AEW Dark: Elevation Episode #2 3/22/2021

AEW Dark: Elevation Episode #2 3/22/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/aew-dark-elevation-episode-1-3152021.html 

Tay Conti with -1 vs Ray Lyn

Lyn pulls the hair to escape being put down then takes some arm throws. Tay and Ray go head to head and Lyn spin kicks her, then Tay comes back with a lame kick. They then grab each other's hair and slam each other down.

They trade shots on their knees and Tay hits her swinging back breaker. Ray gets pulled into the post then Tay pump kicks her and pump knees her. Tay then hits a hammerlock ddt and wins it in a short but okay squash.

Lee Johnson with Dustin Rhodes vs Adam Priest

They trade some armdrags early and stand off. Priest nails Lee with a lariat to the back of the neck and hits a nice euro uppercut. Lee gets hooked like an octopus stretch and Priest neckbreakers him. Lee then pushed him off.

Priest then hit an enzugiri and a nice german. Priest kicks at him but Lee comes back with a neckbreaker. Priest gets put outside and Lee flipdives him but mostly lands on his butt outside. Lee then fisherman's neckbreaker's him over his knee and wins it. Priest looked good here channelling Benoit. This was stiff and aggressive.

Ryan Nemeth gets interviewed. He says OC is cool, then admits he is pretending. He said OC disgusts and offends him and is no hunk.

The Varsity Blonds vs Fuego del Sol and Jake St. Patrick

Fuego apparently told Paul Wight that he is the master of the tornado ddt. Feugo dropkicks Griff early and takes a hard lariat back. Pillman throws around Jake early and takes some kicks. Brian throws Jake into a Griff boot. Griff slingshot sentons Pillman in then Pillman slingshot legdrops him in. Griff gut kicked Jake into a Pillman neckbreaker. Griff then legdropped him.

Fuego runs the ropes fast and headscissors Pillman into Griff's gut. Feugo hits his tornado ddt on Pillman but gets nailed with a spinning forearm for the Blonds win. This went a little too long but the Blonds looked maybe the best they have yet here.

Max Caster vs Ryzin

Max does a rap. He brings up Ryzin's losing streak and accuses him of streaking.

Max does a silly sell off a dropkick. Max nails him with a nice lariat. Max waterwheel drops Ryzin and works the arm. Ryzin gets a leg kick then takes a reverse sto. Max grabs Ryzin by the beard and then takes a dragon screw leg ship. Ryzin hits a slingshot into an asai moonsault but  Max gets out.

Max hits a hard brainbuster and top rope elbow drops him for the win. Max worked on the arm and stayed on it here for most of this and stomped Ryzin after.

We get this week's Rising Star segment on Red Velvet. Her dad was a pro boxer. She said she was a dancer. Cody spent about as much time in this segment talking about Red as Red did.

Madi Wrenkowski and Leva Bates vs  Big Swole and Red Velvet

Red tries to flip out of an armbar and Madi just poked her in the eye. Swole hit a euro uppercut to the back of the head and Bates came back with a jawbreaker. Swole put a straightjacket on Madi and swung her around.

Madi split Swole and running knee'd her. Bates argued with Madi and Madi nailed her with her book. Bates left and Red got some offense in including a standing moonsault. Red hit a spin kick to the head of Madi and a dropkick for the win. I don't know what Madi nailing Bates was about here. Vicki Guerrero, Jade and NR came out after and stared Swole and Red down. Boy do I have no interest in that one.

Ethan Page was interviewed backstage. He said he is adding more wins to his win column tonight.

Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks with Hook vs Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson

This is Issacs' and Nelson's 3rd time teaming together so they are a thing. Hobbs beats up on Jorel in the corner. Jorel comes off the 2nd rope and Hobbs' shoulders him, making him spin in mid-air in a cool spot. Jorel then gets thrown chest first into the buckles. Royce stunners Starks then Jerol comes off the top with a nice crossbody. Hobbs spinebusters Royce, Hook trips Jorel then Starks wins with a running reverse dominator on Jorel. The Jorel bump was really cool here.

Danny Limelight vs Baron Black

Hey, DL gets a squash here. Good for him. Black is 0-4 this year in singles. Black hits some chops here and Danny comes back with an over the back armdrag. Danny handstands into the corner then springboard hurricanrana's Black. Danny then twisting dives Black on the outside.

Danny comes off the top and gets caught with an atomic drop then gets a backbreaker. Black hits a spinning lariat into a nice exploder. Baron does a straightjacket surfboard then gets double stomped hard. Danny hits a hard release german on Black. Black comes back with a cloverleaf that Danny broke on the ropes for.

they fought on the apron and Black went head first into it. Danny then springboarded off the bottom rope into a double stomp on Black's back. Danny then won with a grounded choke out of nowhere soon after. This is the most offense Black has gotten in for months now and Danny busted out a new move or two here I think.

Ryan Nemeth vs Orange Cassidy with Chuck Taylor

OC bounces off the 2nd rope to armdrag him then lays in the ring. Ryan tries to elbow him while he lays but OC misses. OC puts his hands in his pockets to get Ryan mad then dropkicks him with the hands in the pockets. OC gets caught in the air then backdropped.

Ryan gets his head banged off the buckles then OC crossbodies him from the top. Ryan does a headstand hammerlock and takes a satellite ddt for 2. Ryan hits a high angle ddt for 2 and is rolled up by OC for the loss soon after. After the match, Ryan neckbreakered OC and Chuck came to save OC. JD Drake then came out and nailed Chuck. JD and Ryan walked out together and that combo doesn't make much sense.

This went longer than it needed to and Ryan's dropkicks were supposed to be the highlight here but both weren't good.

Ethan Page vs Alan "5" Angels

Angels is 5-0 in singles competition this year. Page pats 5 on the head in the corner. 5 flips over Page in the ropes then throws him on a slam. 5 comes off the ropes with a hurricanrana then does the corner punches. 5 charged at Page in the ropes and bounced off hard. 5 is bridged on the middle rope and Page hits a twisting backbreaker onto him. 5 comes back with a kick combo and takes down Page. 5 splashes Page against the ropes then hits a sliced bread #2 for 2. Page high kicked 5 and tilt-a-whirl slammed him. 5 did a spin and a flip for a lariat and then was hit with a big razor's edge for the Page win. 

Page got on the mic after. He told Justin Roberts to come give him the mic and made him walk. Page said everyone got a lesson tonight and he will be here for a long time.

Leyla Hirsch vs Ryo Mizunami

Ryo shoulderblocks her and shakes the ropes. Ryo hit bad machine chops in the corner and and did her dumb rope pull taunt. Thankfully Leyla interrupted that. Ryo legdropped her and put her in the camel clutch. Leyla headbutted her and hit a hard corner lariat.

Ryo sat up top and Leyla walked up the buckles and hurricanrana'd her. Then she hit a german suplex. Ryo came back with a wind-up lariat and Leyla hit some hard lariats back. Ryo hit a pumping legdrop for 2 and a head and arm choke. Ryo picked her up from the triangle choke and slammed her but Leyla came back with another hard lariat. Leyla then hit an olympic slam but Ryo reversed the pin into a head and arm choke and won it via submission. Leyla looked pretty good here hitting a ton of hard lariats.

Overall thoughts: I like the show better than Dark and today's ep was under 90 minutes, which is good with me. The episode wasn't some masterpiece or something but this was probably the most enjoyable episode out of all of the Dark and Elevation shows I have seen so far.