The PG Era Rant for AEW Elevation, Episode 30 (“Look, You Got Four Hours on TV, Whaddya Want?”), September 27, 2021.
From Queens, NY.
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Eddie Kingston, and Mark Henry. Henry says the crowd energy makes him want to come out of retirement. Oh no, not him too!
TONIGHT! Lots of people talk about Grand Slam! Plus, three matches – a Dark Order 8-man, Thunder Rosa, and Paul Wight beating up geeks!
Opening match: Thunder Rosa (#1 women, 27-2) vs. Kayla Sparks (debut). Man, can you imagine how over Thunder Rosa would be if they did anything with her?
Lockup, and they stumble around into the corner with Sparks shoving Rosa. Rosa shoves back and they talk it out in front of a loud audience. So Sparks slaps Rosa, which leads to Rosa firing back and landing a hiptoss and dropkick. Blind charge eats elbow, but Rosa goes to the middle rope and lands a lucha armdrag. Sparks bails, so Rosa gets her back in. Sparks with a shot to the knee and she works Rosa over in the corner with forearms.
Mudhole stomping to big boos, but Rosa comes back with a spinning back elbow. Rosa with chops and shots into the turnbuckle, then a snapmare and sliding clothesline. Half-senton connects, then Sparks is drop toeheld into the middle rope for a dropkick to the back, then another to the chest. Fire Thunder Driver ends it at 3:09. Sparks looked very lost on offense, so the veteran Rosa just took over and dominated the rest of the way. 1/2*
December 8. Long Island. Anyone who has a show in between just isn’t that important.
TJ Crawford, Eric James, Kevin Tibbs, and Dean Alexander vs. Alex Reynolds, John Silver, Alan Angels, and Preston Vance. Silver rocking the FDNY hat is awesome. Neither team has tagged together before. Tibbs is wearing an outfit similar to Brodie Lee’s. Man, this crowd is white hot. Henry (about both teams): “They don’t look like a boy band.”
Crawford and Silver start. Silver gives a clean break in the corner, but Crawford won’t accept it so Silver yeets him across the ring. BAAAAAAAACK body drop follows (.8 Warlord), and Crawford brings in Tibbs. So Vance takes over and gets a slingshot wheelbarrow suplex, then pump kicks James. Angels in, and it’s a rana to James assisted by Vance. Angels lands a leg lariat for two, Alexander saves. Angels chases Alexander out, allowing James to get caught in the other corner and quadruple-teamed.
EVERYBODY INTO THE POOL and the Dark Order knocks everyone down with shoulderblocks. Angels chops Alexander, but a DDT try is countered with a Northern Lights suplex. Hammer Throw and Angels does the Bret bump, with Tibbs coming in for a double stomp. Crawford in, but Angels escapes a double back drop attempt. Angels flips over two back suplexes and gets a double clothesline. Reynolds in, and he runs over James with a corner back elbow into a Torpedo Moscow and a dropkick. Reynolds with a discus punch and cravat suplex, but a blind charge misses.
He recovers with a pop-up knee strike and Body Vice gutbuster for two, Alexander saves. Vance tosses Alexander and give Tibbs the SPINEBUSTER as Angels dropkicks Crawford. Vance tosses Reynolds onto everyone on the outside, with Angels leaping onto Crawford with a moonsault. This leaves James with Silver, and James gets a right hand only to run into a gamengiri by Silver into the Uppercut Express on the outside. Crossbody by Silver and everyone from the Dark Order enters. Wing Snapper, DDTstroyer, and Full Nelson ends it at 5:41. Teasing a breakup may have been the dumbest thing AEW’s done in 2021, and I’m hoping either Hangman or Bray comes in to stop the story dead in its tracks. *1/4
AEW Elite GM App ad.
Handicap match: Paul Wight (1-0) vs. CPA, VSK, and RSP (CPA debuting, others winless). You know, considering people don’t want to be defined by their WWE life, they find a way to include nods to it. Wight’s entrance still has the WELL in it, for example. Also, you know they put the three geeks together because they all go by initials.
VSK looks to start with a test of strength as Gunn Club come out to watch. Wight dominates VSK with one hand on two, then does the same to CPA at the same time. RSP tries to help them out, and after a slight stalemate, Wight throws everyone down. Clotheslines all around, and Wight chops the hell out of VSK. He rips off CPA’s tie (“Is that a clip-on?”) then rips open his shirt and chops him too. RSP tries to attack from behind and goes for a chokeslam on Wight (yes, really), but Wight just rushes him over the top and out.
Silence chop to VSK, but now Wight sees Gunn Club and says “watch this”, delivering a silence chop to CPA now. He tosses CPA into VSK, but the crowd demands One More Time and really, who is Wight not to give the people what they want? So both VSK and CPA get another one. Wight then steps on both of them and wants the chokeslam. RSP tries a low kick, but Wight catches it in his meaty thighs and KO punches him. CPA and VSK get chokeslammed for the double pin at 3:42. CPA, VSK, RSP? RIP, LOL. 3/4* Gunn Club probably mockingly applaud Wight.
And now, some comments.
First, Britt Baker says that of course she beat Ruby Soho and she ended Soho’s 2 minutes of fame. It’s back to DMD, and have you noticed that they’re everywhere on AEW’s history of firsts? It doesn’t matter what’s next, because the three letters on top will never change.
Then, MJF stops the announcer who calls Queens his hometown, because Queens is a “rat-infested dump”. He’s a Long Islander, and he’s ready to be in front of them in December. He beat Brian Pillman Jr without breaking a sweat. He’s begging someone to beat him cleanly in the center of the ring, but no one has been able to do that because he’s better than everyone. Without MJF, AEW “ain’t shit”. VKM is where they bring ’em all in, but only the three letters MJF matter.
Next, we get a highlight video of Omega vs. Danielson. Alongside that, Danielson is interviewed and says he feels alive. He wanted to face the best guy right off the bat without starting slow. He did that – he may not have won, but he loves professional wrestling. It felt like magic to him from the beginning, and it always does, but this felt like nothing he’s done. He can’t call it his hardest match because he was having so much joy. He missed going out and going full blast. He hadn’t wrestled since April, but he’d been away from going full bore for much longer. As for if there’s going to be a rematch? Omega didn’t want one, and yeah, Danielson has to climb a very tall ladder, but he’ll do it. His goal is to be AEW champion, however long it takes.
Meanwhile, Men of the Year are interviewed but are mad they can’t celebrate. Ethan wants to gloat about what he and American Top Team did. Ethan grew up watching Chris Jericho, Canadian legend, but tonight he and Dan’s boys embarrassed him. And that’s why they’re off to celebrate. Sky doesn’t want to be asked anything, because it’s about if you’re paying attention, like he said a year ago. He didn’t want to “go here”, but being under-appreciated made him go there. He’s sick of being kicked to the side for new names, and he wants everyone to take their shot at him – but they have to go through his dead body. It starts with Jericho, who started the influx from New York and “made it what it is today”. But now it’s time for him to step aside for people who’ve been stepped in front of, and Sky won’t be stepped in front of anymore.
Rewinding to before Rampage, Eddie Kingston asked Homicide to show up because he revived New York wrestling. He considers Homicide family. Homicide talks about how big Arthur Ashe is. Homicide said his goal was Madison Square Garden, but Arthur Ashe is just as historical. He says Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz will make history in New York. Kingston says it’s a fact they’ll plant their flag.
Then, Brian Pillman Jr. talks about getting ready to be in front of 18,000 and that he’s honored to be on this week of shows with some of the biggest names. But with that honor comes pressure – usually. Pillman isn’t feeling pressure or other negative energy because he knows that the AEW family is out for the same thing: to put on a great show. This may be the first show of this size by a non-WWE company in this millennium, but it won’t be the last. Tonight, names are entering history.
Cut to Ortiz, who had never been in Arthur Ashe despite watchign the tennis on TV. The stage and setup is awesome. He can’t explain what a big deal it is that he and Santana are going back to New York to wrestle – where they started on 116th and FDR on a school playground for no money. Now wrestling is his full-time job, has given him a home, and he’s going in front of 20,000.
We go to Anthony Bowens, talking about how crazy it is. He says he got chills when he entered – just look at how big the place is! Twenty thousand people in a full house, and the Acclaimed get to make fun of everyone. This leads to Max Caster practicing his rap before the show…
And then performing it between shows. It’s not a bad rap, but it’s basically a Tony Khan diss track. Bowens then calls out Tony Khan, saying he must be afraid of the Acclaimed if he’s not answering their rap battle claim. Are they afraid of him, or does he just not have the balls? This brings out Khan, who says he’s never done a rap track before… and he won’t start now. But he has someone to help him: Lil Uzi Vert! Crowd is mixed on his introduction, but Caster seems to be begging off. Khan’s rap then threatens to suspend the Acclaimed again, and even though the CEO doesn’t have to answer to them… he’ll bring the Varsity Blonds out instead! And the brawl is on, with the Blonds leaving the Acclaimed laying. Uzi Vert did nothing. Fortunately, the Blonds still get a nice face pop, and Khan sets up Rampage.
Which brings us to Paul Wight. He says he went to AEW because he wanted to be a part of something growing. He’s seen the ebb and flow of wrestling over his two decades, and he thinks AEW has a chance to be something special. He considers this week special because they’re entering a tough crowd, and they successfully pulled off a large show with a large crowd. Wight says going in front of the crowd and having them cheer him as much as they did was fun, and he showed that quality tops quantity. He knows the AEW talent wants to make a mark, and that energy is infectious, and it brought him to AEW. This is a wrestling company, and fans who want more wrestling will come out. He wants to be in Arthur Ashe more in the future.
And we’re out. No point in stats with just three matches.