Notable matches scheduled for the show include The Dark Order vs. Serpentico, Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth. Brooke Havok will also return to AEW for the first time in nearly two years when she faces Emi Sakura in singles action.
Rush & Preston Vance, The Butcher & The Blade, Skye Blue, Ari Daivari, and Tony Nese will all be in action as well.
This week’s episode was filmed Wednesday, January 18, 2023, from the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California.
AEW Dark: Elevation airs at 7 p.m. Eastern time on YouTube. The advertised lineup for the show is as follows:
Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds, John Silver, & Evil Uno vs. Serpentico, Ryan Nemeth & Peter Avalon
The Butcher & The Blade w/ The Bunny vs. David McCallion & Richie Slade
Ari Daivari & Tony Nese w/ Mark Sterling vs. Big Fonz & Jordan Cruz
Skye Blue vs. Zoe Dubois
La Faccion Ingobernable’s Rush & Perro Peligroso Preston Vance vs. Papacito Negro & Papacito Blanco
AEW has announced two matches for this week’s edition of Dark: Elevation.
Ortiz will face Serpentico in singles competition on the show. The other announced match features Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford teaming up to take on the team of Shawn Dean and Skye Blue.
Both matches were filmed on Wednesday from Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York ahead of AEW Grand Slam.
For Ortiz, this will be his seventh singles match in AEW (his record is 3-3) and his first since dropping a hair vs. hair match to Chris Jericho in June. This will be the second time Ortiz and Serpentico have met in singles action. Ortiz won their first encounter on a Dark taping held on June 3.
AEW Dark: Elevation airs on Monday beginning at 7 p.m Eastern time on YouTube. The advertised card is as follows:
Ortiz vs. Serpentico
Kip Sabian & Penelope Ford vs. Shawn Dean & Skye Blue
On this coming Tuesday’s Dark, PAC, who hasn’t been seen since he and Fenix lost against the Young Bucks last month, returns to singles action, facing Serpentico. Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix will be in PAC’s corner, and Luther will be in Serpentico’s corner.
Luther will also be in action on the card, as he will face Lance Archer. Serpentico will be in Luther’s corner, and Jake Roberts will be in Archer’s. Archer in recent weeks has been clearing the ring whenever Darby Allin and Sting are attacked. Archer has also confronted Sting in recent interviews.
The Bunny, part of Matt Hardy’s Hardy Office, will take on Leila Grey. Team Taz will also be in action, as Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks will team up to take on Brick Aldridge and Aaron Frye.
Serpentico is officially under AEW contract, revealed in an interview with Inside The Ropes.
The 36-year-old said he signed his deal several months ago and put over how welcoming the environment is and that he is happy to be part of the team. The length or details of the contract weren’t given.
A 13-year pro trained at the 3D Academy, he kicked off his AEW career in March under his real name Jon Cruz, bringing the Serpentico character to TV two months later. He has primarily been on Dark outside an All Out pre-show match and two Dynamite appearances.
One of those appearances was part of the Chaos Project tag team with Luther as they main evented the Chris Jericho 30th anniversary celebration against Jericho and Jake Hager in a losing effort.
In his career, Serpentico/Cruz has also made appearances in NXT, Impact Wrestling, and Ring of Honor in enhancement roles.
Ahead of tonight’s show, AEW announced that Joey Janela (w/ Sonny Kiss) vs. Serpentico (w/ Luther) has been added to tonight’s pre-show. The pre-show will also feature Private Party vs. The Dark Order’s 3 & 4 (Alex Reynolds & John Silver).
Britt Baker and Big Swole’s “Tooth & Nail match” was originally set for the pre-show, but AEW’s Tony Khan announced yesterday that it was being moved to the main card. Baker vs. Swole will be a cinematic match taking place at Baker’s dental office. It’s a no DQ and falls count anywhere match.
Janela vs. Serpentico is the 11th match announced for tonight’s show. The pre-show will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time, with the pay-per-view main card then starting at 8 p.m. Eastern. Here’s the updated list of matches:
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley defending against MJF
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida defending against Thunder Rosa
AEW Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega & Hangman Page defending against FTR
Mimosa Mayhem match: Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy
The Dark Order (Brodie Lee, Evil Uno, Stu Grayson & Colt Cabana) vs. Dustin Rhodes, QT Marshall, Scorpio Sky & Matt Cardona
The Young Bucks vs. Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy)
Broken Rules match: Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara
Tooth & Nail match: Britt Baker vs. Big Swole
Casino Battle Royale
Private Party vs. Alex Reynolds & John Silver (pre-show)
Good opener. This was slightly more competitive than a squash match.
They opened with a lockup. They traded shoulder tackles. Jordyn hit a pendulum DDT off the second rope. She rolled through into an armbar. Shida powered out and hit a running knee in the corner.
Shida used a missile dropkick for a two count. Shida missed an enzuigiri but connected on a running knee to the back of the head for a near fall.
The finish saw Shida hit a running knee strike and use a Michinoku driver for the pin.
QT Marshall defeated Clutch Adams
There was nothing wrong with this from a technical standpoint but it lacked in excitement, a constant in Marshall matches.
Marshall throws an apple in the air and catches it during his entrance. That spot has to go away.
Marshall came out with his ribs taped up, selling an attack from Lance Archer. Adams went after the ribs with kicks and a kitchen sink.
Adams made a series of covers but only scored one counts. Marshall hit a backbreaker into a flatliner for a near fall.
After selling most of the way, Marshall slipped off the back of Adams and hit a QT Cutter out of nowhere for the pin.
Marko Stunt defeated Jason Cade
I think this may have been a shoot. Not really, but this was very physical.
Stunt opened with a slingshot sunset flip and a running knee strike. Cade cut him off with a forearm strike, then whipped Stunt face-first into the buckle. The elbow bloodied up Stunt’s nose and may have broken it.
Stunt slid off Cade’s back and hit a poison rana. He followed up with a suicide dive.
The finish saw Stunt hit a crucifix bomb, then follow with a 450 splash for the pin.
**********
The ringside doctor checked on a glassy-eyed Stunt after the match. Taz and Excalibur promised an update on Stunt later in the show. No such update was provided.
**********
Kip Sabian (w/ Penelope Ford) & Jimmy Havoc defeated Musa & Lee Johnson
This was endless and a miss.
Sabian controlled Johnson early on with some mat wrestling. Havoc got a tag and nailed Johnson with strikes.
Musa got a tag. Havoc acted as though he was going to lock up with Musa but punched him in the face instead. Havoc and Sabian worked over Musa.
Musa came back with a flying headscissors and a dropkick. Johnson tagged in and hit Sabian with a dropkick for a one count.
Havoc took the referee and Sabian gouged Musa’s eyes. Sabian hit an inverted atomic drop on Musa into a one-legged dropkick by Havoc. Sabian hit a PK. Havoc hit a cool underhook suplex. Musa hit Sabian with a back elbow and Sabian spent the rest of the match selling on the apron.
Johnson got a hot tag and ran wild on Havoc. Havoc cut him off with an Acid Rainmaker and hit the implant DDT for the pin.
Rey Fenix defeated Shawn Dean
Fenix is so spectacular. This is the second straight week where I thought Fenix had the best match on the show. In both cases he sold way more than you would expect a star to sell for a job guy. In both cases, it helped the job guy and didn’t hurt Fenix one bit.
Dean hit a nice dropkick. Fenix answered with a hook kick. Fenix used a cross armbreaker but Dean forced a break.
Dean avoided a brainbuster and hit a step-up knee in the corner. Fenix rolled outside and Dean hit a huge tope con giro. Dean hit a tiger driver but Fenix kicked out at one.
Dean hit a series of strikes. Fenix hit a tornillo kick and used a spinning muscle buster for the pin.
Luther defeated Jon Cruz
Cosmetically, Luther does not necessarily look 51 years old. The problem is that he moves like he’s 51 years old.
This was a total squash.
Luther hit chops, kicks and stomps. He slammed Cruz into the barricade. Luther hit an inverted suplex.
Luther used a camel clutch and gouged Cruz’s mouth and eyes. This was the finish and not a DQ for some reason.
Private Party defeated Ryan Rembrandt & Mike Reed
Private Party matches tend to have a template. Marq Quen typically sells a lot and Isiah Kassidy gets the hot tag. They deviated from that here as Kassidy did most of the selling.
Private Party opened with some cool tandem offense. Kassidy got clotheslined on the top rope by Rembrandt for the heat.
Quen got a hot tag and hit a backflip kick and a plancha. Kassidy entered for a step-up stunner and an assisted sliced bread on Rembrandt for a near fall.
Kassidy hit Silly String on Reed but Reed was not the legal man. Kassidy hit Rembrandt with a facebuster.
The finish saw Kassidy hit Rembrandt with a swanton bomb for the pin.
Sammy Guevara defeated Alan Angels
This probably would have had a good reaction in front of a crowd.
They tied up. Guevara got a trip takedown. Angels answered with his own takedown. Guevara hit a leapfrog dropkick. They traded chops. Guevara hit a snap vertical suplex.
Angels was able to get a crossface applied. Guevara turned Angels over with a cradle. Angels mocked Guevara’s pose. Guevara hit a running knee strike.
Guevara did some squats with Angels on his shoulders. Angels turned Guevara over with a crucifix and got a near fall. Guevara hit a delayed vertical suplex. They exchanged chops and strikes into a double down. Angels teased a GTS. Guevara answered with a knee strike.
The finish saw Guevara hit the GTH for the pin.
Darby Allin defeated Serpentico
They had a nice match to cap off this episode.
Serpentico controlled the early part of the match after hitting a thumb to the eye. He used a slingshot double stomp and a slingshot cutter.
Allin made a comeback and hit a superplex. He sent Serpentico outside and hit a Coffin Drop to the floor. That’s a spectacular move.
Allin tossed Serpentico back inside and used The Last Supper for the pin.
