AEW Dark Elevation Episode 88- 11/7/2022 (Women's Matches)

 By Mark Rodriguez

We got some good matches today as Athena continues to walk the path of the heel and Tay Melo actually has in-ring action. Let's take a look.

Match 1- Abadon vs Amy Rose

Abadon starts the match by being creepy and yelling at Amy Rose, which freaks her out. Abadon takes this chance to knock Amy down with a running clothesline. Amy crawls over to the ropes to recover and Abadon runs in and hits her with a running lariat from behind. They then get her in a Fishook, forcing her to pose for the camera. Abadon gets up and strikes a pose, showing much they've changed from being just a zombie.

As Abadon goes over to the opponent, Amy gets up and kicks their knee. As Abadon drops to their knee, Amy hits them in the face and runs over to knocks them face-first into the mat. Amy goes for the pin but Abadon kicks out. Abadon rises like the undead and kicks Amy across the face. Abadon runs in and kicks Amy in the chest, knocking her backwards into the mat. Abadon grabs Amy in the Black Dahlia and pins her for the win.

Match 2- Athena vs Abby Jane

Both women grapple and they try to dominate each other's wrist. Athena manages to get Abby in an arm drag takedown and get her in a wristlock. Abby gets back to her feet and shoves Athena towards the ropes. Athena holds onto the ropes to prevent herself from bouncing off them. Abby runs towards her and jumps off the ropes, flipping Athena to the mat with an arm drag. Athena lands on her feet and runs towards Abby, who knocks her back with a dropkick. 

With Athena up against the ropes, Abby runs into her with a hip attack. She then whips The Fallen Goddess to the other side of the ring and hits her with a running forearm. Abby knocks Athena down with a Discus Punch. She then hits her with a spinning kick to the face but this just pisses Athena off. Abby goes for a jawbreaker but Athena just angrily shoves her to the mat. She then knocks her down for the Ground and Pound. 

Abby rolls out the ring and Athena gives chase. As Athena drops out of the ring, Abby hits her in the face. Both women start throwing down until the ref breaks it up and reminds them of the ring out. Athena socks her in the face, hard enough to knock her down. Athena angrily grabs Abby and swings her into the ring post.

Athena grabs Abby and runs her over towards the steel steps. She then slams Abby's face into the steps. Athena pretty much ignores the ref continuing the count as she shoves Abby into the steel steps again. She stomps her against the back and finally gets Abby back into the ring. Once inside, Athena grabs Abby in the Crossface and she quickly taps out. Athena wins the match but she doesn't let go until the ref pulls her off of Abby. 

Athena gets into the ref's face and then runs back to get Abby into the crossface again. After she lets go she slaps Abby around and talks trash while the crowd boos her. Athena leaves the ring insulting at the unhappy audience.

Match 3- Trish Adora vs Tay Melo w/ Sammy Guevara 

Trish runs up to Tay, but gets caught in an arm drag and roll up pin attempt. Trish quickly gets out of it, but Tay grabs her in a German Suplex. As Trish tries to get back to her feet, Tay knocks her down with a running knee to the face. 

Tay wastes time blowing kisses to Sammy and when she turns around, Trish unloads a series of forearms and chops to her. Tay tanks all of these until Trish reels back and socks her in the face. Tay angrily knocks Trish down with a high kick to the face. Tay goes over to kiss Sammy some more and finally walks over to Trish, who is still on the mat.

Tay tries to pull Trish back to her feet. Trish yanks her towards her and slams her face into the mat with  wristlock takedown. Trish whips her towards the ropes, but Tay rolls out of the way as her opponent runs and slams into the ring post. Tay runs at her and clocks her with a flying knee to the face. Tay runs back and returns with a running Pump Kick. Tay runs to the opposite side of the ring and nails her with a second Pump Kick. With Trish staggering to her feet, Tay grabs her and hits with the Tay-K-O. Trish drops like a rock and Tay pins her for the win. Sammy runs in to help her celebrate.

My thoughts- 

Pretty basic episode tonight, at least when it comes to the womens' matches of course. The Abadon match was ok, though I was mostly interested in the new personality they exhibited. Abadon still creeps out their opponents and still does the the Undertaker sit up, but they seems to act like more than just a violent zombie.

Athena goes full heel in this match, while in her match against Janai Kai didn't have her show her violent side until the end. In this match she's slamming Abby all over the steel steps and mocking and threatening the ref. I wonder how long before we see this new heel version of Athena on Dynamite and Rampage.

Finally we got to see a bit of Tay. Not a fan of her and Sammy making out all the time, but that is their current heel gimmick. Apparently Tay has had a few matches on Rampage here and there, but I have been missing those episodes due to our podcast. Not sure I liked Tay no-selling all those elbows to the face though.

What is interesting is how the commentary hyped up Trish Adora. She has been seen a lot on Dark/Dark Elevation lately. Most of the time she's in tag matches where we barely see her do much. I do like her overall look so I hope we get to see more of her moves as she moves on up in the AEW ranks.