AEW Dark Elevation Episode 68 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

This week got several women's matches as we see the return of Max the Impaler and several others. Not only that, but Reba actually has a match rather than just being Britt Baker's little lackey. 

Match 1- Heather Reckless & Tootie Lynn vs Serena Deeb & Mercedes Martinez

After a little staredown between Serena and Mercedes, Serena starts the match against Tootie Lyn. Deeb and Lynn grapple, Deeb going for a hold which Lynn tries to turn into a pin. Deeb quickly turns this into a cross arm breaker. Lynn crawls over to the ropes so she can use her leg to break the hold. Mercedes reaches for a tag but Deeb handwaves her away and gets back to the match. Mercedes is definitely not happy, and Deeb is also annoyed that the crowd keeps cheering for Tootie.

Deeb hits Tootie with a European Uppercut and bounces her against the ropes. Tootie hits her with a dropkick that knocks her back. She tries for a standing dropkick but Deeb steps away, letting her fall. As Deeb backs towards her corner, Mercedes tags herself in. Deeb grabs Tootie in a leglock and when Heather runs in to help, she grabs her in an abdominal stretch. Mercedes grabs Tootie in a crossface, who is still locked with Deeb. Deeb sends Heather flying back with a suplex as she's still locked onto Tootie's legs. Poor Tootie can't even scream as she is still stuck in Mercedes' crossface hold. Deeb goes back to her corner as Mercedes eventually lets Tootie go.

Mercedes and Deeb keep staring at each other as the RoH champ picks up Tootie. Tootie manages to get out her grasp and runs over to tag in Heather. Heather throws some kicks to Mercedes and then dropkicks towards her knee, making the champ fall. Heather runs for the ropes but as she bounces back, Mercedes catches her and slams her to the mat with a spine buster. 

Mercedes whips Heather over to her corner and runs at her with a flying elbow. Deeb tags herself in and gets in the face of her partner. With Heather against the ropes, Deeb hits her with a running elbow and Mercedes follows with a running kick, making the blonde drop to the mat. Mercedes hits her with a single-foot dropkick across the jaw. 

Deeb grabs Heather's legs and springs her neck-first into the bottom rope. Deeb grabs Heather and slams her with the Detox, but doesn't pin her. Tootie runs in and Deeb kicks her in the midsection. Mercedes comes in and hits Tootie from behind. Merceded grabs Tootie in the Brass City Sleeper and Deebs gets Heather in the Serenity Lock. Both women tap out making Deeb and Mercedes the winners. 

Match 2- Max the Impaler & Heidi Howitzer vs Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir

Max the Impaler gets another shot against Nyla Rose after last week's match and start things off. Both try to overpower each other, but neither could gain the advantage to they break the grapple. Nyla and Max starts trading blows until Max catches the Native Beast's punch. Nyla knees her in the midsection and hits her upside the head. She then drags her over to her corner where she can tag Marina in.

Marina pins her against the ropes and starts throwing shots, but this merely annoys Max and she shoves her back, making her fall. Marina jumps across Max's back and tries to get her into a sleeper hold. Max goes over and tags in Heidi. Heidi gets Marina against the ropes and starts throwing chops and elbows at her. After hitting her with double overhead chops, Heidi grabs her and slams the side of her face against the turnbuckle a few times before taking Max back in.

Heidi grabs and whips Marina forward as Max runs and knocks her down. Max tries to throw some punches but Marina ducks under them and kicks out her knee. With Max down, Marina quickly tags in Nyla. Nyla quickly dropkicks both Max's knees to get her down. She starts wailing on her but Max gets back up and shoves Nyla up against the ringpost. 

Marina tags herself in and starts throwing shots to Max's back. All this does is make her angry as she turns to face her. As Max is distracted by Marina Shafir, Nyla jumps off the ropes and slams her down with the Diamond Dust. She then kicks her to the side of the head. Marina kicks her down and goes for a pin but Heidi runs in and shoves her off her partner. As the ref is distracted, Heidi lands some shots on Marina, leaving her dazed. 

Marina stumbles around and Heidi legally tags herself in. As she tries to attack her, Marina grabs her in the Greedy submission hold. Nyla rushes in to spear Max before she can save her partner, both of the spilling out of the ring. Meanwhile Heidi taps out and Marina and Nyla win the match.

Match 3- Rebel vs Anna Jay

The women lock up and Anna Jay gets the headlock take down onto Rebel. Rebel goes for the headscissors but Anna Jay gets out of it. As they grapple again, Anna Jay tries to pick her up and Rebel stops her. Rebel brags to the crowd that she's better in the ring than they think. As Anna Jay runs towards her, Rebel knees her in the midsection and tries to lift her up for a vertical suplex. Anna Jay manages to get out of it before she's picked up. Anna Jay grabs onto her arm and kicks her in the back of the head. She then gets Rebel in the Queen Slayer and quickly makes her tap out. Anna Jay scored a quick victory.

"I'm a lot better than you think!" and she gets defeated half a minute later

Match 4- Miranda Gordy vs Ruby Soho

Ruby makes her intro and as she sits up against the apron to smile at the crowd and bask in her theme music, Miranda suddenly kicks her in the back of the head, knocking her onto the floor. Miranda follows her outside the ring and lands a few shots across the face before rolling Ruby into the ring. The bell officially rung but just as Miranda thought she had some sort of advantage, Ruby stomps on her foot and throws a few kicks at her and hits her in the face.

Ruby tries to swing her into the moves but can't get Miranda to move. Miranda pulls Ruby past her and clothelines her to the mat. Miranda grabs Ruby and runs with her, shoving her face into the turnbuckle. Miranda lets loose a loud chop across the chest and hits her with her shoulders. Miranda socks her in the jaw and then goes to pose for the crowd.

Miranda goes in for another punch but this time Ruby blocks it and hits her back. Ruby lands more elbow strikes until Miranda pushes her back. Ruby runs in and ducks under her punch and lands another elbow to the face. Ruby dares her to hit her again and when Miranda does, she blocks it and hits her back. Miranda tries to kick her but Ruby catches her foot and hits her with a high knee strike. 

Miranda shoves Ruby towards the ropes and as she bounces back, she manages to grab her and slam her with the Saito Suplex. Ruby takes to the ropes but Miranda gets up in time to run into the turnbuckle and make her opponent stumble. Miranda grabs Ruby in a fireman's carry but she manages to get out of it. The Runaway bounces off the ropes and slams Miranda back with a heel trip. Ruby picks her up and slams her facedown with Destination Unknown. She pins Miranda and gets the win. 

My Thoughts-

Pretty good matches. The best one was the Mercedes and Deeb tag match, mostly due to all the moves they do but also the interesting chemistry they have with each other. Both continue to try to show the other up and constantly get into others' faces. Even though this is on Dark, I hope they keep this up and eventually it might lead to Deeb challenging for the Ring of Honor Women's title. One thing that stood out was when Deeb slammed Heather for the Detox and just sort of.. stood there, I had a feeling Tootie was a little late on her cue. 

Last week we got to see Max the Impaler and Heidi Howitzer on Dark and Dark Elevation and now we got to see them as tag team partners. Despite being intimidating in her own right, Marina was the smallest woman in the match and she took most of the damage. She could barely stand after making her opponent tap out. Or at least that's what we gathered since the camera was focused on Nyla and Max falling out of the ring. The camera should have cut back to Marina and Heidi a few seconds before so we could see the actual tap out.

Reba finally got a singles match.... and I was not expecting it to be incredibly short. Hopefully this is just the beginning and we can see her get more matches and more experience. So far she's mostly been just Britt's lackey and occasional tag team partner, but now that she has Jamie Hayter, she gets the in-ring action. At this point, Reba doesn't even have her own theme, it was just Britt Baker's theme, the monitor images replaced dental references with crutches since for a while Reba used crutches to cheat.

The commentary even reminded viewers the AEW shop still sells Reba's 'My Crutch is my Clutch' shirts since they've been out for a good while now.

Ruby's match was also rather short but she felt dealt with more opposition, especially since Miranda cheap-shotted her during her intro. Pretty simple back and forth, but since it was kind of a quick match, Ruby didn't do anything too crazy. Miranda mostly just delivered a killer chop and tried to keep attack Ruby, getting blocked every time. We didn't see much in terms of cool moves or holds or anything. She is the daughter of the late great Terry Gordy so hopefully she can make more appearances and show off more moves.

Decent showing. Loving the attitude Mercedes and Serena show towards each other. I really hope it goes somewhere. Also hope to see more of Max the Impaler and Heidi Howitzer as they can hopefully start racking up some wins. Also let's see if Reba can get more chances.