AEW Dark- 1/5/2021 Review (Women Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

I have to hand it to AEW, it was a smart idea to actually televise their dark matches. Due to the pandemic their one hour or show was cut down to maybe half an hour with a match or two, but now that things are slowly opening up, it seems they have a busier card in Dark than they do on Dynamite. I decided to cover the female matches, since most of you by now should know I love Women Wrestling. I see that that the Tag Team Cup Tournament Champs, Ivelisse and Diamante defend their spot on Dark a lot, and we also have some up-and-comers that eventually make it on the main program, like Abadon, the zombie girl who is set to fight Hikaru Shida for the title very soon. Let's check the matches for the first Dark of the year.

Match 1- Nyla Rose VS Alex Gracia

Nyla is the Native Beast who defeated the first Women's Champion Riho to become the second champ. She lost the title to Hikaru Shida and also lost the rematch at AEW Full Gear. Alex Gracia, The Pink Dream, made her debut in AEW a few weeks back as she tried to beat Hikaru Shida for the title but lost.

Alex runs at Nyla and tries to fight her down quickly, but she gets shoved off easily by her larger opponent. She finally knocks her down with a dropkick to the knee, but Nyla catches her and slams her back. Nyla choked slammed her against the ring post and then clotheslined her down. Alex already looked like she was out cold so Nyla grabs her and ends it with the Beast Bomb. Nyla easily takes this squash match.

It seems this was not the first time this happened as Vickie starts chastising Alex for 'not learning her lesson the first time'. To drive the point home, Nyla brings out a table and slams Alex through it. 

Match 2- Ivelisse and Diamante VS Kilyyn King and Tesha Price

As previously mentioned, Ivelisse and Diamante were the winner of the Tag Team Cup Tournament. Not much is mentioned about Kilynn King and Tesha Price, except that they're an interesting team.

We start with Ivelisse and Kilynn, with the taller Kilynn grabbing her opponent and dropping her on her knees. She then tags in Tesha and slams her on top of Ivelisse. Tesha gets some shots in, but then she runs towards Ivelisse to miss and get caught on the ropes. This lets Diamante sneak in a cheap shot of her own, and Ivelisse grabs Tesha and slams her back into the ring. Ivelisse goes for the pin and Tesha kicks out, and Diamante gets tagged in.

Diamante smacks Tesha with a chop and several punches, and then knocks her down with a flying tackle. Tesha is thrown into the opposing corner where Diamante and Ivelisse take turns running into her. Tesha finally punches both women away but Diamante gets her in a body-to-body slam and goes for the pin. Tesha still kicks out. Diamante gets her into an armlock mixed with a chinlock as Kilynn reaches out to her partner.

Tesha fights her way out of the hold, but Diamante throws her towards her the ropes, away from her partner. As both women run towards each other, Tesha knocks down Diamante with a flying shoulder tackle, but she goes down as well. Both women tag their partners in and Ivelisse and Kilynn start trading blows. Kilynn clocks Ivelisse in the face with a roundhouse kick and Tesha follows up with a jumping instaguri to the face as well. Kilynn grabs the dazed Ivelisse in a Released German Suplex, and then drags her unconscious body over for a pin. Diamante runs in to break the pin.

Kilynn picks up Ivelisse in a Fireman's Carry, but Ivelisse manages to wrap her leg around her neck and grab onto her arm for a submission hold. Diamante tags herself in and kicks Kilynn in the midsection as Ivelisse drops off her. Diamante wraps her up in her own submission hold and Ivelisse keeps Tesha away from the action. Kilynn taps out and the team of Diamante and Ivelisse score another win.

Match 3- Vipress VS Shanna

Vipress made her AEW debut in a match against Big Swole. Shanna has been on Dynamite a few times but was out of action since February due to an injury. She recently returned this past December and defeated Tesha Price in AEW Dark. She used to wear a white outfit but recently updated it to resemble Goku's gi from Dragonball Z. 

Both women starts grappling and Shanna goes for a leglock roll-up pin early but her opponent kicks out. Shanna catches her with two arm-drags and hits her with a dropkick. Shanna goes for another hold but Vipress catches the ropes to break it. She manages to elbow Shanna in the face which gives her a chance to get some offense in. Vipress slams Shanna to the ground and starts hitting her. She then leaves her hanging on the ropes and hits her with a running boot to the side of the face.

The Vipress gets Shanna in a hold and she tries her best to fight out of it. Shanna would get up and slam Vipress, getting out of the hold. She'd then release a series of elbows and chops onto the Vipress, ending with a few running shoulder tackles and a jumping clothesline. Shanna strikes a pose and does a running dropkick onto Vipress. She picks her up with an Underhook Face Slam and pins her for the win.

Match 4- Ashley Vox VS Thunder Rosa

I've seen Ashley Vox before as a member of the Sea Stars tag team on Rise Women's Wrestling, so I was surprised to see her here. Of course Thunder Rosa has made quite a name for herself as the NWA Champion and also coming very close to taking Hikaru Shida's title, where Shida not so much as won but more like survived the encounter.

Both women start grappling each other and trying to get each other into some sort of submission hold. Rosa breaks this up by hitting Ashley with some chops. Rose gets her down with a dropkick and goes for the pin but Ashley kicks out. Rosa, however, missing with a running shoulder into the ropes and Ashley uses this as a chance to grab her arm and do an off the rope Hurricarana. The Sea Star then hits her with a running dropkick to the face. Ashley tries for a pin but Rosa kicks out.

Thunder Rosa drops Ashley onto the ropes and slams her, trying for another pin but couldn't get the win. Thunder Rosa would do a few knee drops on the fallen Reel Catch and then hit her with a running leglock, but still couldn't get the pinfall. Rosa would pick her up, upside down, and ram her back into 2 opposing ring posts before slamming her down. She then does a scissor lock around Ashley's neck while slamming elbows into her face.

 

Ashley would fight through the hold until Rosa finally let her go. Ashley would grab Rosa's shin and make her fall face first to the mat. As Thunder Rose tries to recover, Ashley charges at her but is caught by her opponent. Thunder grabs Ashley into a Tarantula Hold while hanging off the ropes, jabbing her in the ribs with her elbow. Ashley still has some fight left in her as both women start trading shots. Ashley manages to kick Rosa in the jaw which gets her down to her knees. 

Ashley manages to grab Rosa in a spinning flatliner, but couldn't keep her down for the three-count. Rosa manages to pin Ashley down and bend her spine back in an awkward and painful position, before letting her go and stomping on her back. Rosa tries to pick her up but Ashley goes for a roll up pin. Rosa kicks out but the Reel Catch tries to grab her in an arm lock. Rosa manages to pick her up and do a spinning neckbreaker, but surprisingly, her opponent is still able to kick out!

Losing her patience, Thunder Rosa picks up Ashley and slams her down with a Thunder Driver, finally laying her out for the three count. Winning the match, Thunder Rosa is set to face Dr. Britt Baker in an upcoming week of AEW Dynamite.

My Opinions- 

Well, there wasn't too much to say about the Nyla Rose squash match, except it was a squash. I did enjoy the tag-team match as I love seeing how well Ivelisse and Diamante work together. Of course, being a DBZ fan I especially enjoyed the Shanna match. It was kinda funny when Vipress started taunting her and saying 'c'mon Dragonball Z, let's go!' as she had her pressed against the ropes. Near the end I noticed Shanna did a pose that was a mix between the standard 'power up' pose from DBZ ending with Goku's Genki Dama pose, all while screaming mind you, before she did the running dropkick. I don't remember her doing this in the past before she started wearing the DBZ gi, but I'm a sucker for DBZ references.

I did like Vipress' overall look with the spikey jacket, including spikes running down her back, but this match was more of a 'welcome back' for Shanna. I do hope we get to see more of what Vipress is capable of in the future. 

The Thunder Rosa VS Ashley Vox match was the best one as both women put an excellent showing. We know that Thunder Rosa is a force to be reckoned with and had a lot of deadly holds, but Ashley Vox showed a lot of endurance as well as some cool moves of her own. I have to say it was impressive when Rosa did what looked like a Sparta Kick that send Ashley flying almost halfway across the ring. Thunder Rosa has speed, technique and power, and Britt Baker is in for a hell of a fight come Dynamite on the second night of their New Year's Bash.