AEW ELEVATION: August 2, 2021

The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation, Episode 21 (“The Calm Before The Milestone”), August 2, 2021. Happy Ron Simmons Day, everybody.

From Charlotte, NC.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Paul Wight, and Eddie Kingston. Wight lost a bet with Ryan Nemeth and is wearing a Wingmen T-Shirt.

Your feature bout tonight is Darby Allin vs. Bear Bronson. Also in action are Kris Statlander, Yuka Sakazaki, Lee Johnson, Red Velvet, and Solow/Comoroto.

Let Us Take You Back to Fight for the Fallen, where we learn about the August 20 Rampage in Chicago. They turn UP the crowd’s CM Punk chants.

Rampage ad.

Hit the credits.

Opening match: Red Velvet (#5 women, 12-2) vs. Angelica Risk (debut). There were people who watched all the matches on Wednesday and said the crowd stayed hot throughout, which is nice. Risk is from New Mexico and likely from Thunder Rosa’s academy.

Lockup, and Velvet works the arm. Risk reverses and gets a headlock, so Velevet pushes uff, does the splits, and performs some armdrags and lock. Risk with a kneelift as Kingston grills Tony about his crush on Britt Baker. Corner running elbow by Risk, then a gamengiri and Risk twirks. Kingston: “Well, this is happening, folks.” Hip check in the corner is avoided and Velvet stomps a mudhole and does the stir-it-up choke. Leg lariat by Velvet, but Risk fires back with rights. She runs into a clothesline as Velvet goes into the comeback, getting the drop toe hold and double knees to the back. Standing moonsault gets two. Final Slice (Overdrive) wins at 2:29. 1/2*

AEW Homecoming ad.

Lee Johnson (w/Dustin Rhodes) (next TNT Title challenger, 8-2) vs. Markus Cross (0-2). Johnson is getting this match as a warmup for Miro on Wednesday. Wight mentions that Johnson may be one of the top athletes in AEW. For those who want to know about the important things in life, Markus Cross’s hair is still as tall as ever, and he’s still doing the Super Saiyan Goku gimmick.

Lockup, and Johnson works the arm. He rolls through with Cross to stop a reversal, so Cross breaks the old-fashioned way. Johnson goes up and over Cross, then starts a criss-cross and lands a dropkick. Cross with a small package out of a suplex try for one, and he lands the RVD enzuigiri. Kamehameha is warmed up, but Johnson avoids it and lands a pair of SUPERKICKs. Brain Dawg wins at 1:38. NR But now, here comes Miro.

Wight: “God’s favorite champion.”

Kingston: “God must have called in sick that day.”

Miro gets a chant and flexes his pecs in time to it. He congratulates Johnson on the win, but says Johnson won’t take away what’s divinely his. Jacksonville is where Johnson’s career started, but it’s where Miro will end it. That is the word of the Redeemer.

August 18, Dynamite enters Houston.

Kris Statlander hype video. “Greetings, Earthlings.” Since she’s been back, she’s been faster, more powerful, and more galactic. Sometimes, your internal gravity pulls you somewhere, and you don’t know why until you get there. Statlander knows now: she will be AEW Women’s Champion (eventually). She then talks up the Best Friends – that the four have the strongest bond of any inter-species group in the galaxy. They don’t fully get each other, but that’s how they get each other. The quirks, it works. And with that…

WE INTERRUPT THIS SEGUE FOR SOMETHING AWESOME! DAVID CROCKETT IS ON COMMENTARY! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

Kris Statlander (w/Best Friends) (#3 women, 12-0) vs. Ashley D’Amboise (0-6). Okay, back to where we we re, as Statlander gets a really big pop. Speaking of best friends, Kingston calls out Homicide on commentary with a shout-out.

Lockup goes for a while, and Statlander gets a waistlock. D’Amboise reverses, Statlander reverses and takes D’Amboise down and gets a front facelock. D’Amboise reverses to an armlock, but Statlander fights out and reverses. D’Amboise does a lot of cartwheels to reverse back, so Statlander does her own set to… okay, a lot of them are gratuitous. BOOP! D’Amboise with a kneesmash, but she gets an Irish whip reversed to a powerslam. Kingston: “You ever see Magnum TA do a boop there, Mr. Crockett?” D’Amboise cuts off a blind charge and goes up, but Statlander catches her in the electric chair and plants her on her face, into a German suplex. Big Bang Theory ends it at 2:26. They’re not wasting time here. 1/2*

AEW Dynamite/Rampage combo ad for Pittsburgh, August 11/13.

The Factory (Aaron Solow and Nick Comoroto) (w/QT Marshall) (1-0) vs. Two Smart Fellas (Rosario Grillo and Hunter Knott) (0-1). No, you’re not supposed to have heard of Two Smart Fellas; they’re a top team in training. But if they give themselves a name on Twitter and in the farm system, I’ll run with it. Eddie Kingston has walked off so that QT Marshall can take his spot on commentary. Crockett’s still here. Wight: “Nice bowling shirt.”

Solow and Grillo start. Solow backs Grillo into a corner and chops away on him. Back elbow by Solow, then a slam and kneedrop. Grillo goes up and over Solow and gets an armdrag (weird sell by Solow), and Knott in with a dropkick off a Grill drop toehold for not-even-one. Knott with a side headlock, but Solow tags in Comoroto, who lariats down Knott. Oshigoroshi and he throws Grillo back into the ring as well, getting a one-armed press slam on Grillo before suplex throwing Knott onto him. Solow in, and the Factory get a Demolition double-stomp on Knott to win at 2:17. 1/4*

(For those wondering about Marshall’s apology to Schiavone, that will be Wednesday on Dynamite. Or so QT says.)

AEW Elite GM app ad.

Yuka Sakazaki (5-1) vs. Dani Jordyn (0-7). Yuka’s energy is so infectious. One thing AEW has done a very good job of doing is collecting people with exciting and unique entrances that will build up crowd energy. No look into Dani’s burn book, but she does have it.

We get a YUKA chant to start, annoying the heck out of Jordyn. Lockup, and Jordyn takes the arm into a top wristlock and hammerlock. Yuka spins into a side headlock, then moves to an armlock. Jordyn switches it back to a side headlock, so we go International~!. Yuka completes the sequence with a a running rana to send Jordyn to the floor. Yuka leaps to the second rope on the outside and cannonballs Jordyn. Back in, it gets two. Rolling snapmare, but Jordyn ducks the roundhouse kick and gets a shotgun dropkick for two. She boxes Yuka in the corner, then gets a corner clothesline (sort of) and suplex (much better).

Hammer throw, but a charge eats boot and Yuka goes up. She cartwheels off the top rope to avoid Jordyn and gets a running dropkick. Running gamengiri and Yuka goes to the middle rope, landing a back elbow for two. Suplex is blocked and Jordyn gets a SUPERKICK, but she runs into a brainbuster from Yuka. Yuka goes up for the Magical Girl Splash, but Jordyn catches her and gives her a neckbreaker off the ropes for two. Spinning facejam gets a close two, and Jordyn understandably argues the count before trying a German suplex. Yuka with a small package for two, then a lariat for two. Sliding forearm smash gets two, and now Yuka has to think about what to do next. Hammerlock into the pickup and spinning spinebuster ends it at 5:18. Finish felt abrupt, but these two worked real well together. *3/4

All Out ad.

Main Event: Bear Bronson (w/Bear Boulder) (9-12) vs. Darby Allin (w/IT’S STING!) (#4 men, 15-2). The good news here is that Boulder is back in uniform as he comes out, so he’s probably very close to being cleared. Crockett is here to replace Kingston for the main event. Darby Allin is insanely over. How much is Allin and how much is Sting… is a problem for another day, let’s just milk it for what it’s worth.

Allin charges at the bell with a dropkick and fires away, but Bronson knocks him down. Allin charges again and gets tossed again, but Allin tries a middle-rope Coffin Drop only to get caught and squashed. Allin tries to kick away Bronson, who catches the legs and tries an alley-oop bomb. Allin fights it off, so Bronson pulls him up into a Simmons-style spinebuster and half-senton for two. Bronson gets crossface blows on Allin against the ropes, then taunts the crowd as Allin pulls himself up. Charge eats boot and Allin chops away (and that gets a big reaction in Charlotte), but Bronson flings Allin into the corner for a Bret bump.

Bronson picks up Allin with a bearhug, and Allin’s attempts to slap Bronson to break it needs about 10 of them to work. Allin with a big right as he lands on the apron, but Bronson pulls him in by the waist and throws him halfway across the ring. More crossface blows on the mat by Bronson as the crowd chants for Darby. He pulls Allin up by the hair, but Allin escapes a back suplex and chop blocks Bronson. Code Red by Allin gets two. Allin stomps on the hands and does some SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION, but Bronson slugs out of it.

Back-and-forth clubs by Bronson basically leave Allin dead standing up, and Bronson adds a Steinerline for two. Bronson stares at the crowd – a mistake, says Crockett – before putting Allin on the top. Allin fights back, but Bronson works the back and follows Allin up top. Top-rope back suplex try, but Allin turns and falls on top. Allin with a sleeper on Bronson, who gets to his feet and gives Allin the backpack cannonball!

Both men fall to the outside (as the seconds stare at each other to a huge pop before checking on their men and throwing them back in), and once they’re in the ring, it’s a double-down. Bronson’s up first as Allin crawls to Bronson, and Bronson with an Oklahoma Stampede try that Allin reverses to Stundog Millionaire. Springboard coffin drop sets up the real thing for the pin at 8:28. Good big/little match with a hot crowd. **1/2

DYNAMITE HOMECOMING! Miro faces Lee Johnson! Cody versus Juventud! Malakai Black debuts against Cody Rhodes!

If you’re disappointed at how short this was, don’t worry: they were saving up for a milestone tomorrow night as we have the 100^th episode of AEW Dark. Fair warning: there will be SEVEN feature bouts, plus two former champions in action. So tomorrow’s where all the action is.

STATS:

BELL-TO-BELL – 22:36 over six matches (average time 3:46)

MATCH OF THE NIGHT – Allin/Bronson

THREE STARS:

1. Darby Allin
2. Yuka Sakazaki
3. Bear Bronson

AEW Dark 100, here we come!