AEW Dark Women's Matches- February 1, 2022 (Episode 128)

by Mark Rodriguez

We got ourselves a 90 minute episode of AEW Dark this time with a lot of matches. Let's check out how the women fare as we see a couple of new faces here. 

Match 1- Angelica Risk vs Penelope Ford

Both women lock onto each other and try to overpower each other with wrist holds and headlocks until Angelica gets Ford up against the ropes and socks her in the face. Angelica throws her against the ropes and knocks Ford down with her shoulder as she runs back. The Super Bad Girl grabs Angelica and shoves her down to the mat and then kicks her in the face up against the ring post. Ford runs and slams Angelica's face against the other turnbuckle and then drags her face along to the ropes until she gets to another corner of the ring. 

Ford kicks the hell out of Risk up against the ropes until the ref breaks it up. Ford goes for the pin but Risk is able to kicks out. The Super Bad Girl lifts Risk into a Fireman Carry but she is able to fight he way out. With Risk beneath her, Penelope drops herself down with all her weight. Risk got out of the way in time so Penelope basically bounced her butt violently against the mat. With Penelope stunned, Risk bounces off the ropes and hits her with a variation of a leg lariat and tries for the pin. Ford kicks out.

As Penelope tries to get to her feet, Risk grabs her but gets raked across the eyes. As Risk falls near the ropes, Penelope wraps her legs around her neck and the ropes, strangling her until the ref breaks it up. Ford pulls her back into the ring and then Sparta Kicks her back down to the mat. Ford gets her into a headlock and Risk attempts to fight her way out. This is cut short by a knee to guy, and sends her against the ropes. Angelica comes back with a few kicks to the face and actually manages to knock the Super Bad Girl twice with some running clotheslines. Risk shoves Ford to the mat.

Ford gets back up and swings Risk into the ropes, but as she charges towards her, she runs right into Risk's elbow. With Ford stunned, Risk gets onto the ringpost and leaps off with a missile dropkick to the face, sending her opponent falling on the other side of the ring. With Ford down, Risk runs in with a hip attack but only hits the ringpost. Ford runs in with a kick to the face. Ford rolls over to the other side of the ring and does two forward flips, hitting the back elbow to Angelica's face.

With Angelica out of action, Ford grabs her into the Indian Death Lock, and her opponent quickly taps out. Penelope Ford scores the win.

That looks painful to BOTH parties. Ouch.

Match 2- Reka Tehaka vs Marina Shafir

Both women lock up, neither being able to overpower the other, until they hit the ropes and ref breaks it up. Reka tries to lock her up twice but can't get a grip on her. Marina puts her hands behind her back and dares Reka to go for it. Reka goes in but Marina gets out of the way. However as Marina tries to kick her, Reka dodges that and she has her leg caught on the ropes. As Marina gets her leg back into the ring, she dodges a kick attempt from Reka, but is doubled-over by her second kick. Reka gets Marina into a headlock but gets shoved towards the ropes. Reka uses this to bounce back and shoulder-tackle the MMA fighter to the mat. As Marina gets up, Reka grabs onto her and slams her with a Fisherman Neckbreaker.

While Marina is on shaky legs, Reka nails her with a spinning heel kick, knocking her back down. Reka gets her on a side headlock takedown but Marina counters with a headscissors. Reka is able to get her leg on the ropes, forcing Marina to break the hold. Both women lock up, this time with Marina being more dominant, and she swings Reka to the mat. As Reka gets up, Marina kicks her back down with a strong boot to the face. Marina grabs her into a read choke hold, but Reka fights her way back up to her feet.

With both woman standing face to face, Marina dares Reka to do something. Reka responds by hitting her with multiple headbutts, and then knocking her down. As Marina gets back up, Reka tries to do a spinkick to her but her leg is caught. Marina gets her into some sort of standing submission hold and Reka taps out. Marina Shafir scored the win tonight. 

Match 3- Mazzerati vs Kiera Hogan

Mazzerati didn't waste time and runs right into Kiera the moment the bells rings, punching and kicking her up against the ringpost. Kiera moves out of the way to avoid Mazzerati from charging into her. As both women run and bounce off the ropes, Kiera puts a stop to it by smacking her across the face and getting some trash talk in. Mazzerati angrily tries to swing back but Kiera ducks. Mazzerati runs at her but Kiera trips her up, making her fall into the ropes. As Mazzerati stumbles around, Kiera kicks her in the face, knocking her back down.

Kiera gets herself fired up and runs into Mazzerati with a clothesline up against the ringpost. Kiera runs back and bounces the ropes and hits her opponent with a sliding boot to the face. Kiera goes for the pin but Mazzerati kicks out. As both women get up, Mazzerati hits Kiera with a jawbreaker. As Kiera tries to dash towards her, she gets hit by a spinning back kick. With Kiera rocked, Mazzerati grabs her and slams her on her back.

Mazzerati gets on top od Kiera and starts throwing fists to her face until the ref breaks it up. Before Kiera can get back up, Mazzerati grabs her in a rear chin lock. Kiera manages to power herself back to the feet and gets out of the hold by driving her elbows into Mazzerati's mid-section, but Mazz just punches her down. Mazzerati dashes towards Kiera, running into her elbow. Mazz loses her patience at this point and runs at her again, taking a boot to the face. Kiera takes this chance to climb onto the ringpost and hit her with a missile dropkick. As Mazzerati stumbles back to her feet, Kiera gets fired up and runs at her, slamming her down with a hanging neckbreaker. 

Kiera hits Mazzerati with a bouncing legdrop to the back of the head, but her opponent is still able to kick out of a pin. Kiera grabs onto Mazzerati, getting ready for some kind of slam but Mazz kicks her knee out. She then goes for a spinning kick that Kiera ducks. Mazzerati loses her temper and tries for another kick that Kiera ducks again. Kiera eggs her on and this time catches her leg and pulls her to her knees. Still fighting, Mazz socks Kiera in the face. Mazz says she'll kick Kiera's head off, but as she bounces off the ropes, Kiera knocks her down with a vicious kick to the face. 

My Opinions-

Wow, what a show tonight. As you could tell from my descriptions, all three matches has the girls really go all out and try all sorts of moves to take each other out. Penelope Ford had a hell of match with Angelica Risk. Reka got that sweet Fisherman Neckbreaker up on Marina. Kiera and Mazzerati were kicking the hell out of each other in all sorts of ways. All three matches were pretty intense and I liked that everyone got a lot of offense in and showed off what they could do. The people at the stands got their money's worth tonight.

I also was surprised to see Marina Shafir in AEW Dark. It took me a while to remember where I heard her name before, but I found out she was one of the Four Horsemen, I guess the MMA version that appeared in WWE for a while, alongside Ronda Rousey, Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke. I'm surprised to see her here. It's also cool that despite her having some MMA cred, her match with Reka Tehaka was still a fight, and Reka had the advantage over her several times. I was very impressed by all three matches and would like to see more of Reka Tehaka, Mazzerati and Angelica Risk.

But will we also see Jessamyn Duke jump into AEW? That would be awesome too.