This week's edition of AEW Dark: Elevation was filmed with the myriad of shows they held last week in Washington DC. The all-star team on the call tonight was Ian Riccaboni, "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and Paul Wight.
Hikaru Shida defeated Erica Leigh
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Shida made her way to the ring donning two belts, one being the Regina di Wave title and the other being the International Ribbon Tag Team title she holds with Ibuki Hoshi in Japan.
The two women started with a collar and elbow tie-up. That didn't work so Leigh just started asking Shida to hit her which was an interesting strategy. A big boot got Shida down to the ground but it didn't last long. They traded places and Shida connected with double knees for a two count, following that up with her Katana kick for the win.
Lance Archer defeated Papadon
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For some odd reason, Papadon was on the ramp when Archer started his entrance, so he just hit a massive forearm to get him back in the ring. There was no introduction from Dasha Fuentes, so they just got into the action.
Papadon almost made a little bit of a comeback, but Archer hit a giant lariat to take the upper hand. He then asked the crowd if they wanted him to rip his head off and they cheered. Thank god he didn't. I've seen too much of that on House of the Dragon. Surprisingly, Papadon stayed in the match as much as he could, but Archer hit a chokeslam and a Blackout for the win.
Emi Sakura defeated Trish Adora
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These two went at it to start things out. Adora has been really good in the AEW matches she has been a part of the last few months. Sakura went for her patented Tea Time and followed it with a super loud chop. The two went back and forth a little more, but Sakura got countered when she went for the butterfly backbreaker. Adora kept her in this nasty hold that I can't even explain, but Sakura fought out quickly and hit two butterfly backbreakers to win the match.
Josh Woods & Tony Nese (w/ Mark Sterling) defeated Action Andretti & Myles Hawkins
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Sterling made his way to the ring with the neck brace on. I'm with the commentators: we really need to get this guy a doctor. Nese and Woods also finally got matching tights, something Menard has been talking about for weeks on commentary.Â
The match started with catch wrestling as you would expect with Nese. Andretti was in the ring with him to start and held his own with neither man looking for a tag. Andretti really looked awesome. Woods finally made his way into the match, but Andretti held his own again until Woods connected with a hip attack and a deadlift slam.Â
Hawkins came in with a hot tag that was quickly put to bed with a spinning back kick by Nese which would have been a three count if Andretti didn't break it up. They also hit a nasty double team that saw Nese hitting a V Trigger-esque knee for another two count. They hit another double-team backbreaker for the win.Â
Nyla Rose (w/ Vickie Guerrero & Marina Shafir) defeated Jordan Blade
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This is Rose's first match in storyline since running off with Jade Cargill's TBS title at Friday's Battle of the Belts IV.
Rose came bursting out of the gates with a running dropkick. Blade fought back and hit a right hand for her only offensive move of the match. It couldn't get Rose down and then, for some reason, she thought she should roll out of the ring and get in Vickie Guerrero's face. Marina Shafir just grabbed her from the back and let Guerrero slap her around. They rolled her back in the ring for Rose to hit a Samoan drop and a knee from the top rope for the win.
ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champions Dalton Castle & The Boys defeated Brett Waters, Goldy & Logan Laroux
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I'm not sure how I feel about ROH champions defending their championships on YouTube against what are essentially jobbers. I know it's for the fans in attendance, but there's more to it than that.
Waters started the match with Castle, but they called him "Wet" Brett Waters because he's very wet apparently. They switched out quickly but Castle was able to handle all of them. It started getting a little bit more competitive when Brent (one of The Boys) came into the match. Both Boys (Brent & Brandon) had some great offense, but Castle came back into the match and dominated again. He hit the bangarang onto Waters for the win. This was a title match according to the card and results, but they didn't really mention it all on the show.
Brandon Cutler defeated Serpentico (w/ Luther)
Negative *
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No offense to these guys, but this is not what I think of when it comes to Dark: Elevation main events. But, I'm not a stickler: the crowd loved it and just from the entrances alone, I could tell this was going to be fun.
It was standing switch city to start the match. Neither could get the upper hand until Cutler surprised Serpentico with a suplex. Cutler just started dancing and hitting elbow drops until one failed, but they both started missing moves just like at the start of the match.Â
Cutler hit a splash off the middle rope for a two count. He went for a splash onto the ropes, but Serpentico just moved and Cutler fell out of the ring. He tried to capitalize but Luther came in and tried to stop him from taking a move off the apron. You would've thought it was Drew Gulak at ringside. Luther then proceeded to slam Serpentico off the apron plainly in the referee's view. I have no idea what's going on anymore.Â
They both were back in the ring going blow for blow. Serpentico set up Cutler for a senton and cutter for only another two count. Cutler countered another splash into a helicopter spin that just made both of them dizzy. They both fell down on top of each other and actually got a two count.Â
Serpentico grabbed some of Cutler's spray to use as a weapon but Cutler had his own and used both cans on both men to set up an elbow drop from the top for the win. This was super weird.
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