AEW Dark Women's Matches- March 1, 2022 (Episode 132)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Looks like this week we got quite a bit of Women Matches to make up for last week. We got 4 matches lined up and coincidentally, it seems NWA Powerrr didn't have any this week. 

Match 1- Danielle Kamela vs Marina Shafir 

Both women grapple and Marina tosses Danielle aside. Danielle trips her up and when Marina tries to grab her, she grabs her into an armlock. Marina picks her up and slams her down, but even so, Danielle is still holding onto her wrist and bending it back. Danielle gets on top of her, still applying pressure to the hammerlock. Marina gets her in a headscissors but Danielle tries to use this as a pin. Marina kicks out and both women finally break away.

As both women face each other, Danielle grabs her arm again and hits it with a few headbutts. She then twists her arm, bringing Marina to her knees. Marina finally gets up and shoves her opponent over to the turnbuckle. As she charges towards her, Danielle gets out of the way and knocks her down with a dropkick. As Marina tries to recover, Danielle runs in and slams her with a swinging neckbreaker. She goes for the pin but Marina kicks out.

Danielle grabs onto Marina's arm yet again, trying to keep the pressure on. Marina manages to grab her and hip toss her to the mat. She then angrily kicks Danielle across the back. Marina then wraps Danielle's arms around her own neck trying to get her to surrender. Danielle struggles as not only are her arms pulled back across her neck, Marina is also planting her knee between her shoulder blades. Danielle gets to her feet but Marina socks her on the shoulder blade. 

Marina grabs and whips Danielle over the ropes, ready to hit her with a roundhouse kick as she bounces back. Danielle grabs onto the ropes to break the momentum. Danielle knocks Marina down, grabbing onto her knee, but the former UFC fighter kicks her off. Danielle goes for a kick but Marina catches her foot and then picks her up and slams her. Marina hooks her leg and gets her into a submission hold. Danielle taps out making Marina Shafir the winner.

Match 2- Sahara Seven vs Abadon

Before the bell rings, Sahara already wants a time out, saying 'I did not sign up for this" upon seeing the Living Dead Girl in all her creepiness. Even so, Sahara manages to hit Abadon with a kick to the mid-section. As she tries to run into her, Abadon stops her with a spinning kick. Abadon takes to the ropes and sends Sahara flying with a hurricarana. Abadon runs towards her, but Sahara gets out of the way, letting her hit the turnbuckle.

Sahara head-rams into Abadon's mid-section. She then hits Abadon with a running elbow. Sahara wastes too much time boasting towards the crowd that Abadon spring back to her feet. Upon seeing this, Sahara lets out a blood-curdling scream, as Abadon lets out a horrifying scream of her own and violently knocks her down. Abadon starts smacking her around and then knocks her down with a flying elbow. 

Sahara runs towards Abadon but misses her target, ending up hanging off the ropes. Abadon is on the other side of the ring apron and she knees Sahara in the face, followed by a kick to the jaw. Abadon gets back in the ring and grabs Sahara for a German Suplex. The Living Dead Girl grabs her opponent's arms, lifting her up only to slam her down three times in a row. Abadon hooks her leg around Sahara's neck and slams her down. She gets the pin and wins the match.

Match 3- Vipress vs Diamante

Vipress runs at Diamante, who dodges the attack and hits back with a loud chop to the chest. Diamante gives her a chance to strike back and Vipress takes it, hitting her with several chops and elbows. She tries to fling Diamante to the ropes but ends up getting flung there instead. As she bounces back, Diamante knocks her down with a flying clothesline. 

Diamante gets on Vipress and starts throwing hands until the ref breaks it up. As Diamante grabs her, Vipress throws a few shots at her own but is cut short by a hammer punch to her back. Diamante swings her into the ropes and follows her, crashing into her with a running back elbow. Diamante trips her down and charges at her with a flying dropkick. Vipress moves out of the way making Diamante hit the ringpost instead. As she gets back up, Vipress sends her back down with a kick to the face. Vipress goes for the pin but Diamante kicks out. Vipress angrily starts punching away at her.

Vipress goes for a waist lock but Diamante tries to reverse it with a Cazadora. Vipress tries to pick her up but Diamante gets her with a Jawbreaker. With Vipress dazed, Diamante rolls her back with Code Red and gets the pin.

Match 4- Kelsey Raegan vs Kiera Hogan

Both women go to grapple but Kelsey doubles Kiera over with a rough knee to the stomach followed by bashing her on the head. With Kiera up against the ropes, Kelsey nails her with a hard chop. Kelsey flings her towards the ropes. As Kiera bounces back, she ducks under an attempted attack and manages to chop Kelsey.

Kiera taunts Kelsey and ducks under a chop attempt. She continues to egg her on and when Kelsey runs at her, Kiera trips her so she falls on the ropes. Kiera then hits Kelsey with a shotgun dropkick against the ringpost. Kiera runs into her with a hip attack to the face. Kiera runs back and returns to clock her with a sliding dropkick. 

Kiera runs towards Kelsey again but this time gets kicked in the stomach. Kelsey then grabs her and slams her face into the turnbuckle. With Kiera up against the turnbuckle, Kelsey hits her with a few punches and an uppercut. Kelsey rolls Kiera along the mat and grabs her in a headlock.

Kiera powers her way back to her feet and hits Kelsey with her elbow a few times. Kelsey once again clobbers her with a hammer punch, knocking her back down. Kiera manages to shove her away and go to the ropes. As Kelsey runs towards her, Kiera keeps her away with a back elbow. Kiera goes up against the turnbuckle and kicks Kelsey away when she tries to attack her. Kiera climbs the ropes and knocks Kelsey down with a flying dropkick. 

Both women struggle to get back to their feet and shake off the pain. As Kelsey runs at her opponent, Kiera grabs her arm and kicks out her knee. Kiera runs at her and bounces off Kelsey with a legdrop and goes for a pin. Kelsey still kicks out. Kiera tries to grab her in some sort of hold but Kelsey gets out of it and socks her in the face. Kiera manages to swing Kelsey towards the ropes and nail her with a thrust kick when she bounces back. Kiera drops Kelsey with a powerful spinkick to the face and pins her for the win. 

My thoughts-

Wow, we had some awesome matches tonight. When I heard Danielle was making her debut in AEW, I thought she drew the short straw when she had to face Marina Shafir. However, she pretty much had good control over the match, focusing a lot on causing damage to Marina's arm. This was one of the matches where the newcomer actually had a good shot at taking down the more established wrestler. From what I found out, Danielle was actually in NXT for a while as Vanessa Borne and also was in the Mae Young Classic where she was defeated by none other than Sareena Deeb. 

Funny how they're both now in AEW, though at this time Danielle Kamela is still not officially signed 

Overall this was a pretty good match and both women pushed themselves to the limit for this being a dark match. I hope to see to see those two mix it up again.

The match between Abadon and Sahara was entertaining. From Sahara saying 'I didn't sign up for this!' to flat out screaming in terror when Abadon sprung up in her face, this was just a fun match to watch and helps play up Abadon's zombie character. 

It's always a pleasure watching Diamante in action. Vipress didn't get to do all that much, besides that sweet kick to the face she delivered to Diamante. I hope to see Vipress wrestle more often. She has a cool look to her and her character is also cool. Hopefully she gets more exposure in the weeks to come. It's been a while since she's been on Dark, so let's hope she doesn't stay a stranger.

The Kiera Hogan match was good too with Kelsey dishing out a lot of offense. Kiera did a lot of cool stuff, the shotgun dropkick, the dropkick off the ropes and that crazy legdrop that bashed Kelsey into the mat. Kelsey got to throw some hard chops and such. I hope we see more of her in the ring as well.

I'll double-check NWA to be sure but it looks like there are no women's matches this week. If I do see any, it'll be in another article as I was not expecting 4 Dark matches tonight.

AEW Revolution hits this Sunday as Dr. Britt Baker DMD defends her AEW Women's Title against Thunder Rosa and Jade Cargill defends the TBS Women's Title against Tay Conti.