By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net contributor Rich Bailin attended Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite in Baltimore, Maryland at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena and sent the following report on the AEW Dark Elevation tapings.
Last night my son, my youngest brother, and I attended AEW Dynamite. Up until last night, I had only attended ROH shows at this arena, so it was interesting to see AEW here. The venue was definitely a sell out or at least very close. And with a few exceptions (ROH Women’s Title match, end of Rampage) the crowd was hot all night and that includes during the Elevation tapings.
Prior to arriving I bought my son an Orange Cassidy meet and greet which got us into a shorter line and into the venue right at 5:30pm. The meet and greet went really quick and was very organized. Having gone to ROH meet and greets in the past, this was much more organized. We had already finished by 5:45pm and were told that we could go to our seats. It was also nice to hit the merch stand without a line also.
When we went to our seats, a security guard motioned to us and I thought he was telling us to leave because we were there too early. We were about to leave and wait, but he called us down to him and said every show he allows a few kids to get a picture in front of the ring and asked if my son would like to do that. That was very nice and something we have wanted to do in the past but were never able to. This show was already becoming a memorable experience before it even started. We would definitely do a meet and greet again as the convenience of getting into the arena and not waiting in the longer line was well worth it.
On to the tapings.
Mark Henry and Paul Wight were on commentary and Justin Roberts was the ring announcer,
1. The Dark Order’s Evil Uno, Alex Reynolds, Alan “5” Angels and 10 beat four local wrestlers. Unfortunately, the only one who I recognized for sure was Brandon Scott. Dark Order won after a double team move by Uno and 10. The finish may have been botched, as the victim landed hard on his head and neck.
2. Abadon beat Emi Sakura. A back and forth match with Sakura getting more offense on Abadon than most, but Abadon won with the Cemetery Driver.
3. Sonny Kiss beat Peter Avalon (w/Ryan Nemeth). Nemeth had green hair. Kiss won after a roll up after pushing Avalon into Nemeth, who was on the apron.
4. John Silver beat Tony Deppen. Deppen appearing was a surprise and he did get more offense in than a typical showcase match, but in the end Silver won with the Spin Doctor.
5. Max Caster beat Cheeseburger. Cheeseburger got a massive reaction, which was matched by the reaction for Caster. Cheeseburger also got some offense, but Caster won with the Mic drop (if memory serves).
At this point, Justin Roberts said the crowd was so hot that they are going to do something different and turn off the cameras. He said the next matches were just for us and it was now Baltimore Elevation.
6. Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero) defeated Skye Blue. Rose won after a Beast Bomb.
We had about 15 minutes left prior to the start of Dynamite and we were expecting another match, but there may have been some technical issues. It seemed like they were having some minor issues with the sound and Khantron. Jim Ross even came out to no music instead of his usual Boomer Sooner. (Editor’s Note: There was reportedly a brief power outage of some kind).
Tony Khan came out with a minute left and said he would be back later. He said he was happy to bring Dynamite to Baltimore for the first time, and also Rampage to Baltimore later. Oh yeah, he is the new owner of Baltimore’s own Ring of Honor.
After Dynamite ended, Justin Roberts asked us if we remembered we were going to have another match but nothing happened. Well, we are getting that match now and it was the main event of Elevation (so I guess Justin Roberts is a no good liar lol).
7. Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland defeated QT Marshall and Nick Comoroto (w/Aaron Solo). A longer and competitive match. It might have gone a little longer than necessary but no one was really complaining.
A very fun night of AEW action. It was a very long night also, but that was to be expected. The crowd was hot the majority of the night even if that didn’t always translate well on television. Hopefully Khan keeps his promise and AEW comes back to the area sooner than later. While the location of Chesapeake Employers Arena is very convenient and it was great to finally see it full and loud, my hope is that when they return it is at the larger Royal Farms Arena, which is in downtown Baltimore and is currently undergoing renovations or I suspect this event may have been held there.
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