By Mark Rodriguez
This is it, the final 4 tag teams will face in the semi final matches, and whoever wins will face off against each other to see who will be the first ever AEW Women Tag Team Champs! I honestly don't know how I haven't been spoiled just yet or accidentally ran into any of the women involved on social media posting either 'we won!' or 'we'll get you next time' so let me sit back and relax and watch this now before someone texts me saying "Hey Mark, did you see how so and so won that tag match?" Due to the NBA Playoffs, AEW Dynamite will be airing this Saturday Night instead of the usual Wednesday, and one of the matches will be the final match to decide this tournament. Since this will be live TV, I'll try my best with the play by play. Anyways, let's continue on to the road to get there.
Semi Finals- Big Swole & Lil Swole VS The Nightmare Sisters- (Brandi Rhodes & Allie with Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall)
After Brandi is done showing off that she is the only woman on the roster to have an AEW action figure, the match finally begins as she squares off against Lil Swole. Both of them get into several arm and leglocks and try to pin each other. After a few 2-counts from both women trying to end this with a quick pinfall, Brandi tags Allie in. Allie kicks Lil Swole in the breadbasket and grabs her into an arm lock. Swole reverses this into an arm bar. Allie is flung towards the Swole corner, and both women take turns dancing and kicking into her.
Lil Swole suplexes Allie into the mat. As Allie rolls out, QT Marshall watches over her while holding one of the Brandi action figures (Brandi had 2). Lil Swole does a Suicide Dive but tackled down QT instead, Brandi runs in t make her sure action figure is OK, completely ignoring Marshall. Allie runs into Lil Swole, knocking her down and then rolls her back into the ring.
The Nightmare Sisters take turns kicking the hell out of Lil Swole. Allie hits her with a couple of Knee Lifts and then tags Brandi in, who lays out Lil Swole with a Superkick to the jaw. Lil Swole is pinned but she kicks out and tries to tag in Big Swole, however Brandi pulls her away before a tag is made. After Brandi starts punching her, Lil Swole finally gets some offense in, trying to make her opponent submit with an Armbar. Brandi escapes and is able to pull Lil Swole back to her corner where she tags Allie in.
The Nightmare Sisters continue to beat up on Lil Swole, all while Allie taunts Big Swole, who up until now has still not been a part of the match. The ref keeps Big Swole out while Brandi grabs her partner's hair, keeping her from getting away. The Nightmare Sisters take Lil Swole down and hit her with a Double Elbow. Lil Swole finally hits Brandi with a suplex which allows her the time to tag in Big Swole. Brandi also tags in Allie.
Big Swole runs in and runs past Allie to do a knee on Brandi's action figure (that was on the turnbuckle for some reason?) Big Swole knocks down Allie repeatedly and then picks her up with a body slam, all while Brandi is freaking out over her action figure. Allie kicks out, which surprises Big Swole. Big Swole goes in to tag in her partner, and quickly hits Allie with a Superkick. Lil Swole grabs the dazed Allie and tosses her back with a Fallaway Slam. Lil Swole does another suplex and goes for the pin. Brandi runs in to break it up and Big Swole tosses Brandi out of the ring. As Allie struggles to get back up, Lil Swole hits her with a Superkick and Big Swole follows with a Headbutt that knocks her back down.
Big Swole grabs onto Allie, ready to finish it when suddenly Dr. Britt Baker (who is still injured from a previous match with Hikaru Shida and is moved around in a wheelchair by Rebel) who has some beef with her. Allie grabs Lil Swole and hits her with a falling elbow slam and pins her. Brandi grabs Big Swole's leg to keep her from stopping this and the Nightmare Sisters win the match!! Dr. Britt Baker and Rebel drive away before Big Swole can catch up to them.
The Nightmare Sisters celebrate their big win (though Brandi is more excited about her AEW action figure) and Big Swole is furious. Brandi and Allie move on to the Final Match!
Semi Finals- Ivelisse & Diamante VS Tay Conti & Anna Jay
Once again Anna Jay is escorted to the ring by the entire Dark Order, including Mr. Brodie Lee. As everyone gets to the ring, the match starts with Tay Conti and Ivelisse squaring off. After trading a few shots, Tay gets Ivelisse in an armbar, as she is literally hanging off her arm outside the ring. The ref breaks it up and Tay runs Ivelisse right into Anna Jay's boot. Anna Jay and Diamante are tagged in. Ann Jay manages to get Diamante in a headlock and after she escaped, she knocks her down with a shoulder tackle. Diamante tries to go in for an attack and Anna Jay swings her to the mat.
After Anna Jay does some more moves, Diamante goes for the eyes. This buys her time to tag in Ivelisse who hits with her both boots as she gets into the ring. While the ref is distracted, Diamante lands another kick to Anna Jay. With Anna Jay in the opposing corner, Ivelisse and Diamante would take turns kicking her down. After delivering more kicks while Anna Jay was on her knees, Diamante goes for a pin, but the potential Dark Order member kicks out and reached out for Conti.
Diamante taunts Conti and as the ref keeps her out of the match, Anna Jay is sent towards the ropes where Ivelisse hits her a strong kick to the face. Diamante grabs the dazed Anna Jay into a Snap Suplex and tries to go for the pin, which she escapes. After some more kicks and another pin attempt, Diamante drags Ann Jay back to her corner and tags in Ivelisse who continues with the punishment.
Ivelisse uses leg trips, slamming Anna Jay both face-first and then on her back before trying for a pin. Anna Jay kicks out and Ivelisse grabs her into a submission hold as the ref checks to see if she will give up. Regardless, Anna Jay manages to wrestle her way out of it and clocks Ivelisse in the face. Anna Jay tries to go for a spinkick but due to the submission hold wearing her out, she falls facefirst. She still manages to hit Ivelisse with a dropkick and both women are down.
Diamante and Conti are tagged in and compared to Diamante, Conti is the fresher opponent. She quickly takes down both Diamante and Ivelisse and nails Diamante with a Knee Lift to the face. She then grabs her and spins her around for a Side Slam. She kicks Diamante in the face and goes for the pin but Ivelisse breaks it up. The four women now trade blows with each other, and Diamante runs to grab Conti for a Cutter, just as Ivelisse runs and slams Anna Jay down for a Cutter as well.
Ivelisse throws Anna Jay out of the ring so now both women can focus on Tay Conti. Diamante grabs onto Conti as Ivelisse helps vault her into a backwards flip. Diamante lands hard, pinning down Conti for the 3 count and Ivelisse keeps Anna Jay away. Ivelisse and Diamante will be facing the Nightmare Sisters this Saturday!
The backstage interviews showed Brandi trying to hog all the glory, even though Allie was the one that won the match for them. Ivelisse and Diamante show fierce determination to win no matter what.
My Opinions-
Color me surprised for both matches. I kinda see the Nightmare Sisters as a less than serious tag team. It's obvious Brandi is super full of herself and Allie is trying her best to put up with it. Then you have whole deal with Brandi's obsession over her AEW action figures, I was sure that would have cost them the match. I guess in a way it almost did, which is why Allie had to pick up the slack and get serious near the end. But when you compare these two to how much more of a cohesive unit the 'Swole Nation' is, I really expecting Big and Lil Swole to win. It was a great match full of some good moves and comedic moments. I really loved Allie's elbow slam move she used to win, which I hope she uses as a Finisher. But yeah, I really thought the Swoles were gonna win.
Of course we can't forget that their win still had a lot to do with Dr Britt Baker interfering. You have to give her credit, despite her energy, she has done her best to stay within the AEW public eye and she's become a pretty good heel. I know she had beef with Swole before, but considering she has not been seen in the previous match, I have forgotten all about her and didn't think she would interfere tonight.
The second match could have gone either way, but I guess due to my own bias towards Conti, I really wanted her team to win. Anna Jay put up a good fight, she was really carrying most of the match for her team and showing a strong determination to not give up no matter what. The commentary kept implying her involvement with the Dark Order might have upped her skills. Then when Conti was finally tagged in she started wrecking Diamante and Ivelisse with all these amazing moves. I thought for sure they were going to win. I have to say Diamante and Ivelisse both have some good moves and deadly kicks. The Double Cutters at the end and that backflip move which commentary called Sliced Bread was even epic way to end the match.
The final match will be between the Nightmare Sisters and Diamante and Ivelisse. Right now Diamante and Ivelisse look like they're out for blood. Like the Swoles, they are a tight unit while Allie is eventually going to have to get sick of Brandi's antics. It's really hard to say who will win. After tonight, it really could go either way. As for Conti, who knows? Like Rachael Ellering, she could have been a guest... but I really wish AEW would sign both of them. Like NOW.
Also, I wish they would make the AEW Unrivaled Action Figures easier to find. How rare they are is really starting to piss me off. I almost feel like Brandi dancing around with two of her action figures is adding salt to the wound. I may not be in a rush to buy HER action figure in particular, but I'd obvious settle if the only figure on the shelf was hers.... and here she is prancing around with TWO of them as if they were so easy to find. Also, who's stupid idea was to make them Walmart Exclusive? That means I can't even find them on Amazon or anywhere else. Sorry, side rant, but the combination of Brandi as well as the AEW Unrivaled commercials is really starting to bother me when our local Walmart is still acting like 'what's an AEW? You mean the root beer?"
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