AEW Dark Episode 165 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Tonight we have a couple of good matches including Toni Storm facing off against Emi Sakura as well as Hikaru Shida VS Marina Shafir. We also have a cool trios match that brings Brittany Blake back to the ring.

Match 1- Penelope Ford, Serena Deeb & Jamie Hayter VS Jordan Blake, Trish Adora & Brittany Blake

The match opens with Brittany and Deeb locking up. Deeb shoves her opponent up against the turnbuckle where she hits her with several overhead chops. She then grabs her and slams her face into the turnbuckle on the other side of the ring. Deeb knocks her down with another hard chop. She then grabs her and knocks her down with a lariat. Brittany gets tossed towards she corner and she takes the chance to tag in Jordan Blade. Jordan is not intimidated by Deeb at all and gets all in her face. 

Jordan Blade shows no fear towards Serena Deeb

Jamie Hayter wants in and Deeb tags her in. Jamie wastes no time in mowing Jordan down with a running shoulder tackle. She grabs Jordan and swings her towards the ropes, knocking her down with another shoulder tackle. Jamie grabs her opponent and slams her with a Snap Suplex, sending her near Deeb's corner. Jamie runs over and knocks Trish and Brittany off the ring apron, then gives a running Back Elbow onto Jordan. She then tags in Penelope Ford.

Penelope starts kicking Jordan down and then pulls her towards the center of the ring. Jordan hits her in the face and from there both women start trading blows. As Penelope runs against the ropes, Jordan grabs her, getting her ready for a Scoop Slam. Penelope grabs onto her, gouging her in the eyes until she lets her go. Jordan goes to her corner and tags Trish in. Trish runs at Penelope who avoids her running elbow by doing her Matrix Evasion. 

Penelope grabs Trish and sends her face-first into the turnbuckle. She then hits her with an uppercut and then gets some space to do her Handspring Back Elbow to her face. Penelope bites Trish in the face and then hits her with a running High Boot. Jamie is tagged in and hits Trish with a Running Elbow that knocks her down. Deeb is tagged in and she grabs Trish's legs, catapulting her face into the ropes. 

Deeb grabs Trish in a Swinging Neckbreaker. Deeb then prepares to grab Trish in the Serenity Lock to end this but Brittany comes in to kick her across the face. Brittany then runs at Jamie, who manages to pick her up and slam her onto her knee. Jamie grabs Jordan and sends her over to Penelope who knocks her down with a Big Boot to the face. Deeb, still being the legal wrestler, takes advantage of the madness to grab Trish in the Serenity Lock and make her tap. Serena Deeb, Penelope Ford and Jamie Hayter win the match.

Match 2- Marina Shafir VS Hikaru Shida

After Marina makes her way to the ring, Hikaru Shida comes in showing off her new titles as she is now the Regina Di Wave Champ and also one half of the International Ribbon Tag Team Champions alongside Ibuki Hoshi. The match opens with Shida and Shafir grappling intensely. After a lengthy struggle both women break away, glaring at each other. 

Both women grapple again and Marina manages to get Hikaru up against the ropes. She pulls her legs out from under her, but the former AEW champ kicks Marina back before she can do anything else. Marina cartwheels out of the way of any further attack. Both women get in each other's faces. Hikaru bounces off the ropes, looking like she's about to do a dropkick but instead sends her down to the mat with the flying headscissors. 

Hikaru gets out of the ring and drags Marina over so her head is hanging off the apron. Vickie tries to interfere but Hikaru gets in her face, right before kneeing Marina in the face. Suddenly, Hikaru finds herself caught between Nyla, who has her kendo stick in hand, and Vickie Guerrero. While she is distracted, Marina holds onto the ropes and wraps her legs around Shida's neck. 

Marina lets Shida go and then pulls her into the ring. She slams the former AEW champ to the mat with a hip toss. Marina grabs Shida and hits her with hip attacks until she drops to her knees. As Shida tries to recover, Marina grabs her and slams her with a German Suplex. With Shida dazed, Marina starts kneeing her in the face and talking smack to her. She picks her up for another slam but Shida manages to get out of it and bounces off the ropes for a shoulder tackle. This only rattles The Problem but doesn't knock her down.

Marina and Hikaru trade blows, with the former AEW champ taking the worst of it each time. Marina eggs her on to keep hitting her and Hikaru responds with several strikes to the face. This barely phases Marina and when she goes in for a punch, Hikaru counters and socks her in the face. With Marina dazed, Hikaru goes for another running tackle, this time knocking her off her feet. 

Shida gets Marina up against the turnbuckle and hits her with 10 shots to the face. She then kicks Marina away as she climbs the top turnbuckle. Shida knocks Marina down with a missile dropkick and goes for the pin. Marina kicks out and Hikaru goes to the ropes to try again. This time Marina manages to kick her in the face, making her hit the apron. Hikaru holds onto the ropes to avoid hitting the floor. Marina grabs her legs and Hikaru kicks her away. Marina cartwheels out of the way but this time Hikaru predicted she would do that and smacks her in the face. 

Hikaru runs and jumps towards Marina, but The Problem catches her. Hikaru lands shots to the face, making her opponent let go. The former champ kicks Marina and gets her ready for a Falcon Arrow slam. Marina counters her and slams her down, trying to get her into her Greedy submission hold. Shida gets out of it but Marina isn't letting her go, getting her in a rear naked choke hold. Shida struggles and rolls backwards to get out of it and then kicks her opponent across the spine.

Both women are down and struggling to get back to their feet. Nyla Rose and Vickie are trying to hype up Marina so she can stand back up. Hikaru runs in with a lariat but misses. Marina goes for a kick but also misses and gets her foot tangled in the ropes. Hikaru takes this chance to land a shot to the back of the head. She then grabs Marina and slams her with the Falcon Arrow. She goes for the pin but Marina still manages to kick out. Hikaru gets into position and nails Marina in the face with The Katana kick and this time gets the pin. Hikaru Shida wins the match!

Match 3- "The Fallen Goddess " Athena vs Gia Scott

Both women grapple and Athena gets Gia in a side headlock. Gia tries to pick her up but Athena counters with a headlock takedown. Gia powers her way to her feet and shoves Athena towards the ropes. Athena gets her in what looks like a Flying Headscissors but stops and gets her into another headlock. Gia gets her towards the ropes but Athena puts her boots to them and backflips off of both the ropes and her opponent. 

Gia runs towards her and Athena gets her into another headlock takedown. Gia gets to her feet and sends Athena crashing into the ring post. She then shoves the Fallen Goddess backwards, making her fall to the mat. Athena manages to land and roll back to her feet, but when she runs towards Gia, her opponent spikes her face first to the mat. Gia goes for the pin but Athena kicks out. 

Athena got SPIKED

Gia grabs Athena and sends her towards the ropes so hard, her back bounces against the ring post and she falls face down onto the mat. Gia grabs her by the hair and starts talking smack. Athena socks her in the face. Gia fires back and both women trade blows, with Athena delivering the most damage. Athena knees her in the face and then goes for a spin kick but Gia ducks under it. Athena goes for a roll up pin but Gia kicks out. Gia picks up Athena and slams her with a Sky High Slam and tries to pin her but she can't keep her down.

Now frustrated, Gia gets on Athena and goes for the ground and pound. Gia gets up and starts kicking Athena across the spine. As she gets ready to kick her in the face, Athena ducks under the attack and flips to her feet. Athena lands a thrust kick to the face that rattles Gia, followed by a high boot to knock her down. Athena picks her up and slams her down. Gia quickly rolls out of the ring to get some breathing room.

Athena rolls out of the ring and gets a running start before driving Gia into the barricade with a flying dropkick. Athena sends Gia back into the ring and gets to the ropes. Gia is so rocked she doesn't know where she is. Athena jumps off the top turnbuckle and nails Gia with the O-Face. She pins her down and The Fallen Goddess wins the match.

Match 4- Toni Storm vs Emi Sakura- AEW Interim Women's World Championship Elimination Match (if Emi wins, she gets a shot at the title)

Toni reaches out for a handshake and Emi slaps her hand away. Emi grabs her and slams her face into the top turnbuckle. Emi then runs and drags Toni's face across the ropes letting out her anime laugh. She then tosses Toni across the ring. Emi then pulls Toni's legs out from under her, folds her up and sits on her while she enjoys some imaginary tea. As Emi gets up she slaps Toni on the butt which makes her angry.

The Interim Champ kicks Emi in the midsection and flips her to the mat. Emi angrily shoves Toni, and the champ shoves her back hard enough to make her fall. Toni then taunts her by imitating her 'tea stirring' gesture and then dumps the tea on her head. Toni follows it up by slapping Emi on the butt as well. Emi angrily runs towards her and Toni trips her with a Drop Toe Hold.

Emi gets a taste of her own medicine.. or tea in this case

Toni backwards slams her and goes for a pin. When Emi kicks out, Toni grabs her in a side headlock. Emi grabs her by the hair to get her to let go, and then shoves her towards the ropes. Toni knocks her down with a shoulder tackle, followed by a second one, and then a dropkick. Emi gets out of the ring and is by the apron, so Toni runs over and slides under the ropes to kick her to the floor. Toni follows her and picks her up but Emi claps her hands over her face. While Toni is dazed, Emi rams her back against the ring apron. Emi lifts Toni up, setting her feet onto the ring apron, then spins her and does a spinning backbreaker. 

Emi gets back into the ring and waits for Toni to follow her, still in pain from the backbreaker. Toni is up against the ropes and Emi runs over to knee her in the back and then presses her face against the turnbuckle with her boot. Emi smashes Toni's face against the top turnbuckle and then starts doing her chops to the beat of 'We Will Rock You'. Toni ducks out of the way before she can finish and starts hitting Emi with some chops of her own. 

Toni gets Emi in a Sunset Flip to pin her but she can't keep her down. Emi grabs onto her leg and starts biting into Toni's ankle. Emi grabs Toni's legs and gets her in the surfboard move, this time locking her hands around her neck. Toni refuses to give up and Emi just lets her go, making her drop to the mat.

Toni takes a swing at Emi but drops to one knee due to all the damage she's sustained. Both women trade punches, but Toni gets the worst of it since she can't stay standing. Emi tries to slam Toni with a backdrop, but the Interim Champ reverses it into a Crossbody Splash. Toni has Emi up against the ropes and now she starts doing the chops to the beat of Queen's classic song. Emi doesn't take kindly to that and thumbs her in the eye.

Emi starts kicking Toni around, taunting her and posing for the crowd. Both women trade blows again and Emi fakes a punch, raking her nails across Toni's chest instead. This leaves Toni wide open for Emi to knock her down with a chop and go for the pin. Toni takes a while to get back up and Emi comes in for a hard chop. Toni ducks under the shot, and grabs her for a German Suplex. 

Toni runs into Emi with an uppercut and then knocks her down with a running boot. She goes for the pin but Emi kicks out. Toni grabs Emi for another move but her opponent rakes her nails across her back. Emi reverses the move into a face buster, laying the champ out. Emi grabs Toni, and the champ fights her way out of her grasp by elbowing her on the top of the head. Toni runs towards Emi but she catches her and hits her with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. 

Toni is up against the ropes, trying to recover. Emi runs at her with a flying crossbody across the back, making Toni drop to the mat. Emi climbs the ropes and drops on her with a splash, targeting Toni's lower back. Emi picks her up in a delayed vertical position and brings her down with another backbreaker. Emi goes for the pin. Toni somehow kicks out. 

Toni struggled her way back to her feet and goes for the ropes. Emi runs at her and Toni grabs her, sending her flying with an off the rope DDT. Toni gets ready and then runs into Emi with the Hip Attack to the face. She picks up and nails her with the Storm Zero pile driver and goes for the pin. Toni Storm wins the match and Emi Sakura loses her title shot.

My Thoughts- 

A lot of good matches today and we got an interesting mix of wrestlers tonight. The Trios match was a lot of fun as Serena Deeb keeps coming up with new ways to cause pain to her opponents. The crowd really popped for Jamie Hayter and Penelope got to get some of the spotlight. Jordan Blade took most of the bumps here, though she got some offense in. I was looking forward to seeing more of Brittany Blake, but she barely got to do much and Trish Adora was basically just there. 

Athena VS Gia was pretty good as Gia really put The Fallen Goddess through her paces. The way she spiked Athena into the mat and she just dropped... that had to have been one of the most epic moves of the night. Athena was impressive as always, maybe a little too much of the side headlock thing during this match though. I also wish they'd rename the O-Face finisher into something less silly.

Hikaru Shida VS Marina Shafir was also pretty good with the former champ being pushed to her limits. People can say whatever they want about Marina, I still think she delivers a vicious offense and had one of the meanest glares one can give their opponent. Not creepy like Julia Hart, more like 'I'm not here for your games, I'm here to mess you up'. She's horrible at promos though, but she's decent in these Dark Matches. Hikaru Shida is amazing as always and it's always fun to see her in the ring. She also looks cool showing off those belts.

The match between Toni and Emi was pretty much main event material. I did like Toni throwing back some of Emi's antics in her face, even imitating the Freddie Mercury chops. She even got to slap her on the butt for all the times Emi has done to her in previous matches. While Toni pulled an impressive win, I would have wanted Emi to take this one. As the commentary repeated several times, had Emi Sakura won, she would have gotten a title shot against Toni and that match would have been either on Dynamite or Rampage. I've said countless times that we need Emi Sakura back on TV. She really shouldn't be stuck on Dark and Dark Elevation all the time. Anyways, it was an amazing match and Toni really fought hard to obtain this win.

I enjoyed the show tonight. Another thing worth mentioning is that AEW Dynamite this week opened up with the reveal that Renee Paquette is now All Elite.

Not only that, but Nyla Rose recently ran off with Jade's TBS title. She didn't win it in a match she literally stole it. Now she's defending a title she technically doesn't own against Ann Jay AS in the upcoming episode of AEW Rampage.