By Mark Rodriguez
We get 4 matches this week as we get to see more of Athena, Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida. Kayla Rossi also gets her chance to shine as we see if she will rise in the ranks. Also Emi Sakura returns with Mei Suruga.
Match 1-Ashley D'Amboise vs Kayla Rossi w/ Diamond Sheik
Ashley goes for a handshake but Kayla refuses. Both women lock up and Kayla hair tosses Ashley across the ring. Kayla eggs her on as Ashley tries to come to her senses. As Kayla runs towards the ring post, Ashley gets out of the way. Ashley then dropkicks her towards the turnbuckle, but she barely budges. As Ashley gets up, Kayla knocks her down with a running clothesline.
Kayla grabs onto Ashley, who tries to fight out of her grasp. Kayla knocks her down with a hammer punch across the back. Ashley crawls over to the ropes and Kayla follows her, proceeding to stomp all over her. She then stands on her chest with both feet until the ref breaks it up. Kayla gets onto the rope and backflips away from Ashley.
Kayla picks up Ashley in a fireman's carry, showing how effortlessly she can keep her up there. She then slams her with a Samoan Drop and flips back to her feet. Kayla then does a Twisting Body Press, which would also count as a pin, but she grabs Ashley and pulls her shoulders off the mat to stop the count. The Diamond Sheik tells Kayla 'it's done', so she picks up Ashley and slams her down with a spinebuster and gets the pin. Kayla Rossi wins the match, showing great promise in AEW.
Match 2- Anna Jay A.S. vs Sio Nieves
Both women grapple and Anna Jay backs Nieves up against the ropes. Anna Jay backs away and then lunges with a running elbow but misses. Nieves takes this chance to land some hits on her and then she whips her towards the ring post on the other side of the ring. Nieves runs towards her but Anna Jay gets out of the way, allowing her opponent to crash into the ringpost.
Anna Jay waste time posing and boasting to the audience when suddenly Nieves grabs her in a rear waist lock. Anna Jay shoves her off and then knocks her down with a running elbow. Anna Jay does more posing and then grabs Nieves, placing her head up against the ropes and pressing her knee up against her. The ref does the count to separate them and Anna Jay gets her opponent up against the ropes so she can hit her with elbow strikes. Anna Jay then presses her boot up against Nieves' throat.
Anna Jay whips Nieves to the other side of the ring and hits her with a running elbow. Nieves drops like a bag of bricks. Anna Jay taunts Nieves and goes over to sit on her and choke her. Anna Jay screams like she's insane while choking her and then calms down as she lets go.
Nieves tries to swing Anna Jay towards the ropes but she gets thrown there instead. Ann Jay runs at her with a high boot to the face and then gets her in the middle of the ring. Anna Jay gets her in the Queen Slayer and makes her tap. Ann Jay won the match!
Match 3- Athena vs Diamanté
Both women rush in to grapple, with Athena gaining control of Diamante's arm and backing her up against the ropes. The ref starts the count and Athena pulls back, tripping Diamante's leg out from under her. Diamante gets her in face and shoves her back. Athena shoves her right back. Diamante tries to shove her again and Athena grabs her arm and flips her to the mat with a wristlock takedown.
Diamante gets to her feet but Athena still has control of her wrist. Diamante rolls across the ring and flips to her feet, managing to get herself free and also hit Athena with a massive backhand. Athena charges towards Diamante, who knocks her down with an armdrag. Diamante then bounces off the ropes and sends Athena across the ring with the Tijeras.
Diamante bounces off the ropes and leaps towards Athena but is caught. Athena slams her down for a backbreaker, but doesn't let her go. She follows up with a Back Heel Trip. Athena picks her up and gets Diamante over the ropes and onto the ring apron. Diamante punches her across the back to try to break free. Athena climbs onto the ropes and Diamante gets her in a suplex across the floor outside the ring. Both women are down and Diamante tries to shake off the back pain and rolls her opponent back into the ring.
Diamante takes to the ropes and leaps off, getting Athena with a Diving Hurricarana. Diamante then gets Athena in the Cazadora followed by a Stunner and goes for the pin. The Fallen Goddess kicks out. Athena rolls out of the ring to regroup and Diamante goes after her. Athena grabs her and shoves her into the barricade. Athena then grabs her and ragdolls her, slamming her into the barricade from side to side. As Diamante struggles to get back up, Athena knocks her up against the guard rails with a shotgun dropkick. Athena grabs her and gets her back into the ring.
As Diamante tries to collect herself, Athena goes for the ropes. Diamante gets out of the way as Athena leaps off the ropes. Even though she missed, Athena lands and rolls to her feet. Diamante runs into her with an elbow to the face. This only pissed Athena off, who knocks Diamante down with a punch and then gets on for the Ground and Pound.
Athena grabs Diamante by the hair and gets her back to her feet. She picks up and slams her down with the Lawn Blower. Athena gets the pin and the win. As Diamante tries to get back up, Athena suddenly hits her with a superkick to the face, knocking her out.
Match 4- Aew Interm Women's World Champion Toni Storm & Hikaru Shida vs Emi Sakura & Mei Suruga
The match starts with Toni and Emi, in which Emi catches her opponent off guard with a knee to the midsection. As Toni is doubled over, Emi slaps her across the face and taunts her. Emi whips Toni against the ropes, but the Interim Champ bounces back and knocks her down with a kick to the chest. Toni runs over to the ropes and knocks Mei off the apron, and the runs back to knock down Emi with a dropkick. Toni runs over to Mei, who is still on the apron, and knocks her to the floor with a hip attack.
Emi grabs Toni by the hair, but Toni grabs her and hair-tosses her across the ring. Toni runs over and grabs Emi for a monkey flip. The crowd cheers as Toni runs over to Emi and sends her across the ring with another monkey flip. Toni gets ready for a running hip attack but Mei grabs her leg from outside the ring. Emi takes advantage of this to clap her hands over Toni's face, making her stumble to her knees. Emi knocks Toni down and starts folding her up to sit on her. Emi enjoys some tea as Mei comes in to join her.
Emi gives Toni a kick and then tags Mei in. Mei walks over to Toni, who is trying to crawl over to tag in her partner, and kicks her across the face. Mei keeps kicking her around until Toni gets back to her feet and shoves her back. Toni grabs one of Mei's cheeks and taunts her for being such a tiny thing. Mei takes this chance to chomp onto her hand. Toni tries to get her off and falls to the mat. Mei whips Toni towards the ropes and runs at her with a flying dropkick to the chest.
With Toni up against the ropes, Mei tags in Emi who starts hitting her with the 'We Will Rock You' chops. She also walks over and taunts Hikaru, who can't do anything to help her partner. Emi runs into Toni for a flying crossbody splash and tags Mei in. Mei comes in and drives the heel of her boot into Toni's face. As Toni gets up, Mei slugs her and Toni returns the favor. Both women get into each other's faces and start trading blows. Mei takes the worst of it and Toni hits her with a neckbreaker.
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| Even with the height difference, Mei refuses to back down |
Mei tags in her mentor while Toni tries to crawl over to tag in Hikaru. Emi grabs onto Toni's leg to pull her back, but she kicks her away with the enzuigi. Toni finally tags in Hikaru, who runs in to knock her former mentor down with a shoulder tackle. Shida walks over and slaps Mei off the ring apron. Hikaru grapples with Emi and socks her in the face. Hikaru bounces off the ropes and knocks Emi down with a jumping knee strike.
With Emi up against the ropes, Hikaru climbs over her and hits her with 10 strikes. She then kicks Emi away and knocks her down with a dropkick off the ropes. Hikaru goes for the pin but Emi gouges her in the eyes, making her break the pin. Hikaru tries to pick up Emi, but her former teacher reverses it with a swinging neckbreaker. Emi tags in Mei and Hikaru starts throwing punches at both of them. Emi and Mei grabs Hikaru in an attempt to do a double suplex on them. Toni comes in to help her partner. Emi and Mei scrape their nails across the backs of their opponents and use this chance to double suplex them.
Mei positions Toni side by side with Hikaru and she jumps onto Emi's shoulders. Both women pose as they land on their opponents with a steamroller senton. Emi keeps Toni up against the ring post as Mei grabs Hikaru into a high roll up pin. Hikaru just barely manages to kick out. Mei bounces off the ropes and leaps into Hikaru who catches her and slams her with a Brain Buster. Mei tries to go for the two-finger eye poke but Hikaru catches her wrist. She then knocks her down with the enzuigiri. Hikaru runs for the ropes but Emi grabs her and gouges her eyes. Mei yanks Hikaru backwards, making her fall to the mat.
Emi goes for the ropes and does a Moonsault, but misses since Hikaru got out of the way. Mei runs into Toni who manages to catch her and slam her down into a backbreaker. Still holding onto Mei, she stomps forward, hitting Mei with a backbreaker every step of the way, making it 4 total before she slams her back into the ring post. With Mei caught between the ropes, Hikaru grabs Emi and suplexes her towards her. Hikaru gets out of the way as Toni runs into both Mei and Emi with the Hip Attack. Toni gets Mei into the middle of the ring where Hikaru knocks her out with The Katana. Hikaru pins her and gets the win.
Pretty good matches, especially the last two. Diamante gave Athena a decent challenge since she is a cut above the regular AEW Dark opponents she's faced so far. Kayla Rossi gets to show off her skills, so we hope this will help pave her way to getting higher on the card. Anna Jay put on a decent match, though a lot of it was posing and blowing kisses to the crowd. Poor Sio Nieves didn't stand much of a chance. I haven't seen too many solo matches with Ann Jay once she joined the Jericho Appreciation Society, so it's good to see more of her.
The match with Toni and Hikaru going against Emi and Mei was a lot of fun. Toni took most of the hits this time around, but it's cool seeing Emi and Mei get away with their antics. It's also fun seeing Mei do similar things like raking people across the back with her nails, and I love the steamroller senton that she does with Emi.
There was a slight botch, I think, whenever Mei and Emi did the double suplex on Hikaru and Toni. I think they were both supposed to go straight backwards, but it looks like Mei fell to the side, so she pretty much slammed Hikaru on top of Toni. Either way Emi and Mei continued on to the steamroller senton spot so they moved past it.
It was a pretty fun match. As we get closer towards Full Gear we'll see if Toni Storm can retain the Interim AEW Women's Title when she goes up against Jamie Hayter. Jade Cargill will finally get to face Nyla Rose for a chance to get her TBS title back. But of course, when it comes to the women wrestlers, the biggest news of all is that Saraya has been officially cleared to wrestle and will be facing Britt Baker DMD at Full Gear.
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