AEW ELEVATION: July 5, 2021

The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation, Episode 17 (“One For The YouTubes, and One More for the Road”), July 5, 2021.

Your feature bouts this hour are Serpentico vs. Dante Martin and Orange Cassidy vs. Angelico. Your other matches feature Hikaru Shida, Scorpio Sky, Thunder Rosa, and Serena Deeb.

From the AEW Arena. So long and thanks for all the content, Daily’s.

Opening match: Thunder Rosa (#3 women, 16-2) vs. Leila Grey (0-6). We got a full crowd coming off of last week’s Dynamite, and that’s a change I welcome.

Lockup, and Grey backs Rosa into the corner and fakes a clean break. Rosa ducks the shot and chops away, adding a snapmare and back elbows in the corner, including one running off the ropes. She knocks Grey to a seated position, then fires in with a running dropkick. Another snapmare and soccer kick follow. She catches a kick from Grey and throws her aside into a kneelift. Fire Thunder Driver gets the win at 2:00 flat. NR

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Captain Insano.

Scorpio Sky (16-2) vs. Marcus Kross (debut). Ethan Page joins Tony and Paul on commentary, but only while vibing to the music. Kross does full splits RVD style as his warmup.

Lockup, and Sky takes arm control. Kross reverses it into a headlock, but Sky flips him out and goes for a waistlock. Kross elbows out before running into a cross-chop from Sky. Snapmare and facewash by Sky, then a Russian legsweep as Paul keeps pressing the issue about Darby Allin to Ethan. Sky walks into a corner kick and Kross tries to chop at him, but Sky pushes him back and wears him down.

He then messes with Kross’s very tall hair, throwing him by the hair and hanging on as he swings him around to big heel heat. Kross catches a cocky Sky with a small package for two, then flips over Sky with a dropkick and double-stomp into an elbowdrop on one jump. It gets two. Roundhouse kick misses and Sky spikes him with the TKO for the pin at 2:57. That means less Ethan Page on commentary. 1/2*

Hikaru Shida (#5 women, 32-4) vs. Dani Jordyn (0-6). Speaking of people who have elevated their stock during the Daily’s Place era, we have these two. Shida has proven she can get a decent match out of anyone, and in a non-gimmick company, Jordyn’s “I Have Watched Mean Girls Too Often” gimmick stands out.

Lockup, and Shida gives a clean break in the ropes. Jordyn gets arm control, but Shida reverses and switches to a headlock. Jordyn reverses the headlock, but a shoulderblock goes nowhere. Jordyn’s second try again is a stalemate, and now Jordyn says Shida should try. Then she catches Shida with a cheap shot and finally runs her over. Running uppercut in the corner, but Shida handsprings out of the snapmare and gets a running dropkick. Jordyn dodges an apron elbow, so Shida catches her and drags her to the floor. Shida then gets a chair (which the referee tells her not to use), and while the ref puts the chair back, Jordyn bops Shida with the Burn Book and sends her into the guardrail.

To be fair to Shida, she was probably going to do an Air Sabu on the floor.

Back in, it gets two. Suplex follows, then a diving uppercut off the ropes for two. Shida gets up with a forearm shot and they slug it out, with Jordyn catching Shida in the corner and working her over. A cross-corner whip is reversed, but Jordyn runs and Shida’s flying knee eats turnbuckle. Jordyn with a guillotine choke over the middle rope, but Shida stands back up and Jordyn goes throat-first into the top rope. Shida comes in off the top, but Jordyn moves only to be hit with the high knee. Hammer Throw and a second high knee, then a brainbuster by Shida gets two.

Another suplex try, but Jordyn escapes and tries a SUPERKICK. Shida ducks and slugs away on Jordyn, but the suplex is countered to a small package by Jordyn for two. Crucifix gets two. Snapmare and dropkick gets two. German suplex try, but Shida reverses the waistlock so Jordyn just slugs away. She yells to the crowd to fire herself up, but Shida with an enzuigiri and straightjacket suplex for two. Snapmare and knee to the head follow, then a diving forearm. Katana ends it at 6:50. See what I mean about Shida making everyone look good? That was Jordyn’s best performance yet. **1/4

Angelico (w/Jack Evans) (6-3) vs. Orange Cassidy (w/Chuck Taylor and Kris Statlander) (#2 men, 10-1-1). I will never get tired of the extras in the front row vibing along with the TH2 entrance music, especially when Angelico is going on. Quite a contrast: Angelico and Evans use a lot of motion for their moves, while Orange… doesn’t. By the way, the Pixies are back! It’s Orange/Statlander vs. Bunny/Blade on Wednesday in what Tony calls “our first ever mixed tag match”. Did anyone tell Shaq that?

Orange starts with the glasses off, but the elbow pad on. So Angelico puts on Orange’s glasses and vibes, which admittedly is pretty cool. Angelico stalls, but Orange then takes the glasses and puts them on instead. Angelico tries a clip when Orange GOES TO THE POCKETS, but Orange vaults over and does his LETHAL KICK COMBO OF DEATH. Angelico does a double wristlock to stop him, but Orange gets one hand free and tries to go to the pocket. Angelico switches hands, so Orange does the same, so Angelico grabs THAT hand, so Orange hiptosses Angelico and GETS THE HANDS IN THE POCKETS.

Dropkick and kip-up and Angelico bails between the other Best Friends. He warns them to stay away, so Orange dives onto Angelico. Evans objects, but Statlander chases her off. Back in, Angelico with a Pele on Orange and he wraps his arm around the bottom rope. He then demands a fan get ejected, which distracts the ref so that Evans can keep up the barrage. Angelico with a corner headshot to Orange and he stomps away. Left hands in the corner, then kicks and a right cross to floor Orange. Angelico ties up Orange in an elevated cloverleaf over his knee or something, but Orange gets a sunset flip out of it for two. Angelico knees down Orange and goes back to work in the corner. Orange with the Flair Flip on a Hammer Throw, but this time he rolls back in and gets a tilt-a-whirl tornado DDT before taking off the pad.

Orange Punch is ducked, and Angelico gets a Russian legsweep cradle for two. Beach Break is reversed to a sunset flip into a Navarro Death Roll try, but Orange cradles him for two. Angelico dropkicks the knee to stop Orange, but Orange kicks out before Angelico drapes his leg on the middle rope and kicks it. Legsweep and roundhouse are dodged, and the Mousetrap wins it at 6:07. Angelico tries to attack, so he gets Orange Punched. Evans enters and Taylor low bridges him out. Then the Butcher and Blade music hits as Blade and Bunny enter to let Orange know he’s dead meat on Wednesday. Orange puts on the glasses and just stares at a raging Blade. Fun all around! **1/2

Serena Deeb (9-3) vs. Tesha Price (0-8). Deeb is now “The Woman of 1,000 Holds”, which makes her the female Malenko and I hope she lives up to it. Also, Serena’s got a neat robe. Over/under on how fast Price screams?

Price offers Code of Honor, which she insists is genuine, but Deeb just slaps her instead. Price glares at Deeb and locks up, but Deeb gets the advantage and uppercuts her in the corner. Price sells like she’s knocked loopy, but stops a back body drop with a kick only to run into a lariat. Deeb goes ground-and-pound – remind me who the face is in this match – before giving Price a dragon screw out of the ropes. Deeb dares Price to grab the ropes on a leglock, which she does, so Deeb turns it into a catapult guillotine.

Another uppercut follows, then an abdominal stretch. Gorilla would not approve as Price escapes, so Deeb gets a cravate as Price screams for help. She punches out and gets a lockup armdrag, then catches a charging Deeb with a back elbow… but only once. The second time, Deeb hooks Price’s leg on the middle rope, then dragon screws the other leg! Detox (Implant Buster) by Deeb, but no cover. Now Deeb shakes Price’s hand before turning Price over, slamming her knee on the mat five or six times, and hooking the Serenity Lock for the win at 3:19. Did Deeb turn heel and no one told me? 1/2*

Post-Dynamite, Alex Marvez checks in on Joey Janela. Injury update: Janela refuses to answer. He then asks about how Janela was late coming out last week and what was up with that. This time Janela takes off his glasses and glares at Marvez, who remembers they were busy at a go-go bar. Tomorrow, Sonny and Joey will be in the Waiting Room hosted by Britt Baker, and Janela finally takes the mic… as the crowd chants for Sonny Kiss! Janela… just frustrated. And he walks off.

Main Event: Serpentico (w/Luther) (11-32) vs. Dante Martin (9-4). I wonder if Serpentico’s 32 losses include those he has a Jon Cruz. I guess you do need some jobbers to the stars, which Chaos Project is. As if to twist the knife, Tony notes that Serpentico has only one win as a solo, the rest in Chaos Project. Martin gets a decent reaction.

Lockup, and Serpentico grabs the arm. Martin reverses, Serpentico reverses and gets a waistlock, then Martin reverses that, so Serpentico gets a leg trip and pulls him up in a headlock. Martin clears Serpentico without the latter needing to duck on a criss-cross, and he gets a series of armdrags into an armlock. Serpentico goes to the hair to try to break, but Martin rolls Serpentico around until he can get a dropkick. Serpentico bails as Luther helps him up, and the two try to trip Martin . Martin chases Serpentico but ducks Luther, only for Luther to grab Martin and Serpentico to give him a dropkick. Serpentico slugs away in the corner, then Hammer Throws Martin. Dropkick gets one.

He then tosses Martin out of the ring, where Luther chucks him into the guardrail. Serpentico does a slow flip onto Martin on the outside and slugs him down as Luther shrieks at him. Martin is held up by the post, so Serpentico gets a running headbutt… on the post as Martin moves. Luther gets between Serpentico and Martin as Serpentico crawls in, so Martin looks to get back in. Serpentico shows he’s ready to stop him, but Martin slides through his legs and gets a mule kick. Comeback begins with a dropkick and gamengiri, then Martin with a double-jump moonsault press for two. Serpentico ducks a roundhouse kick and gets a SUPERKICK and Low DDT and double-stomp, all for only two. Martin crawls to the corner and ducks and moves as Serpentico comes in, then puts him up top for a one-armed Death Valley Driver for two.

Luther grabs the foot again, but Serpentico gets sent to the apron. Martin dives, Serpentico ducks, and Luther’s wiped out. Back in, Martin with the Sky High Stunner to win at 6:37. Luther attacks immediately after the bell as commentary notes Darius isn’t around to make the save… but Matt Sydal is! He roundhouse kicks Luther out of the ring as Chaos Project bails, and hopefully this leads to a tag match in a week or two. But first, Sydal must face the debuting Andrade El Idolo on Wednesday. Oh, this match? Fun. What do you expect? **1/4

DYNAMITE!

• ROAD RAGER!
• Young Bucks vs Penta and Kinsgston for the tag straps!
• Andrade El Idolo debuts!
• Cody and QT settle it in a Strap Match!

By the way, for those wondering, I saw that on August 4, Daily’s Place goes back in the rotation for a Dynamite episode just before they leave for Rampage. So that’s good news. I’m glad that the AEW Arena will get some more airtime. Meanwhile, if this episode is a harbinger of what comes next, it’s a breezy 45 minutes and sometimes has a pleasant surprise, like Shida/Jordyn.

STATS:

BELL-TO-BELL: 27:50 over six matches (average time 4:38)

MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Angelico/Orange

THREE STARS (let’s go back to this for one-hour shows)

1. Dante Martin
2. Orange Cassidy
3. Dani Jordyn

One last show tomorrow at Daily’s Place, and we pass another post-pandemic milestone!