AEW Women's World Championship Elimination Tournament 1 Round 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

So the new AEW Women's tournament is divided into brackets of Japan and America, with the Japanese bracket being shown on Youtube while the American bracket is shown on Dynamite. I'm a but confused how this works because as you'll see, the Japanese bracket has several matches all in one go and I assume Dynamite only showed one match. I guess we'll have to see. Now in this case due to the number of matches we're reviewing, I'll post mostly my thoughts on each rather than the play-by-play. 

Match 1- US Bracket- Feb 10, 2021 (AEW Dynamite)- Legit Leyla Hirsch VS Thunder Rosa

Pretty decent match, it was cool to see Thunder Rosa contend with someone that has as many technical submission moves as she does, and she even ate two of her German Suplexes. In the end Rosa powered through as Leyla tried to grab her in an armlock but Rosa picked her up with that same arm and slammed her down. Then she hit her with a power bomb and that was all she wrote. 

It's a shame, but you kinda knew Thunder Rosa wasn't gonna go out so quickly. I would have liked to have seen Leyla face someone else and advance. Sadly it looks like the TNT reruns don't include picture-in-picture so I missed a lot over that longer commercial block. I don't know how they decide which match gets an ad break and which matches gets aired uninterrupted but I wish they'd do that with that with the tournament matches.

Match 2- Japan Bracket- February 15, 2021- Yuka Sakazaki VS Mei Suruga

We haven't seen Yuka Sakazaki since the very beginning of AEW, her last match being last February against Brit Baker, so it was nice to see her return. But oh my goodness, here comes Mei using her cape as if she were a butterfly. Yuka might be the 'Magical Girl' but I think Mei out-anime'd her to the point where Yuka had to play the straightwoman to her antics and focus on the match. It was cool seeing Yuka face someone within her weight class for once so you get to see a few things like her no-sell Mei's punches, and her doing a Nothern Lights Bomb. But wow, both women went at it with all sorts of deadly twisty type submission moves.

There's this one where Yuka not only hangs off of Mei's head but also stops to pose before the ref breaks it up. Then there's this super complicated one where Mei tied up Yuka's legs, slowly bridged backwards and grabbed her with an unhook, basically putting pressure to all four limbs. Yuka had to claw her way to the ropes.

In the end Yuka wins the match with a Magical Girl 450 Splash, but this way was more entertaining that I thought it would be.

Match 3- Japan Bracket- February 15, 2021- Veny VS Emi Sakura

We haven't seen Emi Sakura in a good while either, also being someone we saw a lot of in the beginning of AEW. I got to see her perform live on Dynamite's third episode in a Dark Match Fatal Four-Way against Penelope Ford, Allie and Sadie Gibbs. I see she somewhat dropped the Freddie Mercury gimmick to an extent, she's at least no longer full-on dressed as him, but she still does the 'We will Rock You' chant which I always kinda liked.

It's gonna be a night of painful holds, isn't it?

Oh wow, what started as a match pretty much dominated by the veteran Emi Sakura became an all-out fight between both women. Emi was delivering some super painful chops out there, and there was a part where they both trading headbutts. Veny had Emi into a submission hold that actually looked like it would end things and Emi desperately set her foot on the ropes to break it. Then there was one submission move that Emi tried to use as a pin and when Veny kicked out, she used that momentum to transition her into another one. In the end Emi used the Dragon Sleeper to wear Veny out just enough so she could finally nail the Tiger Driver slam and get the win. I've seen people win by knocking someone out with sleepers, I never seen anyone use a sleepy to get someone woozy enough for their Finisher to finish the job. 

I was surprised at the end when Emi helped Veny back up as sign of respect, she clocked her in the face. Ouch. Could be the start of a rivalry there I hope. 

Match 4- Japan Bracket- February 15, 2021- Maki Itoh VS Ryo Mizunami

Ryo is someone we haven't seen since the first AEW Double or Nothing PPV in 2019. It's been so long, I honestly would have forgotten if the commentary didn't bring it up. Hard to believe Hikaru Shida was in the same match and back then she was unknown. Maki Itoh has a large fanbase and was already coming to this tournament as a favorite to either win or make it far.

The match started kinda slow, we had a spot where Maki got a cheap shot in so she then asked Ryo to hit her back. When she did, she started crying and when Ryo got close enough she stomped her foot. Other than being an idol (who started things off by singing her own intro), Maki is known for having a hard head, literally. We had a spot where she let herself drop and thus headbutted Ryo in the midsection. We also had a part where the women traded headbutts, but when Ryo tried to headbutt her back, she was the one who took the most damage. In the end her hard head cost her as when Maki tried to do a diving headbutt off the ropes, Ryo got out the way. With Maki missing and putting herself out of commission, Ryo tackled her with a Spear and a pin. As Maki kicked out, Ryo grabbed her in a submission hold and Maki had to tap out.

For many it was a big surprise that Maki lost on the first round. She did however claim on social media that is not done with AEW. 

Match 5- Japan Bracket- February 15, 2021- Aja Kong VS Rin Kadokura

While I wouldn't exactly call it a squash match, Aja had pretty much full control for most of the match. Early on we had moments where Aja would just forward like the Juggernaut, completely ignoring Rin's punches. There were times Rin would try to yank her arm, being completely unable to move her. There was a moment where Rin took advantage when Aja was on the ropes and pushed her down, and did a bit of offense there, but nothing that took control away from her. In the end Aja climbed the ropes and did a dangerous looking elbow drop right on her, scoring the win. 

Hopefully we get to see more of Rin Kadokura, hopefully against someone more in her weight class. She looks cool and one half of the tag team champions of the promotion she's from, but Aja Kong was just too powerful to let us see exactly what she's capable of.

Match 6- USA Bracket (AEW Dynamite)- February 17, 2021- Serena Deeb VS Riho

This was a pretty intense match between the AWA Women's Champion and the first ever AEW Women's Champion. Serena came into this with a knee brace, so her knee injury affected her during the match. There were times she was trying to slam Riho but her knee would buckle before she get lift her all the way. To even things up Serena actually targeted Riho's left knee as well causing all sorts of damage to it where the former champ was now limping as bad as she was. 

Despite the pain endured and Riho landing on her with a foot stomp off the ropes, she would continue to fight off several pin attempts. Both women then started using every technique they could, doing all sorts of weird and unique pins until Riho finally wrapped her legs around her and kept her down long enough for the 3-count. It was a pretty intense match, again I missed the picture in picture, so I didn't get to see all of it. One spot that stood out early on was when Riho tried a 619 and Serena actually caught her and slammed her down, I don't see too many people get out of or a reverse a 619 too often.

I know a lot of fans wanted Serena to move forward or said there was no way Riho could have beat her and all that, but Riho did show a lot of heart and technique to win, and you can always say Serena wasn't at 100% due to her knee injury. 

So it seems the remaining USA matches will be shown Monday on Youtube alongside the semi-finals for the Japan bracket. Whoever wins this whole thing will be facing Hikaru Shida at the next AEW PPV. I am loving the tournament so far, though I did notice on the Japan side all the competitors that have wrestled for AEW at least once before, Emi Sakura, Aja Kong, Ryo Mizunami and Yuka Sakazaki advanced to the semi finals. While it is good to see them again, and to see them move on and wrestle more than once, it would have been nice to give a shot to one of the newcomers, like say Maki Itoh to advance so we could see more of them.