AEW Elevation Ep 73 (women's matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Match 1- Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir w/ Vickie Guerrero vs Angelica Risk and Shalonce Royal 

Nyla wastes not time starting the match by kicking Angelica down and tossing her across the ring. Nyla grabs her and tosses her a second time, almost over the entire ring. The Native Beast grabs Angelica and tags in Marina. Marina kicks Angelica in the ribs and then hits her with two uppercuts and flips her to the mat. Marina grabs her arm but Angelica fights back, trying to get loose and tag in her partner. Marina pulls her back to the mat and stomps on her. 

Marina is still holding onto Angelica's wrist and she drags her over as she tags in Nyla. Nyla grabs her arm and knocks her down with a clothesline. Nyla knocks her down a second time and gets her in a fireman's carry. Angelica fights her way out of it and bounces off the ropes. She runs towards Nyla hoping to knock her down, but she gets an elbow to the face instead. Nyla picks up Angelica in a fireman's carry and slams her down into a cutter, going for the pin. Shalonce runs in to shove her off. 

Nyla tags Marina in, and The Problem walks right over to Shalonce and kicks her off the apron. Nyla holds Angelica up while Marina kicks her in the back and then circles around to kick her in the face. Nyla slams Angelica down with a Spine Buster and Marina pins her and win the match.

Match 2- Toni Storm vs Emi Sakua w/Baliyan Akki

As Toni poses to the crowd, Emi whips her with her ridiculously long cape. As the bell rings, Emi grabs Toni and bounces her throat against the ropes and then kicks her down. She hits Toni with a harsh chop and then tosses her across the ring. Toni grabs Emi's hair, intending to throw her across the ring, but her opponent puts on the brakes and hits her face with a Mongolian Chop. Emi grabs her again and flings her across the ring. Emi folds Toni up and sits on her drinking some 'tea', which she offers to the ref.

Emi gets off her opponent and as Toni is trying to recover, Emi walks by and slaps her butt. While Toni was shocked by that show of disrespect, Emi stomps on her back. Emi grabs her in a rear waist lock but Toni elbows her back. She then trips Emi so she falls face first into the matt. Toni runs across the ring and knocks her down with a dropkick. Toni grabs Emi's hair and is able to fling her across the ring.

Toni goes over to grab Emi, but her opponent reverses this into a Dragon Sleeper. Emi gets up and transitions the Dragon Sleeper into a Swinging Neckbreaker. Emi waits for Toni to get up and knocks her back down with a chop. Toni finally gets up and shoves her back angrily. Toni and Emi trade chops but Emi's chop knocks Toni flat on her back. Emi starts clapping and chanting Toni's name in a teasing manner until she gets up and hits her in the face. Emi dares her to hit her and she takes all of the punches that Toni throws at her. Emi acts like she's going to chop her, but actually grabs and claws her across the chest.

Emi grabs Toni for a backbreaker, but Toni flips her over in a back drop. Toni runs towards her but Emi shoulder blocks her. Toni flips Emi over the ropes and both women fall out of the ring. Toni grabs her opponent and tries to go for a Swinging DDT but Emi avoids it and chops her. Emi rolls in and out of the ring to break the count and then shoves Toni against the barricade. Emi swings Toni up against the ring apron and then swings her back against the barricade. Emi tries to swing her again towards the ring apron but Toni sticks her leg out to stop it. She then succeeds in getting Emi into the Swinging DDT. This takes both women out.

Baliyan Akki helps Emi get back into the ring and Toni gets in his face. Back in the ring, Toni leaps off the top turnbuckle for a Flying Body Splash and pin Emi Sakura, but can't keep her down. Toni runs towards Emi with her Hip Attack, but crashes into the ring post instead. Emi takes advantage of this to do her Freddy Mercury Chops on Toni, ending with a running crossbody splash. Emi grabs Toni for a delayed vertical hold and drops her on her knee. Emi goes for the pin and Toni somehow kicks out.

Emi goes for another backbreaker but Toni reverses this into a Spine Buster. Toni hits Emi with the Hip Attack and nails her with a Swinging DDT. She picks her up for a Pendulum DDT and pins her down for the win.

Match 3- Kris Statlander vs Brittany 

Kris grabs Brittany in a rear waist lock which Brittany reverses with one of her own. Kris grabs and swings her down to the mat. Kris gets her in a headlock takedown. Brittany gets her legs around Kris' neck, but she surprisingly does a handstand to get out of it. Kris flips out of the handstand and kicks Brittany in the face on the way down. 

Brittany starts throwing some elbows at her Kris and taunts her. Kris grabs her and Power Slams her. Kris whips Brittany against the ropes and runs into her with an uppercut. With Brittany still hanging off the ropes, Kris runs into her with a flying knee to the face. 

Kris grabs Brittany for a scoop slam but she gets out of it and tries to get her taller opponent in a Crucifix Pin. Kris manages to hold onto her and then move her into position for a Night Fever piledriver. Kris pins Brittany and gets the win. 

Match 4- Hikaru Shida vs Robyn Renegade w/Charlette Renegade 

Both women grapple until Robyn rudely shoves her off. Robyn starts talking trash and Shida takes a swing at her. Robyn ducks it and kicks her in the midsection. Shida bounces off the ropes and takes Robyn down with a flying headscissors. With Robyn up against the ropes, Shida hits her with a running knee strike. Hikaru climbs onto the ropes and starts throwing punches at Robyn. Robyn shoves her off but Shida is able to land on the apron, rather than fall out of the ring. Robyn tries to punch her off the apron but Shida socks her hard enough to knock her on her back.

Shida is about to climb back into the ring but Charlette grabs onto her boot from the outside. Robyn runs in to grab Shida by the hair and slam her into the mat. Robyn gets Shida up against the ropes and hits her with a chop. Shida knocks her back with an elbow strike. Charlette climbs onto the apron and sock Shida out while the ref is busy seeing if Robyn was ok.

Shida angrily chases Charlette outside of the ring just as Robyn rolls out. As Shida runs towards her, Robyn knocks her down. Robyn gets Shida up against the barricade and throws some hard chops at the former AEW Women's Champ. She goes for a third but Shida ducks it and starts rockin' Robyn with punches and forearm shots. Shida grabs her and rolls her back into the ring. As Shida runs towards her opponent, Robyn manages to grab her in the Back Stabber. Robyn goes for the pin but Shida kicks out. 

Shida grabs Robyn and hits her with her several punches. Both women try to whip each other into the ropes and Robyn gets the advantage on Shida. Robyn charges towards Shida, but the former champ rolls out of the way and she hits the ringpost. Shida goes for a punch which Robyn blocks, but she hits her with the next one. Shida then hangs her up over the ropes. Hikaru Shida runs at her and clocks her in the face with a knee strike, making her drop off the ropes. 

Shida climbs on the ropes and hits Robyn with a Springboard Meteora. She then picks her up and slams her with a brainbuster. She goes for the pin but Robyn kicks out. Shida picks her up but Robyn gouges her eyes. Charlette switches places with Robyn and Shida, still recovering her vision grabs her and slams her face into the turnbuckle. Shida tries to grab her for an off the rope move, but Charlette bounces the former champ's throat against the ropes. 

Charlette climbs into the ring as if she was her twin and grabs Shida with the Spine Buster. She goes for the pin. The ref finally catches on that Charlette is the one with her hair out while Robyn has hers tied up, so he didn't fall for the old switcheroo. Robyn tries to run in while Shida is distracted but she's able to shove her into her sister. Shida goes for the ropes and knocks Robyn back with a dropkick while landing onto Charlette with a body splash. Shida shoves Charlette out of the ring and is ready to end this. Robyn goes for a kick but Shida catches her foot. She hits Robyn with an axe kick and then picks her up to slam her with the Falcon Arrow. Shida gets the pin and scores the win.

My Thoughts- 

Wow, this was a very entertaining episode of Dark Elevation. We got to see Nyla and Marina destroy their opponents. Sadly Shalonce and her cheesy high notes were barely in it as Angela took most of the damage during the entire match. 

Kris Statlander got to show off her incredible strength, and the crowd was impressed by her handstand spot. Hikaru Shida had to content with both of the Renegade Sisters despite the fact that this was supposed to be a one on one match. I'm really glad they didn't fall for the twin magic this time because it was painfully obvious that one of them had longer hair than the other. 

Now surprisingly the match between Toni Storm and Emi Sakura was pretty intense and a full on match. Emi pulled out all sorts of tricks and new antics, alongside her familiar 'We Will Rock You' chops and this new tea party thing she's doing. Stuff like the fake-out chop turned claw against the chest and the Dragon Sleeper into Swinging Neckbreaker. Toni really hung on the most she could until she could finally find some openings. This match could have been on TV and to be honest, I wouldn't even have minded if Emi won this one. Toni is a big enough name for this loss not to hurt her and she could always use this as a rematch. Pretty good match and definitely makes Dark Elevation worth watching. 

C'mon Tony, let's get Emi Sakura back on TV. Sure she's full of cheese, but if you have Orange Cassidy and Danhausen running around, there's always room for The Queen. 

Gotta love the shock and offended look on Toni's face after Emi slapped her butt

Also in case you missed it from the previous article, we managed to get an interview with KiLynn King on the latest episode of the Diving Cutter Wrestling Podcast. While currently wrestling in NWA and CCW, she has been on Dark on several occasions and mixed it up with the likes of Hikaru Shida, Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker.

Diving Cutter Wrestling Podcast Special Episode- Interview with KiLynn King!