AEW Dark Elevation Episode 71 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

We got three matches for this one. We see a couple of new faces here and there as well as Emi Sakura back in singles action and we see more of House of Black Julia Hart.

Match 1- Emi Sakura vs Paris Van Dale

Paris walks over to offer a handshake and Emi slaps her hand away. Emi ducks Paris' upcoming attack and grabs her by the hair, tossing her across the ring. Emi climbs the ropes and sets her foot up against Paris' throat, bashing the back of her head against the top turnbuckle repeatedly. Emi flips Paris to the mat and sits on her, pretending to be drinking some tea. She offers some to the ref, who actually 'drinks' the tea and puts it away. 

Seen a lot of antics from Emi Sakura but this one takes the cake lol. Bonus points cause the ref played along with it

Emi kicks Paris around telling her 'c'mon'. Paris finally had enough and hits her in the face. Emi dares her to try again and Paris hits her in the face several times. Emi goes for the hair again but this time Paris grabs her hair and slams her with a facebuster. With Emi up against the ropes, Paris hits her with a spinning elbow, then grabs and slams her with a bulldog. She goes for the pin but Emi kicks out at two.

Paris prepares Emi for a Suplex but she fights against it. She then bites onto Paris' hand and doesn't let go until the ref breaks it up. Paris tries to hit her but Emi grabs her and slams her with a Spinning Neckbreaker. With Paris up against the ropes, Emi starts throwing some chops at her to the tune of 'We Will Rock You' and then hits her with the flying crossbody splash. Emi Sakura picks up Paris with the Underhook Vertical Backbreaker and pins her for the win.

Match 2- JC vs Julia Hart from House of Black

The match begins with Julia giving her opponent a cold dark glare, which creeps her out. They grapple for Julia slips out of it, leaving JC more concerned. Julia steps forward and says 'boo' making JC fall on her butt. JC tries to get it together and she gets into another grapple with Julia. Julia gains control and bends JC backwards up against the ropes, shoving her hand against her jaw. 

Once she put that fear in you, it's game over

The ref breaks it up and Julia angrily shoves him back. During this distraction, JC takes the shot to clock her in the face twice. Julia walks over to her opponent and hits her with knee lift, but JC hits back with an elbow to the face. Julia is now angry and she shoves JC up against the ropes, but as she goes towards her, JC fires back with another elbow to the face. Julia stops JC's newfound momentum by knocking her down with a boot to the face. 

Julia sits on JC and suddenly starts choking her, before throwing some punches at her. Julia wraps one of JC's arms around her legs and gets her in a headlock, making her opponent tap with this painful looking submission move. Julia wins the match and walks off, keeping her cold icy glare. 

The commentary kept pointing out that one of her eyes is grey, as a result of when Malakai Black spat the mist into her face a few months ago

Match 3- Dark Order Anna Jay vs Shawna Reed

Both women start to grapple and Shawna quickly knees Anna Jay in the midsection and slams her on her back, garnering boos from the crowd. Anna Jay chases after her and Shawna goes for the ropes. Shawna goes in for a punch by Anna Jay dodges it and slams her back onto the mat. Anna Jay gets her against the ropes and hits her with 2 elbow strikes. She then grabs her arm and kicks Shawna in the stomach, bringing her down to her knees. The member of the Dark Order quickly follows this with a second kick to the face to knock her down. 

As Anna Jay goes over to her, Shawna trips her into the ropes, giving her some time to recover. Shawna gets her up against the ropes and hits her with elbow strikes. Shawna runs at her but Anna Jay gets out of the way and shoves her against the ropes, hitting her with her own elbow strikes. Shawna shoves her back and runs at her, which Anna Jay knocks down with a back elbow. Shawna runs at her and Anna Jay knocks her down a few times, getting fired up.

Anna Jay gets Shawna against the turnbuckle and hits her with a running elbow. She then gets her on another turnbuckle and hits her with her running back kick. Anna Jay then does a cartwheel and hits her with a kick to the face. Anna Jay grabs Shawna and delivers her kick to the back of the head, but Shawna actually blocks it. Shawna tries to slam her, but Anna Jay shoves her away, making her roll across the mat. Shawn runs at her, but Anna Jay kicks her in the midsection. As Shawna falls, Anna Jay turns her around and gets her in the sleeperlock, making her tap out. Anna Jay scores another win.

My Thoughts- 

Pretty decent sets of matches, and we got to see a few new faces. Emi Sakura throws in a few new antics here, like the 'tea party' part and she is really going all in with the 'snooty anime girl laugh'. I loved when the ref not only pretended to drink the tea but also 'carefully' put it out of the ring, as if he was handling an actual tea cup and saucer. Paris Van Dale got some good moves in as well which is always good. 

I also enjoyed how Julia Hart was flat out creeping JC, but eventually JC managed to snap out of it and bring the fight to her. Unfortunately this only succeeded in pissing Julia off and getting her into a killer submission move. I hope that as Julia's fanbase grows and her moves get better and better, she can soon be seen on some major feud on Dynamite or Rampage.

Anna Jay also had a decent match as Shawna paid her no respect. To her credit, I haven't seen too many people block Anna Jay's kick to the back of the head. That alone was unexpected, but she still got caught in Anna Jay's new sleeperlock finisher. 

Fun trio of matches, especially with all the extra antics and cheese that only wrestling can provide.