AEW Dark Elevation Women Matches Jan 24, 2022 (Episode 47)

 By Mark Rodriguez

I think now is a good time to check out some of AEW's new wrestling female hopefuls. The last few articles I did had a few like Leyla Hirsch and Red Velvet that got their start here and has now been featured on AEW Dynamite and Rampage. In fact, the first episode of AEW Rampage, in which my bro and I were lucky enough to attend in person had Red Velvet challenge the still-current AEW Women's Champ, Brit Baker. Let's check out this week's matches.

First Match- 'Legit' Leyla Hirsch VS Brittany Blake 

This is Brittany Blake's debut match in AEW. Both women start grappling and Brittany tries to shoulder-tackle Leyla, but is unable to make her budge. Brittany tries again but this time Leyla knocks her down. Leyla picks her up but the redhead is able to get out of it. She misses a dropkick and Leyla quickly tries to grab her into an armbar but Brittany gets her foot on the ropes to break it. As Leyla gives her some space for the rope break, Brittany manages to pull her face-first into the ropes, giving her an opening. Brittany starts kicking her around and delivers a knee to the back of her head. She presses her knee onto Leyla while she's on the ropes and tries to go for a pin. 

Leyla fights out of the pin attempts and tries to grab her, but her opponent is able to get out of it and knock her down with a Instaguri to the face. With Leyla up against the ringpost, Brittany hits her with a running body splash followed by a knee to the face. She grabs her in the headlock getting ready to do a Bulldog but Leyla grabs her and hits her with a German Suplex Pin. Brittany gets out of it and goes for the ropes, bounding of them for some sort of attack but Leyla smacks her with a knee to the face. This flattened Brittany and Leyla gets the pin and the win. 

Match 2-Willow Nightingale VS Brandi Rhodes

Brandi quickly gets Willow's arm wrapped in the ropes until she has to break the hold. Both of them grapple and Brandi rolls across the mat, taking Willow with her, and then kicks her in the head. Willow grabs Brandi in a Russian Legsweep and transitions into a submission hold. Brandi struggled until she could get on top of her opponent, which would count as a pin, but Willow escaped. Willow would then clock Brandi in the face with a superkick. 

Willow runs and throws herself against Brandi, which draws cheers from the crowd. She tries again but Brandi gets out of the way, leading to Willow crashing against the ringpost. Brandi slams Willow down with running clotheslines and then kicks her down to size. Willow goes for a running punch but Brandi Pump Kicks her back to the mat. Brandi grabs her in her own submission move and Willow taps out.

Match 3- Janai Kai vs Red Velvet

Both women grapple with Janai pushing Red up against the ring post. She taunts her, which leads to Red swinging her into the ring post and unloading a bunch of punches and kicks. Red runs into her with a boot to the face and goes for the pin, Janai kicks out. Janai goes for the attack but ends up stuck on the ropes, letting Red hit her with an axe kick on the top of the head. 

As both women roll back into the ring, Janai grabs onto Red and hits her with a knee. She then swings Red up against the ringpost and kicks her in the face. Janai then presses her foot up against Red's face until the ref breaks it up. However, Janai is able to balance her foot into the air and use it against Red again for another 3 count. Red drops to the mat and Janai sets her up against the ropes, where she kicks her in the back. Janai then runs off the ropes to hit Red in the back with a vicious flying kick. Janai goes for the pin but Red kicks out.

Red is up against the ringpost again and kicks Janai in the face, but Janai hits her with own variety of kicks and knocks her back down. Janai does a spinning kick to the back of Red Velvet's head and goes for a pin but she still kicks out. Janai goes for a submission hold but Red manages to get to her feet and hit her with a Stunner.

With Janai now wobbling around, Red knocks her down and then hits her with a dropkick. Now with Janai being the one hanging off the ropes, Red hits her with a running knee strike. Red goes for a Standing Moonsault pin, but her kickboxing opponent kicks out. Red and Janai square off, but Red manages to duck her punches and grab her arm. She places her leg over Janai's head and slams her down with Just Desserts. Red gets the pin and wins a hard earned victory. 

Match 4- Jordan Blade & Leva Bates vs Thunder Rosa & Ruby Soho

Just when I was wondering when was the last time Leva hit the ring, she's featured in this tag match. Ruby and Leva start the grapple until the Librarian is shoved up against the turnbuckle. Ruby kicks Leva and tags Thunder Rosa. Ruby gets on all fours so Rosa can use her a stepping stone to clock Leva in the face with a flying kick. Thunder Rosa tags Ruby back in, picks her up and drops her onto Leva Bates. Ruby goes for the pin but Leva kicks out. Ruby and Leva grapple until Ruby touches the ropes so they break it up. As Leva pulls back, and the ref is distracted, Blade kicks Ruby in the back. Leva takes this chance to grab Ruby and hit her with a suplex.

Leva tags Blade in, though Ruby quickly grabs her and slams her down with an armdrag. Blade fights her way through it, picks up Ruby and slams her down. Blade goes for a pin, which Ruby escapes, but Blade never let go of her arm and uses that for an armlock. Ruby fights her way to get back on her feet and tries to slam her but can't. Ruby finally hits Blade with her knee and then stumbles over to tag Thunder Rosa in.

Thunder Rosa runs in and knocks down Blade, and also knocks Leva out of her corner. Rosa trips Blade up against the ropes and then hits her with a dropkick to the back of her head. As Blade falls, Rosa hits her with another dropkick to the face. Rosa picks up Blade and hits her with a Thunder Driver and goes for the pin. Leva rushes in to break it up, so Ruby comes in and kicks her out of the ring. Rosa and Blade struggle for control, Blade manages to pick up Rosa, but Rosa is able to prevent getting slammed and hits her with a Russian Legsweep. Thunder Rosa grabs Jordan Blade in the Peruvian Necktie and she taps out. 

My Thoughts-

Well, this was an entertaining set of matches and we got to see a few new faces. Leyla Hirsch has already proven herself to be a little powerhouse. She currently was working together with Kris Stratlander and Red Velvet but just couldn't get along with them. She's set to have a match with Red Velvet on AEW Dynamite. Brittany Blake has a cool look to her, I was curious what she was gonna do when she bounced off the ropes, but sadly all she did was eat Leyla's knee and get knocked out. Hope to see more of her to see what moves she has.

Brandi and Willow were alright. This was one of Brandi's better matches and I hope to see more of Willow and her moves. Brandi is carrying over that heel heat from Cody so she was getting tons of boos. Despite being the newcomer, people were really cheering Willow on when she has the upperhand. I think the heat towards Brandi was so strong, they would have rocked the house had Willow stole the win somehow.

Janai Kai has a very particular look to her, complete with the odd hairstyle and her name been written on her mouthpiece. She has the Muay Thai type kicks down and showed off several different types of high kicks and spin kicks during the match. Her running at Red Velvet and hitting her with the flying kick was the big 'OOOOOHHH' moment of the night for me, I really felt for Red Velvet there. This was the intense fight of the night for the women as both of them would not let up and despite Red being the bigger name, Janai really put her through her paces. Let's see how far Janai goes.

As for the tag match it was cool to see Leva Bates is still around. I see her on social media every week reminding the viewers to watch Dynamite and Rampage but I ask myself when's the last time she was actually on the air? 

With Leva being a jobber, I already knew Jordan Blade and The Librarian had no chance against the super team of Thunder Rosa and Ruby Soho. Jordan Blade still had some powerful slams and submission moves that Ruby had to to overcome, and it was impressive to see Thunder Rosa to be able to pick her up and hit that Thunder Driver. Even Leva got a good suplex in, though she didn't do too much. It was a decent match over all, mostly for the novelty of seeing our favorite blue haired Librarian get some in-ring action.

We'll see what cool matches we get tomorrow on Dark Elevation, the second 'dark match' show. For those curious AEW Dark is on Youtube every Monday night, Dark Elevation is on Youtube every Tuesday nights, AEW Dynamite has now moves to TBS and is on Wednesday nights and AEW Rampage is on Friday nights on TNT.