Mark's Review on AEW Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw Night 1 Quarter Finals | 8/3/20

By Mark Rodriguez

I've always been a fan of female wrestlers, especially nowadays since they are taken more seriously for their in-ring skill and awesome moves and not just their looks. Naturally, I do like how great someone like Alexa Bliss looks in their in-ring gear, but I also like seeing Cherry Bomb and Rose Mary beat the living crap out of each other while making me believe they actually can. I've taken a look at WWE's Mae Young Classic in the past but sadly, for some reason it seems to have been discontinued. It introduced me to a few ladies I follow to this day like Toni Storm, Priscilla Kelly, Deonna Purrazzo and Taynara Conti, and if WWE ever wants me back, making a third Mae Young Classic is the way to do it. So now AEW has their own Deadly Draw Women's Tournament in which the winners will be the first Women's Tag Team Champs. Being a big fan of AEW and being introduced to more up-and-comer female wrestlers, I just had to check to check it out.

The first episode was shown in Youtube this Monday, so I caught it after work. I'm assuming they will hold a match for this also during this week's episode of AEW Dynamite, so I'll try to keep track. Well, here we go. 

What's Taynara Conti doing in AEW?!

We are introduced to Tony Schiavone and indie star Veda Scott as the hosts as the classic wrestler Madusa comes in to welcome everyone to The Deadly Draw. 

The Nightmare Sisters, Allie and Brandi are seen backstage during an earlier segment where they have to choose different colored chips to decide who they were partner up against, despite already being a tag team. Brandi got a red chip and while the interviewer was distracted, Allie snuck out a red chip as well so they can stay together.

Penelope Ford got the blue chip. Mel steps in, showing she had the other blue chip, so they're ready to kick some ass.

First Qualifier- Mel and Penelope Ford (with Kip Sapien) VS The Nightmare Sisters (Brandi Rhodes and Allie with Dustin Rhodes and QT Marshall)

Allie and Ford started things off, Ford getting her opponent in a headlock until she could finally fight her way out. Allie hit her with a running knee to the face and went for the pin but it was too soon to end it there. She tagged Brandi in and as both women threw Ford against the ropes, they didn't see Mel sneak in a tag. The Nightmares do a double elbow drop on Ford and Brandi goes for the pin, but Mel having been tagged in, breaks it up with a stomp.

Mel beats the hell out of Brandi and rubs her face all over the mat. Brandi manages to get away and tags Allie in, both women now keeping Mel at bay and away from her partner. Mel slams Allie into the ring post and Ford gets tagged back in. Allie manages to sock Ford in the face, but as she runs for another attack, Kip pulls his wife out of the ring to safety. 

Allie gets out of the ring and in Kip's face for interfering and QT Marshall steps up face Kip as well. Ford tries to sucker punch Allie during this is going on, but she avoids it and shoves her back into the ring. Suddenly Mel came in with a Big Boot to Allie's face taking her by surprise. Now with Allie dazed, Mel rolls her back into the ring where Ford is able to pick her up and drop her on her knees and go for the pin. Allie kicks out but she is too far fro Brandi for a tag. Ford starts choking Allie up against the ropes, including a move where she lays Allie on the middle rope and flips her forward so her neck gets caught in that same rope.

Mel and Ford take turns beating on Allie until she tries to go for a roll up pin, but Ford kicks out. After a second pin attempt, Ford kicks out again and tries to pin Allie this time, who also escapes. At this point Ford is losing her cool, and after an exchange of blows, she manages to do her Matrix Dodge to avoid an punch from Allie and hits her with a stunner. Mel jumps off the top turnbuckle to land on Allie, but she gets out of the way and finally manages to tag Brandi in, as now Mel is reeling in pain from missing her target. 

Brandi tries to knock down Mel with 2 lariats, but even when dazed the larger woman won't fall. Brandi finally hits her with a Big Boot and a Superkick, and takes her down with a Brandi Cutter. Ford comes in to break up a pin and Allie comes in to attack her. The ref is so busy dealing with Ford and Allie that he didn't see Mel grab Allie in a Choke Bomb and slam her down for a pin. As the other 2 women roll off the mat, the ref turns to do the 3-count but Brandi manages to kick out. 

Kip argues with the ref, and when QT tries to butt in, he gets laid out for his trouble. While Mel is distracted, Allie rakes her across the eyes. This gives Brandi the perfect chance to Spear Mel and down and get her for the 3-count. The Nightmare Sisters win the match!

We go back to earlier backstage as Nyla Rose got a purple chip. Ariane Andrew is her partner. Anna Jay got a black chip, and none other than Tay Conti also got a black chip, making them partners.

Second Qualifier Match- Tay Conti & Ann Jay (With the Dark Order) VS Ariane Andrew & Nyla Rose (with Vickie Guerrero)

Anna Jay made quite an entrance as she was escorted by The Dark Order, including Brodie Lee himself. While they soon left, it was clear she had no joined them. 

Ariane and Anna Jay start off the match, taunting each other and showing each other attitude and disrespect. Ariane slammed Anna Jay down and hit her with a split kick and went for a pin to which her opponent kicked out of. Ariane then grabbed her and went in to tag Nyla Rose, but she refused the tag and gestured 'you got this'. Anna Jay went for a roll up pin during this confusion but Ariane kicked out.

Tay gets tagged in and she starts attacking Anna Jay. Nyla finally decides to step in and grabs both Tay and Anna Jay by the neck and slams them both down. Ariane gets back up and now Nyla accepts her tag.

Now it's Nyla Rose vs Tay Conti, and the Native Beast is quick to overpower her. Conti delivers some kicks but they are ineffective. Nyla picks her up but Conti does manage to slip out of her grasp. She kicks her legs to bring Nyla down and kicks her in her face. She goes for a pin which Nyla breaks, so she tags Anna Jay who delivers a dropkick to the Beast. Anna tries her own pin but Nyla breaks it. The Native Beast catches Anna as she tries to run at her and slams her down, breaking her momentum. 

Nyla knocks Anna Jay down with a Lariat and tags Ariane in. Ariane gets her up against the ropes and hits her with a running crossbody. Anna Jay kicks out of 3 pinfall attempts and so Ariane just takes over to her corner so she can tag in Nyla. Nyla proceeds to literally throw Anna Jay across the ring. 

Anna Jay is quick to kick Nyla in the stomach and then kick her legs out fro under her. She runs across the ring and trips Nyla up with a clothesline to her knee. With Nyla down, Anna Jay continues to target her legs, with Ariane unable to do anything about it. Conti is tagged back in and she continues to kick the hell out of Nyla's legs. She takes Nyla to the edge of the ring where she performs a leg lock, hanging off her leg to cause more pain. 

Anna Jay is tagged in to continue attacking the leg but this time Nyla managed to clock her in the face. She hits her with a drop kick, to which Anna is able to tag Conti back in. Nyla lifts Conti and brings her down with a Crucifix Slam, but injured her knee in the process due to all the attacks she endured. 

Ariene is tagged in and she is on fire, taking Conti down with her speed. She slams Conti down and goes for the pin but Anna Jay comes in to break it up. Conti and Anna Jay prepare to backward slam Ariene together, but Nyla comes in to catch her partner. The Native Beast knocks both women down with a double lariat but she is now showing a bad limp. 

Ariene continues to fight Conti, hitting her with a Snap Suplex and pinning her with a Split Kick. Anna Jay comes in and grabs Ariene with a Rolling NeckBreaker. Anna Jay goes for the pin and gets the win!

Nyla Rose acts like she's going to help Ariane up and whatnot, and then she slams her back down and limps off. Vickie Guerrero approves. Nyla and Vickie, despite losing, talk smack and leave. Tay Conti, despite beind the opponent, helps Ariane up and makes sure she's OK and they hug.

Backstage, Brandi and Allie are interviewed about their win and Brandi talks a big game... about herself. Allie reminds her than she did her part too, but Brandi continued to brag about being the first woman to have an AEW action figure and her Instagram following. She tells Allie that since she's rubbing elbows with the grand manager, she can get her own action figure too. Both women walk off but you can tell Allie isn't fully on board.

Tay and Anna Jay are also interviewed. Tay says they're the prettiest and deadliest team so they are gonna win this. Anna Jay is asked about her grand entrance with the Dark Order and she says to keep things just about this tournament. Both women are pumped to win and seem to make a great team.

Opinions-

Tournaments are always fun, and the idea of them being picked at random is extra fun. I do hope they continue to mix in AEW women with some fresh new faces and more surprises. I was not expecting to see Tay Conti here. Hopefully she's signed after this tournament cause I'd love to see more of her.

The first match was good and felt like a decent warm-up for what's to come. It was natural for Mel and Ford to get along since they're both heels. Now that Ford has been getting more matches she seems to be getting better in the ring. The Nightmare Sisters are also kinda/sorta heelish, but it still caught me off guard to see Allie rake Mel across the eyes which would lead to the win. I was also surprised that when Mel choke-slammed Brandi, the ref missed that because he was busy with the other women in the ring, something that usually happens to the babyfaces. Mel was pretty cool, though she barely had time to really overpower anyone or do any super slams other than that choke slam. I assume she mostly wrestles on AEW Dark, but I do hope to see more of her as well. 

The second match was awesome, mostly by Conti having such a strong debut. Despite the size difference, she was willing to charge right at Nyla Rose, even though she would get knocked down. While Anna Jay seemed a bit like the weaker link, it was cool to see that after Conti kicked out Nyla's legs, she would soon follow suit and do damage of her own. Adriene had some cool moves of her own and some impressive speed. Still, it was quite impressive to see Conti and Anna Jay cut Nyla down to size, and that surprise finish where Anna hit Adriene with the Rolling Neckbreaker while she was in the middle of pinning Conti with the Split Kick, that was just awesome and a great way to score the win.

One thing I did notice about Conti though, was that she dropped that thing where she would bare her teeth and lick them, kinda in a savage manner. I remember her doing that every 5 minutes or so during the Mae Young Classic. Even though she kept the same level of intensity, I noticed she didn't do that, not even once. I do miss the black belt being part of her attire though.

It looks like this is going to be every Monday. With so many potential women wrestlers we might see here, like Shanna, Kris Stratlander, Big Swole, possibly Hikaru Shida who is the current Women's Champ, I still hope we see a few surprises here and there as well. I can't wait for next Monday.