Tag: starboy charlie

It’s Monday night and you know what that means: an episode of AEW Dark: Elevation taped last week at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, CA, with the wonderful Paul Wight and Matt Menard on the call.

Emi Sakura defeated Zyra

Sakura started the match with a surfboard submission. The queen continued with chops and slaps when Zyra avoided one and countered into a DDT. But, Sakura got back up and used part of her outfit to whip Zyra. After that, she went up to the top, proclaimed herself “your highness,” and hit a moonsault for the win.

Jake Hager (w/ Angelo Parker) defeated Levi Shapiro

I used to think Michael Cole used to be biased toward heels back in the early 2010s when he was doing that weird gimmick in a glass box. But this commentary job had the epitome of bias with Hager’s JAS teammate on the call.

Hager got started by taking off the hat that he loves so dearly. He hit Shapiro with hard right hands in the corner and started yelling at him to quit. When Shapiro tried to fight out, Hager took him down and locked in the triangle choke for the win. 

Marina Shafir defeated Mighty Mayra

Shafir made her way out to ringside where she sat down on the ring steps and took off her shoes and socks. She actually threw her socks out into the crowd and Wight commented, “I bet someone in the crowd really appreciates that” to which Menard replied, “A real pervert I bet!” Hilarious.

Shafir let Mayra put her in a headlock who tried to turn it into a crucifix, but Shafir just threw her around like a ragdoll. A judo throw was followed by some shadowboxing and the crowd chanted “put some shoes on.” Mayra tried to get the crowd behind her and get back into it, but Shafir lifted her up onto her shoulders and started squeezing until she tapped.

Brian Cage (w/ Prince Nana) defeated Jack Cartwheel

GCW and AAA regular Cartwheel was making his Dark Elevation debut here and looked absolutely fantastic in doing so. After he did some, you guessed it, cartwheels, Cage used his power to turn the match around. He slammed Cartwheel onto the apron and chopped him on the outside. Back in the ring, Cage used him to do some curls. Cartwheel, though, avoided a few clotheslines and swept Cage’s legs with a really impressive move you would only see on American Ninja Warrior.

Cartwheel went straight to the top for a senton, but Cage caught him and planted him for a near fall. When Cage went for the Drill Claw, Cartwheel flipped out and went for the surprise pin but Cage kicked out. Cartwheel went to the top again for a shooting star press, but Cage moved out of the way and locked in his new submission for the win to end an awesome match.

The Butcher & The Blade defeated Midas Kreed & Vinnie Massaro

Massaro started with Blade, who was absolutely brutal in this match. When Massaro had to fight out of some chops to get Kreed in the match, he suffered the same fate. Butcher dropped a leg that would make Terry Bollea sweat. After some more domination, Butcher and Blade hit Kreed with the Full Death to get the quick win.

ROH Women’s Champion Athena defeated Inder Mundi in a Proving Ground match

This was another ROH-style title eliminator match where if Mundi beat Athena or lasted long enough for a draw, she earned a future title shot.

Mundi tried to get it done quickly with a roll-up, but Athena kicked out, fought into the corner, and destroyed Mundi with a right hand. Athena started to question if her competition is the best she could get. 

The ROH Women’s champion started hitting repeated clotheslines in each corner and finished it with double knees. Athena then caught Mundi off the ropes for a spinning back suplex and a choke for the win. After the match, Athena laid down her belt like usual and drove poor Mundi’s head face-first into it. There was no help for the aggrieved this week.

Best Friends defeated Olumide & Starboy Charlie

I loved this match. Not only is Charlie another GCW regular but, no offense to Danhausen or Orange Cassidy, I love the classic Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta tag team.

The crowd was chanting for Best Friends when the bell rang. Beretta started with Olumide who was absurdly athletic. He countered an Irish whip and hit a dropkick by jumping an estimated 50 feet in the air both times. Charlie, wearing nothing but boots and overalls, got the tag and immediately took off the overalls. Taylor came in and did the same thing. Olumide tried to help his teammate, but Best Friends double-teamed both guys until Olumide recovered and knocked Taylor off the ropes.

Charlie hit Beretta with a sunset flip for a near fall, but their offense didn’t last long as Best Friends threw the two into each other and hit them both with piledrivers for the win. A second hug followed the bell.

Lucha Brothers (w/ Alex Abrahantes) defeated The Wingmen

The Wingmen have a very underrated theme song with “The Walk of Fame.” Awesome song, but not many beat the Lucha Brothers’ “Zero Miedo.”

The featured match started with Rey Fenix and “Pretty” Peter Avalon. For some reason, Avalon called for Penta to tag in, but right when he did, he turned around and let Ryan Nemeth take over. Penta called Avalon a word I can’t repeat here and Nemeth tagged him right back in. Avalon actually got the better of Penta while Nemeth attacked Fenix on the outside. When they went to double-team Penta, he destroyed each with a superkick and a sling blade, respectfully. 

This match started going a million miles a minute. Fenix and Penta hit both Wingmen with more superkicks and tried pinning them both, but they kicked at two. Each team got outsmarted at every turn, but I don’t know if I would use the word “smart” when I refer to The Wingmen.

While Nemeth was holding up Fenix for a move, Penta tripped Avalon and drove his crotch into the ring post that led to Avalon letting out a scream that only he could. This helped set up an insane double stunner by the Lucha Brothers to win the match.