AEW Dark Episode 152 (women's matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

In this extra special episode of Dark we actually got two title defenses in different parts of the world. PAC defends his All-Atlantic Title against Umino at RevPro, and the match we'll be covering today has Thunder Rosa defend her title against Miyu Yamashita at the TJPW Summer Sun Princess. Plus Willow Nightingale returns to action.

Match 1- Miyu Yamashita vs Thunder Rosa

Both women shake hands and prepare to start the match. They grapple and the current AEW Women's Champ gets The Pink Striker into an armbar. Aja Kong is in the crowd (the camera focuses on her for a bit so we miss out on the grappling) and Rosa now has Miyu in a headlock takedown. Both women fight to control each other's wrists until Rosa manages to trip her opponent down with a Drop Toe Hold and gets her legs in a Calf Slicer. Rosa and Miyu wrestle on the mat, each one trying to overpower each other or reverse each attempted hold. As they get to their feet, Rosa gets Miyu in a bear hug until the ref separates them. As they let each other go, Thunder Rosa still sneaks in a quick and loud chop across the chest.

Oh God, actual wrestling

Miyu hits the ropes but as she runs towards Rosa, she flips her with an armdrag. As Miyu tries again, Rosa tries for another armdrag but this time Miyu knocks her down. Still on the mat, Rosa ducks under Miyu's attempt to kick her and then grabs her for a roll up. Miyu kicks out. Rosa manages to trip Miyu down, but this time Miyu ducks her kick and grabs her for a roll up. Thunder Rosa kicks out. As Rosa runs towards her opponent, Miyu flips her to the mat with an armdrag. Both competitors are pretty much at a stalemate at the opener of this match.

Both women get into each other's faces and start throwing elbows and kicks that each block until Rosa lands a kick to the midsection. Rosa drops to her knees and smacks Miyu across the face as she's still doubled-over. With Miyu up against the ropes, Rosa runs at her with an uppercut and rolls her to the mat with a snapmare. Rosa bounces off the ropes and knocks her down with a low running clothesline. She goes for the pin but Miyu kicks out.

Miyu gets up and gets Rosa in a snapmare, dropping her in a sitting position. From there Miyu throws a strong kick to the spine. Rosa angrily grabs Miyu in a snapmare and kicks her across the back as well. They get into each other's faces and both women would take turns doing the snapmare/kick combo on each other, getting angrier at each other each time. After the third time getting kicked across the back, Thunder Rosa had enough, so she kicks Miyu in the midsection and grabs her for a bodyslam and tries for another pin. Miyu kicks out at two. 

Thunder Rosa gets Miyu in a hold and starts hitting her with elbows to the side of the face. The ref breaks it up and Rosa angrily yells at him. Rosa hits her with more elbows to the face and attempts another pin, but Miyu still kicks out. Now frustrated, Thunder Rosa gets The Pink Striker in a sleeper headlock and her opponent fights to stay awake.

Miyu fights her way back to her feet and elbows Rosa off her. She gets her in yet another snapmare, but  this she starts letting loose brutal kicks to both Rosa's front and back. Rosa topples over and Miyu goes for the pin, but La Mera Mera still kicks out. Rosa is up against the ropes and at the mercy of Miyu's savage kicks, living up to her moniker. Miyu whips Rosa against the turnbuckle so hard that she falls over after bumping into it. Miyu goes for the pin but the AEW Women's Champ kicks out.

Miyu picks up Thunder Rosa with a Gut Wrench and drops her on her knee with a Gut Buster. Miyu tries to pick her up again but Rosa counters with the Tijeras, not only getting her off her but also causing her to tumble out of the ring. Rosa runs and slides under the ropes to hit Miyu with a dropkick so hard, she bumped into some people in the front row (which luckily are Junior Joshi members, not innocent bystanders). Rosa grabs Miyu, hitting her with several elbows to the back of the head before picking her up and dropping her onto the ring apron. 

As Thunder Rosa brags to the Junior Joshis in Spanish, Miyu runs along the apron and kicks her in the face. The Pink Striker gets the AEW Women's Champ into the ring and goes for the pin but she still can't keep her down. Miyu gets Rosa in a Head/Arm Lock Sleeper, and La Mera Mera powers through it, punching her in the midsection to get her to let go. Miyu knees her in the stomach hard, and then does a headlock takedown, still not letting go. With Miyu now trapping Rosa in a forward variation of the Cobra Clutch, the champ fights to not get humbled. Rosa tries to avoid passing out and manages to get her leg on the ropes to break the sleeper hold.

Miyu picks up Rosa in a Fireman's Carry but the champ fights her way out before she could get slammed. Miyu still manages hit her with a spin kick to the stomach. Rosa ducks under a second kick and kicks her in the midsection. With Miyu doubled over, Rosa grabs her in a Stunner. Rosa and Miyu are up against the ropes on opposite sides of the ring, and the champs runs at her with a jumping lariat, making her drop. Rosa climbs on the ropes and hits her with a double knee strike to the face. Rosa grabs Miyu and leaves her hanging on the middle rope. She then runs at her and hits her with a vicious dropkick across the back. Rosa poses for the crowd and runs at her with another dropkick, this time nailing her opponent in the stomach. La Mera Mera grabs The Pink Striker in a Northern Lights Suplex but Miyu still manages to kick out.

Both competitors get back to their feet and start having an all out slugfest. After a violent series of multiple strikes between the two, Rosa goes for the ropes and gets Miyu into a roll up and does a double stomp on her midsection. Rosa crawls over to pin Miyu but her opponent still manages to kick out. Thunder Rosa goes for the top turnbuckle, but takes a while to get up due to the exhaustion and all the damage taken during the match. Miyu gets up in time and hits her with a high kick to the face. She then grabs her and tosses her off the top turnbuckle and onto the mat. 

Thunder Rosa forces herself back up to her feet but Miyu knocks her down with a kick. Both women are completely worn out at this point. Rosa gets back up and puts a golden-colored mouth guard on. Miyu goes for a hard kick but this time Rosa catches her foot and starts throwing chops at her. Rosa trips her down and turns to pose and scream for the crowd, unaware that Miyu got right back up. The Pink Striker goes for another roundhouse kick, this time hitting the mark. With Rosa dazed, Miyu pulls her closer to the middle of the ring and kicks her down onto her back. 

Thunder Rosa runs at Miyu and doubles her over with a toe kick, and then picks her up to slam her with the Death Valley Driver. Miyu is able to still find the power to kick out of another pinfall attempt from the champ. Rosa tries to grab Miyu for the Fire Thunder Driver, but she slips out of it. Before Rosa can figure out what's going on, Miyu clocks her with the Skull Kick, making her drop like a bag of bricks. Somehow, Thunder Rosa still kicks out of the pin, much to Miyu's disbelief. Exhausted and frustrated, Miyu grabs Rosa with a Suplex Pin but she still can't keep down for the three count.

Desperate to end this, Miyu picks up Rosa for the Attitude Adjustment but the champs pulls her down for a Small Package Pin. Both women struggle to see who can keep the other's shoulders down long enough and Miyu scores the pinfall over Thunder Rosa! This earns her shot against the champ at a future match in AEW.

Match 2- Willow Nightingale vs Mila Moore

Both women start the match in a grapple, trying to gain control of each other's arms until Willow picks up Mila and body slams her. With Mila down, Willow runs into her with a body splash. With Mila against the ropes, Willow runs into her with a hip attack. Willow then gets her into a suplex pin but Mila kicks out. 

Willow runs towards Mila, but her opponent manages to boot her in the face and slam her up against the turnbuckle. Mila takes this chance to throw some kicks and then a Pump Kick to Willow's face. Mila then bashes Willow's face against the top turnbuckle. She grabs her for another move but Willow cartwheels out of her grasp and kicks her across the face. Willow drops Mila twice with clotheslines and then picks her up and gets her in a Scoop Slam.

Willow tries to pick up Mila with a Gut Wrench, but Mila gets out of it and kicks her in the midsection. As Willow is doubled over, Mila hops on her back and slams her with a Back Stabber. Mila goes for the pin but can't keep her down. Mila slaps her across the face which fires Willow up. As Mila bounces off the ropes, Willow knocks her down with The Pounce. With Mila up against the ropes, Willow runs into her with the Cannonball. Willow finishes this up by grabbing Mila and slamming her with the Doctor Buster. She pins her and gets the win and dances her way to victory.

My Thoughts- 

Wow, this was one hell of an amazing episode of Dark with an international match that will now lead to a title match in AEW. I was going to add a NWA match here since we only had 2 matches but that near 20 match between Thunder Rosa and Miyu Yamashita was already making this article long enough. 

It was an intense match with a slow build, and we also got to see a lot of actual technical wrestling, grapples and reversals. Both women went from 'alright, I see you, whatever you can do I can do' to 'ok, now she's pissing me off' to all out 'WHY WON'T SHE STAY DOWN?!' 

One of the memorable spots was their little 'snapmare/kick across the back' face off. Like we've seen people get into a chop contest, or they start trading blows, but never a contest between who does the best snapmare.

It was an awesome match and I can't wait to see the rematch. Thunder Rosa has already proven herself in several matched, but Miyu really impressed me and her Skull Kick is sick. 

Willow was a fun little match as she's overly cheerful, dances a lot and overall adorable. Mila put up a decent fight but it was all Willow. 

Overall amazing and super special episode of Dark. Definitely not one you want to miss if you want to see Thunder Rosa go all out against an awesome opponent.