By Mark Rodriguez
Today we have a pair of interesting matches as Skye Blue faces off against Tay Melo while Willow Nightingale goes up against Marina Shafir. Let's check it out.
Match 1- Willow Nightingale vs Marina Shafir w/Vickie Guerrero
Both women grapple and Willow picks Marina up for a body slam. Despite this, Marina doesn't let go and gets her in an arm lock. Willows tries to shove Marian into a pin, but The Problem regains control of her arm. Marina tries to get Willow in a hold and keep her down. Willow gets back onto her feet and Marina jumps on her back, trying to get her into a sleeper. Willow moves backwards into the ring post twice to do some damage to Marina and then flip tosses her over her shoulder.
Willow goes to the ropes and knocks Marina down with a shoulder tackle. Willow then knocks her down with a crossbody which she uses as a pin but Marina kicks out. Willow grabs Marina, but Marina pulls her down for an Inside Cradle pin. Willow avoids the pinfall. Willow grabs Marina for a roll up pin but can't keep her down. Marina kicks her in the arm which angers Willow. Marina then grabs her and slams her face first into the middle turnbuckle.
Willow is down on the mat, clutching onto her arm. Marina takes advantage of this new weak spot and starts to punch and kick her bad arm. Marina tries to whip Willow across the ring but her opponent holds onto the ropes. Marina starts attacking her arm and then flips her over for a judo throw. Marina goes for the pin but Willow kicks out. As Willow tries to regain control up against the ropes, Marina comes in and starts landing body shots all over her. Willow shoves her back.
Marina moves in to continue the attack but Willow grabs her in a fireman's carry. Marina is able to maneuver out of this and try for another pin. Willow kicks out. Marina lands a kick on Willow's arm which starts a striking contest between both women. Both women go for a big boot and knock each other down.
Both women struggle to get to their feet and Willow manages to land a harsh chop across the chest towards Marina. With Marina up against the ropes, Willow runs into her with a hip attack. She then hits her with a lariat and rolls her across the ring. As Marina gets back up, Willow knocks her down with a running high boot. Marina runs for the ropes but Willow catches her and slams her into a spine buster and goes for the pin. Marina is able to kick out.
Willow tries to grab Marina for the Doctor Bomb, but The Problem holds onto her right leg. Marina is able to pick up Willow but her opponent hits her with punches before she can do anything. Willow is back on her feet and she hammers Marina into the mat. Willow goes to the ropes but Vickie grabs her boot before she could run back towards Marina. Willow turns and gets into Vickie's face.
Marina sneaks up behind Willow while she is distracted by Vickie and goes for a punch. Willow gets out of the way and Marina is able to stop herself before she could accidentally hit Vickie. As Marina is now distracted by this event, Willow is able to grab her in the Doctor Bomb. Willow goes for the pin and wins the match.
Match 2- Tay Melo w/Anna J.A.S. vs Skye Blue
As the bell rings, Tay tries to hit Skye with a punt kick but misses. Skye also goes for her thrust kick but also misses her target. Tay goes for a back heel kick but Skye ducks under it. Tay blocks an attack from Skye and this time does manage to hit Skye with the back heel kick to the midsection. Tay picks her up trying to end this quickly with a Tay-K-O but Skye gets her in a pin. Tay manages to roll over to get Skye into a pin instead, but then Skye rolls over to reverse the pin. Both women continue to try to roll the other one over into a pin, making the poor ref work extra hard to keep track of the one-counts. Tay finally gets to her feet and breaks free of this cycle but she is a bit dazed.
Tay goes over and shoves Skye back. Skye angrily shoves her back as well. Skye then runs towards Tay but the judoka is able to grab her and rolls her across the mat. Skye manages to flip Tay over with an armdrag. With Tay up against the ropes, Skye runs in and socks her in her chest. Skye rolls back and lunges towards her for another attack, but Tay moves out of the way, leaving her to hit the turnbuckle instead. Tay runs towards her but Skye leaps over the ropes and gets on the ring apron. Tay is able to stop herself from crashing into the ring post. Skye then socks Tay across the face and goes for the ropes.
Anna Jay distracts Skye and the ref as Tay rushes in to land some cheap shots on her. Tay grabs Skye's leg and flips her off the ropes and back onto the mat with the Dragon Screw. Tay goes for the pin but her opponent still kicks out. Tay gets Skye up against the ropes and drives her knee onto the back of her neck. Skye crawls over to one of the corners of the ring and Tay plants her boot up against her. As the ref breaks this up, Tay distracts him as Anna Hay yanks on Skye's hair, pulling her back against the ropes for extra damage.
Tay grabs Skye's arm and flips her to the mat. She drives her knee across her spine while pulling back on Skye's arm. Skye manages to roll on top of her for a pin, but Tay escapes this. Tay then knocks Skye down with an elbow strike to the face. Tay taunts her as she tries to get up and then gives her a running kick to the ribs. Tay goes for the pin but Skye kicks out.
Tay gets Skye to her feet and Skye uses this chance to lay a series of elbow strikes upon her. Tay shoves her back. As both women run towards each other, Skye sends Tay flying across the ring with the Tijeras. Skye charges in and clocks Tay in the face with a high knee strike. Skye knocks Tay down with a thrust kick to the jaw and goes for the pin. Tay manages to kicks out.
Both women try to out-wrestle each other, either going for a pin or a submission move. Skye gets Tay in the Cazadora but Tay reverses that into a German Suplex. Tay runs over and lays Skye out with a running kick. Tay goes for the pin but Skye is still able to kick out at two. Tay grabs Skye to get her into the Tay-K-O but Skye manages to reverse this for another pin attempt. Tay gets out of this but Skye hits her with a back heel kick to the midsection. With Tay doubled-over, Skye grabs her in a Code Red and pins her. Anna Jay distracts the ref so there wasn't a count.
Skye gets up and tries to take a swing at Anna Jay. Tay gets behind her and grabs her waist but Skye hangs on to the ropes. Skye throws herself onto Tay for another pin but she can't keep her down. Skye leaps onto Tay's back, but the judoka is able to swing her down to the mat. She gets her in a submission move and makes her tap out. Tay wins the match and Anna Jay comes into the ring to congratulate her.
Despite the match being over, Tay starts to stomp onto Skye Blue. To make it worse, Anna Jay then grabs her in the Queen Slayer. Suddenly Willow Nightingale runs in and both members of the JAS quickly get out of the ring. Willow watches over Skye and gets her back to her feet while Tay Melo and Anna Jay walk out of the arena.
My thoughts-
Pretty good set of matches with some of the bigger names facing each other. Marina gave Willow some trouble, using her different techniques to counter the size difference. It was funny to see Marina accidentally sock Vickie out. Willow got a good win, but too bad she didn't get to use The Pounce.
Skye and Tay also put on a good match but I lost count of how many times they tried to pin each other. Not just during that odd see-saw pin segment, but just in general. Every other move was reversed into some sort of pin and Skye seems to have a wide variety of pinning techniques. Then there was a segment full of so many reversals abd back-and-forth within seconds, the best way to describe it was that the two wrestlers were trying to out-wrestle each other.
It was cool to see Willow come in for the save near the end. As always Willow is a big hit with the fans, and Skye Blue is also growing in her own right. Too bad this was AEW Dark. If this was Dynamite, I would have booked a tag match between Willow and Skye against Anna Jay and Tay Melo for the following Rampage.
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