AEW Dark- 2/2/2021 Review (Women Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

It looks like we got five matches this time around. The only person I haven't seen in action yet is Leyla, so let's see how that match will go. Let's check it out as women like Tay Conti and Thunder Rosa continue to rise in the ranks. 

Match 1- Tay Conti VS Tesha Price- 

Both women try to grapple each other and Conti grabs Tesha in reverse headlock and arm lock, and then slams her backwards into the mat. Conti grabs Tesha's arms and does a Suplex Bridge, but Tesha pushes her off and tries to go for a traditional pin. Conti kicks out and Tesha runs at her with a flying kick that her opponent brushes aside. Conti tries to get her into another complex hold but Tesha runs her into the ringpost. Tesha does a cartwheel and then kicks and punches Conti while she's still up against the ringpost.

Tesha takes time out to taunt Anna Jay, who is outside the ring and Conti grabs her hair and delivers a few forearms in her face. Tesha tries to kick her but Conti grabs her foot. Tesha tries to punch her but Conti gets her towards the ropes and does a knee bar on the ropes as she hangs off her leg. The ref breaks it up but the damage is done.

Conti pulls Tesha so she's hanging off the ropes and goes for a punt kick, but her opponent dodges and tries to go for a roll-up pin. Tesha rocks Conti's face with a kick, and Conti returns the favor. Both women angrily run at each other and slam each other down with slingblade attempts. With both women, the ref begins to count. Tesha gets up first and picks up Conti but gets kicked in the face. Conti keeps it up with several running clotheslines, then she grabs her arms and gives her three judo throws to the mat.

With Tesha dazed, Conti runs at her with a high knee to the face. Tesha tries to run at her but crashes into the turnbuckle as Conti slips out of the way. Conti leaps off the turnbuckle and lands behind Tesha, knocking her down with a kick to the face. Conti then grabs Tesha and says 'you're done' as she swings her around and slams her knee into her face. Tay Conti defeated Tesha with the Tay-K-O and takes the win.

Match 2- Thunder Rosa VS Dani Jordyn

Both women go in for the grapple as Rose slips behind Dani and slams her facefirst into the mat. After both women try to gain control with headlocks, Dani charges towards Rosa and gets swung to the mat with an Arm Drag. Dani runs her at her and is sent down with a second Arm Drag. Dani gets up and runs at her opponent again, this time getting kicked by Rose in the mid-section then getting bodyslammed into the mat. Rosa runs off the ropes and does a sit up senton and goes for the pin. Dani kicks out.

Dani crawls over to the ropes to regroup and Rose runs at her with a flying elbow to the the face. Rosa runs at her again but this time Dani moves, so she elbows the turnbuckle by mistake. This gives Dani the opening to run and hit her with an uppercut. Dani grabs Rose and rolls with her to the mat and hits her with a dropkick to the face. She goes for the pin but Rosa kicks out. As Rosa hangs onto the ropes, Dani goes for her book and tries to use it somehow against Rose but the ref stops her. As she throws the book away to return to the match, Rosa dropkicks her in the face. 

Dani gets Rosa against the turnbuckle and hits her twice. As she backs up to run towards her. Rosa trips her so she hits the turnbuckle facefirst. Rosa runs into her, then climbs on the rope and swings both knees into her chest. With Danni down, Rosa runs at her with another dropkick. Dani manages to get Rosa hanging on the ropes again, where she is able to grab onto her head and slam her facefirst into the mat. Dani is unable to get the pin. Rosa picks her up and powerbombs her, finally getting the win.

Match 3- Leyla Hirsch VA Katalina Perez

Right off the bat, Leyla tries to get Katalina into an armbar, but she goes for the ropes to avoid it. Leyla proceeds to grab Katalina and just slam her down 3 times in a row as the QueenPin tries to get away. Katalina finally knocks her down and runs at her with an elbow to the face. Leyla escapes the pin but the QueenPin runs at her, throwing elbows and forearms, trying to keep her down.

Leyla manages to hit the QueenPin with a running knee to the face. Katalina gets up and tries to run at her opponent but she gets grabbed and slammed to the mat, right into the armbar. Katalina quickly taps out and Leyla earns herself a quick win. 

Match 4- Ivelisse and Diamante VS Vertvixen and Jazmin Allure

Ivelisse and Diamante run at both women and grab them, both jumping off the ropes and tossing them with armdrags. Diamante throws Vertvixen out so both women can team up on Jazmin. Ivelisse tries to pick up Jazmin but she gets out of it and kicks her down. Jazmin keeps her opponent down with a dropkick. Jazmin runs into Ivelisse and tags Vertvixen in, who also runs into her and then sends her rolling to the mat with an armdrag. Vertvixen hits Ivelisse with several kicks until she tries to go for a punt kick. Ivelissse catches her leg and slams her down to the mat. 

Ivelisse sets Vertvixen on the ropes and tags Diamante in. Ivelisse kicks Vertivixen across the back and Diamante grabs her for a German Suplex. Vertvixen kicks out and trades shots with Diamante. Diamante tags Ivelisse and her partner lays straight on the ropes with her boots out so Diamante can swing Vertvixen's face straight into those boots.

With Vertvixen down, the Tag Team Cup Winners kick her at the same time. Ivelisse grabs Vertvixen for a suplex bridge but she kicks out. Diamante is tagged in and both women chop Vertvixen down. Ivelisse is tagged back in and she grabs Vertvixen in a submission hold. Vertvixen tries to get up and fight out of it, but Ivelisse kicks her back down to her knees and changes the hold into a straightjacket hold. 

Ivelisse whips Vertvixen towards the ropes, but she is able to stop herself and comes back with a kick. She then slams Ivelisse down with a swinging neckbreaker. Both women manage to tag in their partners and Jazmin runs around, knocking Diamante down three times with a jumping clothesline and also socking Ivelisse in the face. Jazmin hits her with a flipping neckbreaker but couldn't get the pin. 

Jazmin slams Diamante with a backbreaker and runs over to sock Ivelisse out again. She tags in Vertvixen and they both kick Diamante around. Vertvixen goes for the pin but Ivelisse jumps in to break it. Vertvixen and Jazmin both get ready to toss Diamante at the same time, but she stops them and throws them into each other. Diamante then swings Vertvixen out of the ring and the Tag Team Cup Winners both hit Jazmin with knees to the face. They both pick her up and slam her down, then roll her back to her knees so they can both kick her in the face at the same time. With this Ivelisse scores the pin over Jazmin and the team of Ivelisse and Diamante get the win.

Match 5- Alex Gracia VS Red Velvet

Both women grapple, trying to control each other by attempted wristlocks and arm holds. Neither could get a good grip on the other for a hold until Alex manages to get Velvet down with an armdrag and dropping an elbow onto that same arm. Velvet manages to break free and grab Alex's arm, going for the ropes and jumping off, sending her opponent flying with a twisted armdrag. Alex whips Velvet into the corner, but she moves out of the way before Alex would run and smack herself against the ringpost. Velvet would take this chance to land some kicks.

Alex manages to sock Velvet and throw her towards the ropes. Velvet gets out of the way as Alex runs and gets caught in the ropes. Velvet takes this chance to land an axe kick across of the back of her head. Velvet goes for a sunset flip but Alex gets out of that and hits her with a dropkick to the face. Alex takes a moment to pose and then runs towards the ropes, grabbing Velvet's arm and hanging off it and the ropes.  

Alex takes some time to imitate Rd Velvet's pot stirring pose and then rolls of the ropes, nailing the fallen Velvet with a rolling senton. Velvet kicks out of the pin and Alex grabs her in a reverse gut wrench. Velvet managed to grab Alex in a jaw breaker and then start unleashing some punches and kicks, ending with a spinkick to the jaw. Velvet slams Alex down with a variation of the Bulldog and then does a standing moonsault press, but her opponent still kicked out of the pin. 

Alex hangs onto the ropes while Velvet does her pot stirring gesture. She then runs at her, slamming both knees to the back of the head. As Alex staggers to her feet, Velvet runs with a dropkick to the side of the head and gets the pin to win the match. 

My opinions-

Tay is always fun to watch, and she always cool moves and submissions. By now I'm getting used to some of her bag of tricks, including leaping off the turnbuckle to avoid an attack, the triple judo slam while holding onto the opponent's arm and now the Tay-K-O. Even though she is not officially with the Dark Order yet, that we know of, she always does come out with Anna Jay, -1 and the rest of the group. Tesha did ok, I was surprised to see Conti being the one to get a swift kick to the face, and I liked when both women were down for the count. After that though, she never really stood a chance. Tay continues to rise in the ranks.

The match between Thunder Rosa and Dani Jordyn was alright. Dani gave Rosa a decent challenge, but I knew Rosa wouldn't lose before her big match against Britt Baker coming up. I don't quite get the gimmick with the book though or what exactly Dani was going to do with it before the ref stopped her. 

Leyla was pretty impressive. Katalina was a tad taller than her and looks like she weighs around the same and Leyla was able to just grab her and slam her repeatedly as if she were nothing. I was surprised the match was so quick though. I'm eager to see Leyla keep moving up the ranks. 

Ivelisse and Diamante are always awesome and very dominant. Red Velvet is also full of energy and fun to watch, though Alex gave her quite a match. 

As this goes on though, I'm starting to get a feel for the AEW Dark Women's Roster but it's starting to be obvious who they're building up and who is just there to help them do it. Thunder Rosa, Shanna and Tay Conti are always gonna win. The only match I didn't know who would win just by seeing the title card was Leyla and Katalina, cause I didn't know who Leyla was...but once I saw Leyla's brute strength, I got the idea she was gonna win.

I don't know, maybe to mix it up a little, let's see Tesha Price go against Jazmin Allure or maybe Vertvixen vs Marti Daniels. At least then I would literally have no idea who would win. Plus those poor girls need to be scoring some wins, so let's see them face each other.