, but before long Baker calls for the glove and sets up the Lockjaw for the win.

Highlight of the match: Rebel being the sole cheerleader for Dr Britt Baker, DMD.

POP: All good fun

Now here’s something they should’ve opened the show with. Jurassic Express versus Jay Lyon and Midas Black.

Jay Lyon comes out with a “steak” dangling out of his mouth again, and offers it to Jungle Boy. Jungle Boy grabs the steak, but then Lyon flips his head back and uses it to leverage a… what? A steak-drag?!

Black tags in and gets splattered by Luchasaurus. The Express hit a nice tandem finisher – perhaps influenced by Bear Country – and stack up the Mane Event like a sandwich. Then they feed the steak to referee Frank Gastineau. Om nom nom.

POP: TH2 get a win

TH2 have been taking a bunch of losses lately, helping to put younger stars over, but it might be time for them to balance out their stats by facing Vary Morales and Andre Montoya.

Jack Evans opens the match with a handstand dance move, so naturally Morales kicks his wrists out from under him. Angélico comes in slightly less cockily and twists Morales into some painful-looking holds.

Montoya gets the hot tag and hits a few aerial moves, but Angélico hits the Navarro Death Roll and it’s over.

POP: Starks and Cage, best frenemies

“Absolute” Ricky Starks and “The Machine” Brian Cage are ready to lay some smack down on all ye who enter here. Who ye enter? “Starving Artist” Mike Magnum and “Not Indiana Jones” Stone Rockwell ye enter.

Cage and Magnum kick it off with some big, bouncy meat-slappin’ action. Cage hits a dropkick, then tags out to Starks who gets bamboozled by the painter. He tags out to the adventurer who has a nice back-and-forth before falling to Cage’s blind tag and powerful kicks.

Instead of taking the Drillclaw finisher for himself, Cage hands Rockwell over to Starks to execute the Rochambeau. I’m not exactly sure what the story is with these two, but it’s quite entertaining watching them sarcastically “no, after you” one another.

POP: Oreo monster on the rampage

Abadon has taken a break from eating Oreos with The Bunny to fight Skye Blue.

Abadon pretty much squashes Blue. Abadon’s starting to build up a bit of character, somehow pulling off the “I’m a fearsome monster, except I’m also a face” trick that Nikki Cross did back in NXT.

Abadon wins with Cemetery Drive.

POP: Orange squash

Orange Cassidy will be fighting Prince Kai today. Kai gets a custom “hear ye, hear ye” ring announcement and spends half of OC’s entrance music standing front and center basking in the nothing coming from his throng of adoring nobody.

The bell rings. OC hits a Beach Break. The end. That’s a funny way to be squashed. Kai still managed to put himself over.

EH: This just confused me

The Hardy Family Office versus Dark Order feud continues today with Private Party versus Alex Reynolds and Colt Cabana.

Kassidy rolls out of the ring and starts causing some shit with the Dark Order at ringside, which somehow results in all of them getting ejected. Then he rolls back in and grabs Cabana by the nose.

Reynolds and Marc Quen continue it with some more serious wrestling until the ref gets distracted again and Matt Hardy takes a shot at Reynolds. Maybe I’m just tired, but I’m not quite following how all the distractions are coming together.

Cabana gets the hot tag and hits some entertaining offense on both of Private Party, who sell it by cartwheeling and spinning all over the place. Quen comes back with a 450, but Cabana kicks out. Then they pull off some other trick to win the match, where Cabana doesn’t realize that Kassidy is now actually the legal man.

Something about all this chicanery didn’t work for me. I get the concept of using underhanded tricks to win a match, but this felt like too much. I love that Quen gets to do the Butcher Walk now, but perhaps I’m still finding it hard to buy Private Party as heels.

POP: Thunder Rosa takes care of business

Next up we have Thunder Rosa versus Shawna Reed.

Reed and Rosa start out with some nice holds and mat wrestling. Rosa is working a fairly slow and deliberate style this week. Reed tries to speed it up with some kicks and forearm strikes, but Rosa can play that game too!

Reed does her best, but Thunder Rosa scoops her up and hits the package piledriver for the win.

EH: Best Friends chalk up another one

Best Friends are up next, facing Nightmare Factory alumni Kit Sacket and Hayden Backlund.

Kit Sacket makes me want to be a commentator. Sacket, smack it, Burt Bacharach it, yeah! He opens with Trent. Sacket flinches a bit before Trent’s lariat connects, but he eats the suplex like a boss.

Backlund comes in only to be piledrived. Twice. Best Friends win.

POP: Team legit big bros

Next up: Leyla Hirsch and Ryo Mizunami! They’ve united to take down the team of Nyla Rose and Madi Wrenkowski. Vickie Guerrero interrupts Justin Roberts to make her own ear-piercing announcement. Mizunami has outfitted Hirsch with some Aniki sunglasses, and it’s the best thing ever.

Hirsch takes Wrenkowski down and they grapple for a bit before Mizunami tags in to have a chop-off with Rose. Wrenkowski takes a blind tag just before the Native Beast is about to pin Aniki, and Rose is Not Happy. Mizunami takes advantage and runs through her whole hammy chop schtick on the Texan while Rose stands helpless in her corner.

Mizunami and Hirsch hit a bit of tandem offense on Wrenkowski, and this is eventually too much for Rose who runs in to break up the pin. For the rest of the match Mizunami runs interference, keeping Rose out of the ring and letting Hirsch hit her arm bar and get the win.

POP: QT iz disappoint

Next up we have Aaron Solow representing The Factory versus Austin Gunn of the Nightmare Family-aligned Gunn Club. Nick Comoroto and QT Marshall are accompanying Solow to the ring, and the monster lifts up the steel stairs to fashion bleachers for QT, who sits there like the worst dad at a little league game.

Solow does his best to impress. Gunn hits some explosive spots, but Solow comes back with a corkscrew enziguri. Meanwhile, Nick Comoroto and Colten Gunn get into it on the outside. QT gestures to Solow to finish off young Gunn, but Austin counters with the Quickdraw and a surprise pin. QT is pissed!

If the QT Factory gimmick ends up being him constantly getting disappointed by his loser faction, that would be a stroke of genius.

A bit later on in the night, Austin Gunn turns on the waterworks for backstage interviewer Dasha González. Daddy QT and Daddy Billy show up to comfort him, but end up cutting a promo on each other instead, then QT pops Billy square in the nose! Shit just got real!

BOTCH: Ego and Sky still finding their feet

Next up we have two of the most entertaining talkers and charming personalities outside the ring – “All Ego” Ethan Page and “Face Of The Revolution” Scorpio Sky, who inside the ring so far have failed to impress. Let’s see if they can pique my interest this week versus Carlie Bravo and Dean Alexander.

Sky takes Bravo to the mat with a bit more of a técnico style than his recent tedious excursions. Page is a bit less sharp versus Alexander, sticking to traditional heelish manuevers: the stomps, the… more stomps. Yawn.

Some other stuff happens. Sky taps out Alexander. I don’t get it. Why can’t these two be high-flying heels?

POP: DDT on Dark should be a regular thing

Our headliner tonight is Matt Sydal, Mike Sydal and Danny Limelight in a high-flying dream trio versus DDT heroes Konosuke Takeshita, Michael “MT” Nakazawa and KENNY FUCKING OMEGA. Woo!!!

Omega and Nakazawa immediately take this in DDT direction by talking to each other on headsets. Yes, they’re both in the same ring. Takeshita tags in, visibly baffled by his partners’ comedy hijinks.

It gets down to business soon enough, though, with a bunch of quick tags to punish Limelight. The Radioactive Papi takes a flying leap over the top ropes and takes down the champ. Back in the ring Nakazawa and Mike are going at it: Matrix escape, standing mariposa, then Matt and Mike hit a tandem double knees from the turnbuckle!

Exciting stuff! Omega gets Matt tied up on the ropes and Nakazawa charges, but hits Omega by accident! Omega recovers quickly and tags in to smack the shit out of Matt. This match is so full of action and drama and fun, creative spots, it’s a delight to watch.

Matt tags Limelight who comes back in with a stiff chain of hits on Takeshita. Takeshita hits an epic powerbomb, and somehow Limelight kicks out. This is really putting the dude over. He even kicked out of Takeshita’s monster lariat! Kenny Omega tags in, Limelight resists the Snapdragon attempt – once, twice… He fights off the One Winged Angel! Holy shit! He hits an insane DDT on Kenny Omega, but it’s a kick out!

Who is going to clean this up? Who will take the pin? Finally, Takeshita brainbusters Mike Sydal, but he kicks out! The yoga bro evades the lariat and tries for a roll up, but Takeshita kicks out! Takeshita hits a coast-to-coast dropkick, gutbuster and suplex for the win.

Bit scrappy at the end there but very, very exciting. Awesome match.

Elevation has started to find its groove, with a mix of the quirky undercard and developmental stuff we’re used to from Dark, plus a few main roster special appearances to give it some flare. This episode Wight and Schiavone showed a bit of humility on commentary, admitting that at times they weren’t familiar with all the latest move names, and that definitely makes them more endearing. We don’t need y’all to be experts, we just need y’all to show some legitimate excitement at this “new” (read: not totally WWE-influenced) style of wrestling that AEW sometimes showcases.

Anyway, I’ll always be thrilled to get to write up a Kenny Omega match on these B-shows, so more of that please!

Moving on to episode 85 of the scrappier B-show…

Dim the lights, it’s time for Dark.

POP: Something something armadillos

Opening up Dark is Joey Janela versus the glitter-booted Will Allday.

Allday and Janela both take some vicious bumps while Taz, Excalibur and Ricky Starks on commentary go down some absurd tangent about armadillos. I’m crying with laughter.

Janela kicks Allday in the back and our guys remember they’re supposed to be calling the plays. Allday escapes a suplex and hits a dropkick, then knees the Jersey boy in the stomach, eats a clothesline then comes back with a brainbuster. He looks pretty good, assuming he makes it out of this match without injuries.

Janela wins with a Death Valley Driver.

POP: Mini SCU

Next up we have SCU versus the duo of Occult Pro Wrestling Star RYZIN and John Skyler.

Ryzin seems to be settling into his priest gimmick he developed with Nyla Rose and Vickie Guerrero on BTE, and gives a little clasped-hand gesture to his partner, who takes first tag with Frankie Kazarian. Their exchange is clean, sharp and professional, if a little run-of-the-mill. Christopher Daniels tags in, then faces up with Ryzin.

Ryzin is getting much better at playing to the camera, and it’s making him very entertaining to watch these days. Obviously, he still gets his ass kicked, but not before distracting the ref and giving Kaz a quick beatdown.

Ryzin and Skyler are almost like a younger version of Kaz and CD. Squarely working in the American style, technically solid but still able to give a bit of charisma and attitude. It’s a fun watch.

SCU win it with the Best Meltzer Ever.

BOTCH: A bit too developmental

Our resident women’s face trio is back! We have the tries-way-too-hard (but it kinda works for her) Big Swole, the tries-way-too-hard (and it kinda doesn’t work for her) KiLynn King and the nonchalant badass Red Velvet who is way too cool for the both of them (but she loves them anyway). Swole and King are tagging together for this match. They’re facing The MK Twins, Ashley and Steff.

Steff to open with Swole. Steff is a bit slow in the ring, but she’s a reasonable foil for Swole. Ashley eats some faster-paced offense from King, and I can’t tell if she’s any good because she’s too busy getting her ass beat. The twins isolate King and hit a bit of tandem offense, but it’s not quite as smooth as I’d hope.

The faces win, and, eh, it’s okay. I like the look of the MK Twins, but they need a bit more work, especially up against a duo like King and Swole who themselves aren’t quite good enough to carry a match on their own.

POP: Cole Karter, the real hero

The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny are bursting into the ring with Hardy Family Office to face off with Nightmare Factory alumni Brick Aldridge and Cole Karter.

The Butcher splatters Karter all over the floor. This poor kid, he’s getting beaten up by everyone. Blade kicks him in the head. Repeatedly. Then he’s thrown to the outside and stomped by Private Party and The Bunny. He comes back with some Ogogo-styled gut punches, but then The Blade swinging-neckbreaks him all the way back to West Virginia.

Finally Aldridge gets the hot tag and swaps clubs back and forth with big Butch. But then Blade comes in, they hit the finisher, and Hardy Family Office get another win.

POP: A quick kiss

Sonny Kiss is up next in a solo bout versus “The Man Scout” Jake Manning.

Manning immediately boots Kiss to the floor and starts to taunt him, but Kiss comes back with a couple of tijeras throws and then a full splits stunner and it’s 1, 2, 3. Delightfully, Manning pulls an earnest boy scout salute on his way down. It’s the little things.

Sonny Kiss grabs the mic and cuts a decent promo.

POP: Is this a wrestling match or a 90s Britpop music video?

Let’s get into some real Dark booking. Yep, it’s time for Random Jobber Trios! On the jobber side we have Jay Lyon, Midas Black and Ken Broadway. Representing Dark Order is Evil Uno, Stu Grayson and Preston “10” Vance.

Broadway makes the most of their jobber entrance by making it rain, but it’s Lyon who starts off for the randoms. He’s got his steak gimmick in his mouth and Evil Uno’s fists in his stomach. Broadway pumps up the crowd so they can watch Evil Oney and Twoey kick the shit out of him.

10 lifts up Black for a ten-count delayed vertical, then Broadway comes in and tosses money all over the ring, ref Bryce Remsburg and Negative One spend the rest of the match picking up cash while absolute chaos ensues in the ring and eventually Broadway eats the Fatality. This was the funniest damn shit of the night. Amazing.

POP: Bad boy Billy

Billy Gunn will be putting QT Marshall over on Dynamite, so he’s getting a warm-up to balance tonight versus Andrew Palace.

Palace is coming into the match with Janela-level pep, but Gunn is all business. QT pissed him right off. Palace gets tossed, slammed and Famoused straight to the mat.

Billy cuts a short and to-the-point promo that should have QT very worried. He can still turn it on.

POP: The good kind of developmental

Next up, Fuego del Sol versus Dante Martin. As much as I miss seeing Top Flight together as a team, I think all this solo work Martin is getting while brother Darius is injured will do him a lot of good.

The opening is a lot more technical than I expected from the aerial specialists. The future stars trade wrist locks and fire off some quick strikes, most of which are skilfully evaded. It’s very slick. Every now and then a solid hit connects, and when something doesn’t quite connect, they transition so quickly into the next thing that it almost looks like it was intended to work out that way. Beautiful wrestling.

Del Sol goes coast-to-coast with a dropkick, misses the Tornado DDT, then gets kicked in the face and 450ed by Martin for the win. You can tell the guy is still green and working it out, but he is gonna be magic y’all. He’s only 20!

POP: Diamante is locked and loaded

Next up we have Diamante versus Queen Amanita.

It’s straight with the dropkick in the corner and forearms to the face. Diamante still looks to have a chip on her shoulder after the loss to Thunder Rosa last week. Aminata fights back with some stiff strikes, but Diamante hits the Three Amigos!

They exchange a few more blows, then it’s Diamante with a stunner, German suplex, clothesline and submission for the win.

OKAY: It’s what they do

It’s our favorite throwback tag boys, the Varsity Blonds! They’re facing Hayden Backlund and Kit Sacket.

Garrison takes out both Backlund and Sacket to start. Pillman comes in to hit a few moves, but everyone’s pretty much already wiped out. They all kinda wander around dopily like they forgot what to do, then eventually Sacklund and Backet unite to double-team the second-generation superstar.

Garrison cleans house then Pillman finishes Sacket for the pin. This was an extremely midcard schmidcard whatever match, but that’s the Varsity Blonds wheelhouse.

POP: Caster punks Angels

Oh hai. We have an Acclaimed match! It’s Max Caster versus Alan “5” Angels! Negative One isn’t here, so I hope we get another cringeworthy rap full of swears from the Long Island heel.

Yo, Caster’s rap is the most insider-y bullshit, referencing dick jokes from BTE, then calling out 5 for being a sub and letting himself get bullied by the rest of the gang… He’s not wrong! Excalibur lets us know there’s “no kink-shaming here on AEW Dark”, which is about the best way he could’ve transitioned out of it. Great work all round.

I mean, then Caster gets Angels in the corner and blows him a kiss, which Angels catches and throws away, “hey! don’t blow away my kiss!” Angels is corpsing. Caster does a Rick Rude hip gyration only to have Ryan Nemeth call from the sidelines “we already got one of those, bro”. Cackling.

Okay, they also start wrestling for serious. Caster goes out for a breather and chats to tag partner Anthony Bowens, but 5 dives over him to hit a senton. Back in the ring, 5 goes for a moonsault, but Caster gets his knees up, so they start slugging it out.

Angels has a good run, eventually hitting a standing Sliced Bread, but Caster cheats like a fucking heel and wins. What an asshole.

POP: Powerhouse squash

Hey, it’s our main event! It’s Powerhouse Hobbs! He’s got Baron Black!

Baron Black just got merked! The Head Technician In Charge keeps trying to come back, but it’s spinebuster city, bro.

Hobbs hits Town Business for the win. It is going to be such a sweet day when they finally let Baron Black get a win.

POP: A rogue PAC jumps out

Psych! Turns out we have another main event, with like 30 seconds to spare. It’s “The Bastard” PAC versus Dean Alex…

Well, it was Dean Alexander. Now he is Dead Alexander. KOed by the Brutalizer submission. Death Triangle is not happy.

Something about this episode of Dark really worked for me. There were a couple of fantastic matches – like that comedy masterwork with Dark Order, The Mane Event and Ken Broadway – but aside from that the pacing, the commentary, the combination of everything came together to make it greater than the sum of its parts.

Something I didn’t mention in the rundown is that between some of the matches they aired a few very professionally-produced cinematic promos – Darby Allin, Ricky Starks and the Pretty Posse of Cezar Bononi, Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake all got to work their acting chops. These promos were much higher quality than the usual backstage bits, and helped to break up the action in a nice way.

So, it was another big week of wrestling on YouTube, and there’s more to come tonight on Dynamite. We have one slot reserved for a story built on Dark and Elevation: QT Marshall and Billy Gunn will be duking it out in a battle of the Dark stable bosses. Team Taz will also be getting a highlight as Powerhouse Hobbs faces Christian Cage and Ricky Starks tries it on with Adam Page. Also, Tay Conti is finally getting her title shot versus Hikaru Shida. Should be a lot of fun. Enjoy the show, stay safe, and I’ll see you back here next week for more YouTube recaps.

     

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