Excalibur welcomed us to Dark and was joined by Taz on commentary…
1. Duke Davis vs. Nick Comoroto. Comoroto hit a powerslam and a powerbomb for the quick victory.
Nick Comoroto defeated Duke Davis via pinfall.
Briar’s Take:
Your typical enhancement match with Comoroto getting the victory in a matter of seconds.
2. Duke Davis vs. Aaron Solow. Davis threw a dropkick that sent Solow out of the ring. However, Solow hooked the knee and began stomping on Davis. Solow followed with the corkscrew kick to Davis and hit a pedigree type finisher to lay out Davis quickly.
Aaron Solow defeating Duke Davis via pinfall.
Episode 9 of
AEW Dark: Elevation featured a familiar face in the mix to manage Jade Cargill, Eddie Kingston with a message for the Young Bucks, Thunder Rosa using a new finisher, and Jon Moxley staying loose with violence before his IWGP US Heavyweight Championship defense on
Dynamite.
Elevation, MJF’s lawyer is recruiting Jade Cargill. She has been cutting promos on
Dynamite explaining that managers must bring it big if they want to represent her. After Cargill’s win, Mark Sterling approached the ring requesting a moment of Cargill’s time. He wanted to offer his management services. Sterling made MJF the highest paid athlete in AEW, and he thinks he can do the same for Cargill. Sterling requested a meeting backstage. Cargill appeared to be receptive to the pitch.
AEW star Matt Hardy believes people who think pro wrestling is waning in popularity are clueless.
While responding to Dave Meltzer, who pointed out that WWE RAW, AEW Dynamite and WWE SmackDown were all No. 1 on either cable or network TV this past week [in the 18-49 demo], Hardy tweeted that pro wrestling is still “very healthy & extremely profitable.”
It’s shocking how unaware people are of the TV landscape. TV wise, wrestling is very healthy & extremely profitable, especially considering it literally survived a business-killing pandemic. There are a 1000 times more options, on multiple competing platforms, to watch in 2021.
Meanwhile, the Blood & Guts edition of AEW Dynamite drew 1.090 million viewers on TNT, ranking #1 on the Cable Top 150 for the first time ever. AEW’s numbers were up 27.3% from the previous week’s show.
Winfree’s AEW Dark: Elevation (Ep. 8) Review 5.10.21
Well everyone, it’s time for another episode of AEW Dark: Elevation. Oh, we’re nearly at a 2 hour run time this week. Joy. Well on the plus side we’ll have Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston, Tay Conti, and more in action. Per usual Tony Schiavone and Paul Wight are on commentary. Match #1: David Ali vs. Lee Johnson
The tie up, trade some holds and escapes on the mat before standing off. Back to the mat, Johnson is getting the better of these exchanges so far as they wind up in the ropes and have to break. Another trade of holds, Johnson offers a handshake but Ali is a poor sport and hits a snap mare then a kick to the spine. Johnson runs the ropes and hits a drop kick to the face. Ali sends Johnson out of the ring, Johnson back in and lands a punch but flies into a European uppercut. Ali gets to take over on offense for a bit, including a butterfly suplex. Modified landslide from Ali but that only gets 2.
AEW Dark: Elevation (Episode 9)
Taped in Jacksonville, Florida at Daily’s Place
Tony Schiavone and Paul Wight were on commentary and welcomed us to the show. Tony sent it to Justin Roberts for the introduction of our first match…
1.
David Ali vs. Lee Johnson. Both wrestlers received the televised entrance. Back and forth match throughout until late in the match. Ali went for a springboard off the ropes but was met with a superkick from Johnson. Johnson then lifted up Ali into a Blue Thunder Bomb (that looked more like a shoulder breaker) for the pinfall.
Lee Johnson beat David Ali by pinfall in 5:00.