AEW Dark Women's Matches- March 22, 2022 (Episode 135)

 By Mark Rodriguez

They must have listened to the times I complained of them only having one match or so. This time AEW Dark brings us 5 matches with some familiar faces like Marina Shafir and Mercedes Martinez.

Match 1- Nyla Rose v Kaci Lennox

Nyla and Kaci lock up, the Native Beast shoving her against the ropes. Nyla goes for a punch and Kaci blocks and fires back with one of her own. Kaci gets distracted by Vickie out of the ring and Nyla runs into her from behind. Nyla flings Kaci into the ropes and runs into her with an elbow. 

Nyla swings Kaci into the turnbuckle on the opposite side of the ring. As Nyla runs at her, Kaci knocks her back with an elbow. Kaci runs at her with a clothesline but Nyla doesn't budge. Kaci bounces off the ropes for a second attempt but Nyla clotheslines her. Nyla picks her up and hangs her off the ropes. The Native Beast goes to the ropes and jumps off, toppling Kaci as she lands. Kaci is down and out and Nyla pins her for the win. No shirt for Kaci Lennox. 

Match 2- AQA v Valentina Rossi

Valentina starts by kneeing AQA in the midsection. She grabs AQA in a headlock, but her smaller high-flying opponent hits her with some punches in the midsection. AQA pushes her against the ropes and as Valentina runs towards her, she leaps over her. Valentina runs over to her and is thrown by an armdrag. AQA shouldertackles Valentina knocking her out of the air. AQA tries to get a Small Package pin but Valentina kicks out and kicks her in the midsection again.

Valentina swings AQA towards the ropes, but she takes this chance to climb and jump off the ropes hitting her with a crossbody splash which doubles as a pin. Valentina is able to kick out. Valentina once again kicks her in the midsection, but this time she grabs onto AQA and hits her with three more knee strikes. With AQA crawling on the mat, Valentina drops some trash talk on her and stomps her across the back. Valentina gets AQA up against the ropes and starts wailing on her until the ref breaks it up. Regardless, Valentina plants AQA against the turnbuckle again and lays her out with another swing.

Valentina continues to taunt AQA until she finally gains her bearings and runs at her, knocking her down with a flying hammerlock punch. AQA knocks her down with a second flying hammerlock and then knocks her down a third time with a slingblade. AQA goes for a spinkick, which Valentina ducks, but then she does another kick with her other foot, landing her mark. With Valentina rocked, AQA grabs her for a neckbreaker and pins her for the win.

Match 3- Abadon v Angelica Risk

Angelica gets in Abadon's face and throws a punch. Abadon isn't phased and motions for her to hit her again. Angelica tries again but Abadon catches her arm and socks her back. Angelica bounces off the ropes and knocks The Living Dead Girl down with a Russian Legsweep. As Angelica showboats, Abadon does the creepy sit-up and kicks her in the face. As they both get up, Abadon hits her with another kick and a knee to the face. Abadon bounces off the ropes and knocks Angelica down with a leaping back elbow.

With Angelica down, Abadon runs off the ropes and lands on her with a flying senton. Abadon grabs her arm and hits her with the Black Dahlia, knocking her out. Abadon gets the pin and wins the match.

Match 4- Mercedes Martinez v Gemma Jewels

Mercedes goes for a grapple but quickly gets under and behind Gemma, pulling her leg and tripping her up. Gemma goes for a rear waistlock which Mercedes reverses into one of her own. Gemma walks backwards, pinning Mercedes up against the turnbuckle, but she is still not letting go. Once the ref breaks it up, Gemma hits Mercedes with a back elbow. Gemma wastes time posing and Mercedes runs and taker her down with a running knee. 

Mercedes picks up Gemma and gets punches. Mercedes fires back with hits of her own and loud chop across the chest. Gemma is up against the turnbuckle and Mercedes hits her with another chop and then backs way to run in with a flying punch. Mercedes runs in with a flying kick to the face. As Gemma falls to the mat, Mercedes runs in with a flying dropkick. Mercedes gets her in a Dragon Sleeper and Gemma is quick to submit. Mercedes wins the match.

Match 5- Marina Shafir v Leila Grey

Both women grapple and Marina roughly shoves Leila back. Leila goes for a jumpkick but Marina catches her foot. She takes this chance to pick Leila and slam her into a backbreaker. Marina grabs Leila and tosses her into the turnbuckle. She gives her a rough kick to the midsection and then plants her shin up against her face until the ref stops it. Marina goes for another running knee but this time her opponent gets out of the way. 

Leila manages to clock Marina in the face with a high knee strike. Leila tries to go for a bulldog but Marina shoves her off. As Leila jumps into her, Marina catches her in a bear hug and then slams her down with a hip toss. Marina grabs Leila's leg while she's down, but she gets kicked back. Marina then cartwheels behind her and kicks her in the back. Marina grabs her in a submission move and Leila quickly taps out. Marina wins the match.

My Opinions- 

With so many matches (14 matches within and hour), this set flew by pretty fast. The Nyla match was pretty good. Once of the scariest things she does is when she puts her opponent on the ropes and then jumps on them. It's particularly scary when the opponent is someone tiny like Riho for example. When she did this on Kaci, someone in the crowd actually chanted 'you killed Kaci' and she really sold that one well.

I thin of the 4 matches, the AQA VS Valentina match was the most even. Valentina got some offense in and since AQA is still very new to the roster, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if she actually lost this one. AQA scored the win of course, but this one wasn't what I would call a squash.

Abadon pretty much took down her opponent without much trouble. I do like the 'I'm not scared of you' attitude Angelica threw at her, but she still got taken down. Abadon is possibly the most interesting 'in-character' wrestler on the female roster. 

Mercedes talked trash and backed it up, taking out Gemma quickly. Gemma's got a good look to her and is pretty tall. Hope to see more of her in the future.

Marina pretty much wrecked her opponent. I liked this fierce intensity she had during the whole match, just staring daggers into Leila the whole time. It wasn't 'I'm gonna kill you' hatred but more like 'sucks for you that you're my opponent but I must break you now'. I was really digging how she moved and how she kept staring at her opponent with such vicious intensity. It's the kind of look that you know she's gonna bust you up.

Overall a decent showing. I'm saying the most evenly sided match was the one with AQA and I dug seeing Marina take her opponent down. I'm curious when we'll start seeing Marina on Dynamite or Rampage. 

It's at this moment that you should probably just stay down.