AEW Dark Elevation Episode 79 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

We got four matches this week as Madison Rayne enters the mix and we also get to see Skye face off against Diamante.

Match 1- House of Black's Julia Hart vs Alice Crowley

This match kicks things off as Julia Hart comes in with a slightly new look and her own theme music now (rather than the shared theme for the House of Black members). Julia gives Alice the cold dark stare, freaking her out a little. Both women lock up and Alice grabs Julia's arm. Julia grabs her opponent by the hair and gets her up against the turnbuckle. Julie goes for a swing but misses, and Alice gets her up against the ropes and gets in several hits. 

Alice goes to Julia and tries to grab her but Julia grabs her by the hair again and throws her onto her back. Julia hits her with the standing moonsault but then gets up to break her own pin, getting Alice in a headlock. Julia gets Alice back to her feet but her opponent socks her in the face. Alice goes for the ropes but as she bounces back, Julia kicks her in the face, laying her out. 

Julia grabs and shoves Alice face first into the top turnbuckle and starts hitting her. The ref breaks it up and Julia smacks her opponent across the face, before planting her boot up against her throat. The ref tries to stop this and Julia scares him off. Julia grabs Alice but her opponent tries to get her in a back suplex. Alice didn't notice that Julia landed on her feet behind her and turns around to get a kick to the face. Julia runs and knocks her down with an elbow to the back of the head. She then grabs her and locks her in a submission move, making her tap. Julia Hart wins one for the House of Black.

Match 2- Nikki Victory vs "The Professor" Serena Deeb 

The match starts with Deeb refusing to take her robe off despite both Nikki and the ref complaining about it. Deeb tries to blindside Nikki during the distraction, but she gets out of the way and Deeb hits the turnbuckle instead. Nikki takes this chance to get a few forearms shots on her. Nikki hits her with a running crossbody, then climbs the robes and knocks her down with a crossbody splash. Deeb rolls out of the ring to regroup and Nikki runs and slides under the ropes, kicking her against the barricade.

Nikki grabs Deeb and rolls her back into the ring. As Nikki tries to climb back in, Deeb grabs her legs and hits her with a Dragon Screw while she's still tangled with the ropes. Deeb gets her with the Dragon Screw two more times as Nikki falls and rolls into the ring. Deeb, still wearing her robe, hits Nikki with the Swinging Neckbreaker and goes for the pin. Nikki kicks out.

Deeb hits Nikki with two chops across the chest and then knocks her down with an uppercut. Deeb finally takes her robe off as Nikki struggles to get back to her feet. Deeb kicks her around a bit and then gets her in a headlock takedown. She then wraps her opponent's legs like a pretzel, planting her foot between them. She then bends her legs back as she plants her other knee onto her spine and flexes for the crowd. To make things even worse for Nikki, Deeb gets her hand in her mouth and starts pulling back. 

Deeb lets her go and poses for the crowd. She then smacks Nikki around until she gets mad and tries to take a swing at her. Deeb grabs her and knocks her down with a lariat. Deeb grabs her arm and motions to the the crowd that it's time for the Serenity Lock, but Nikki gets up and hits her in the face. Nikki whips Deeb towards the ropes but The Professor gets out of the way before she could run into her. Nikki goes after Deeb but Deeb slips under the ropes and grabs her, pretty much folding her in half and sitting on her back, wrenching her arms back. Nikki gives up and Deeb wins the match. 

Match 3- Skye Blue VS Diamante

Both women to lock up but Diamante slips behind her for a rear waist lock. Skye reverses this with her own rear waist lock and tries to get her in a crucifix pin. Skye holds onto her wrist and Diamante slaps her wrist free and socks her in the face. Diamante runs towards Skye but she gets out of the way and tries to pin her with a back bridge pin. Diamante kicks out. Diamante grabs her and socks her in the face. She whips Skye towards the ropes and runs after her but Skye hops onto the apron and socks her in the face. Diamante rams her shoulder into Skye, making her hang off the ropes. Diamante then runs does a sliding dropkick that knocks Skye off the apron and onto the floor.

Diamante taunts the crowd that was cheering for Skye, and rolls her opponent back into the ring. Diamante hits Skye with an elbow drop right across the back. She then starts driving her knees into Skye and grabs her in a headlock. Skye powers herself back to her feet and tries to sock Diamante off her. Diamanate slams her face first into the mat and goes for the pin. Skye kicks out.

Diamante gets Skye back to her feet and they trade blows. Diamante whips Skye against the turnbuckle and hits her with a running elbow, making her fall to the mat. Diamante runs towards Skye for a shotgun dropkick but Skye gets out of the way, making her hit the bottom turnbuckle instead. As both women approach each other they start trading blows once again. Diamante gets Skye against the ropes and Skye knocks her down with a flying headscissors. With Diamante up against the ropes, Skye hits her face with a rising knee strike. Skye then knocks her down with a running dropkick to the face. 

Skye goes for the pin and Diamante shoves her off. Skye gets into position to hit her with a thrust kick as Diamante gets back to her feet, but instead she catches her and hits with her a German Suplex. Diamante hangs on and goes for a second German Suplex. As she tries to go for a third, Skye manages to get behind her and grab her. Diamante still gets behind her and slams her with a third German Suplex, going for the pin but Skye kicks out. 

Skye manages to hit Diamante with a thrust kick to the face, but Diamante throws a punch back at her. Diamante goes for The Cazadora, but Skye catches her and reverses into the Flatliner. Skye pins her and scores the win in her hometown Chicago.

Match 4- Marina Shafir & Nyla Rose W/ Vickie Guerrero vs Madison Rayne & Queen Aminata

We start off the Main Event with Madison and Marina locking up, Marina being the first to knock her down. Madison grabs her in a rear waist lock but Marina flips her to her back, still keeping a hold of her wrist. Madison gets back up but Marina kicks out her leg, making her fall again as she still holding on to her arm. Madison gets up and hits her in the face. Marina tries to get at her, but Madison kicks her back long enough for her to take to the ropes. Madison knocks her down with an off the rope dropkick. 

Vickie starts yelling at Madison, drawing her attention. As Madison gets into her face, Marina tries to get behind her. Madison socks Marina across the face and turns her attention back to Vickie. This time though, Marina manages to knock her down with a kick to the face. Marina tags in Nyla who hits Madison with an elbow drop.

Marina and Nyla grabs Madison and whip her back against the turnbuckle. Marina then kicks her leg to make her fall and Nyla lands on her with a body splash. Nyla goes for the pin but Aminata runs in to shove her off. Nyla goes after Aminata and Madison tries to tag her in. Nyla grabs her to try to prevent this, but Madison hits her with a jawbreaker and tags Aminata in. 

Aminata hits Nyla with a headbutt. Nyla tries to go for the choke slam but Aminata slaps her hand away and hits her in the face. Nyla hits her back and picks her up for a body slam. Nyla then lands on Aminata with a legdrop. Nyla whips Aminata against the ropes and then shoves Madison back. As the ref tries to keep Madison from coming into the ring and Nyla taunts her, Marina takes the chance to choke Aminata. Aminata drops to the mat and Nyla presses her boot across her face as she tags Marina back in. 

Marina throws some elbow shots and then flips Aminata with a snapmare and kicks her across the back. Marina grabs her and hits with several hip attacks but Aminata gains control and hits her with the Flatliner. Both women are down but Marina manages to crawl over and tag Nyla in first. Nyla goes for a body splash but Aminata had her knees up. Aminata runs in to tag Madison back in.

Madison starts landing elbows and forearm shots to Nyla and then tries to knock her down with a shoulder block. The Native Beast is still standing and Madison hits her with the enzuiguri. Madison tries to get Nyla in some kind of slam but The Native Beast picks her up instead and tosses her back. Madison tries to go for a crucifix hold but Nyla picks her up again and socks her in the face. Nyla tags in Marina and they both pick her up and plant her with a DDT. Nyla goes over to shove Aminata out of the way as Marina pins Madison for the win. 

My Thoughts- 

It was a fun set of matches. I always enjoy seeing Julia psyche her opponents out with the dark glare. This time she came in with a new outfit that actually says 'House of Black' across her chest and she got a sweet new theme song too. However, after the events of AEW All Out where it seemed that Malakai Black will be bowing out for a while, I do wonder what will happen to the House of Black and Julia Hart, especially since she got all this new stuff going for her.

The match between Deeb and Nikki was cool. Deeb came in with the mind games, refusing to take off her robe, even though she didn't use it to cheat with in any way. I honestly thought she was going to keep it on for the whole match. Nikki did take the fight to her though. As usual, Deeb showed off new and different ways to hurt people and make them bend in ways they really shouldn't. Good showcase for both.

Skye and Diamante had a good showing too. Both of the have some good wrestling moves and aren't afraid to throw hard strikes. Very good win for Skye.

The main event was also alright, though it almost felt like a squash. Madison barely got much offense in and Queen Aminata barely got any ring time at all. I thought it was a good combination to pair up Madison Rayne with one of the lesser known wrestlers and give Aminata a chance to elevate herself, but she didn't get to do all that much. We got to see Nyla Rose throw people around, Marina Shafir bring the pain and Vickie with her heel manager shenanigans. 

Hopefully Queen Aminata will get more chances to shine because mixing up some of these newcomers like with bigger names like Madison Rayne is a great way to do it. 

Overall a decent show, though I feel the Main Event should have showcased everyone a bit better. I'm mostly curious about what awaits Julia Hart as the future of the House of Black is kind of uncertain.