AEW Dark Elevation Episode 100- 1/30/2023 Women's Matches

 By Mark Rodriguez

AEW Dark Elevation reaches episode 100! Athena teams up with Diamante to take on Yuka Sakazaki and Skye Blue. Will Yuka be inducted into the Dark Order???

Match 1- Red Velvet vs Billie Starks

The match starts with both competitors grappling and Velvet gets Billie in a headlock takedown. Billie gets her into a leglock and Velvet kicks out of it. Billie gets Velvet in her own headlock takedown, to which she counters with a leglock too. Billie kicks out of it too and both women size each other up.

Billie goes for a handshake and Red Velvet goes for it and pulls her towards the ropes. Velvet goes for a dropkick but Billie stops before she could get hit. She then grabs her for a German Suplex. With Velvet down, Billie goes for the ropes. Velvet gets up quick enough to smack her in the face. She grabs her and slams her off the ropes and goes for the pin. Billie kicks out. 

Billie swings at her and Velvet ducks them and kicks her knee out. With Billie down to one knee, Velvet goes for a spinning kick but misses. Billie grabs her for a roll up pin, but can't keep her down. Both women run towards each other and Velvet knocks her down with a flying dropkick. 

Billie is up against the ropes and Velvet runs at her, getting hit by a back elbow. Velvet charges a second time and gets a boot to the face. Billie gets onto the ropes and Velvet shoves her leg aside. Billie swings her other leg around and kicks her in the face. Billie grabs her for another German Suplex, but Velvet shoves her off and then trips her so she's hanging off the middle rope. 

Red Velvet runs towards Billie and hits her in the back of her neck with a flying knee strike. Velvet bounces Billie off the ropes. Billie is able to grab her but Velvet hangs onto the ropes to avoid getting slammed. Billie is able to get her hands off the ropes and slams her with a suplex bridge pin but Velvet kicks out. Billie drags Velvet closer to the ropes and she goes up top. She leaps off with a swanton and lands on Velvet. Billie goes for the pin and Velvet is able to shift over so she's the one pinning her instead. Billie is able to get out of it. 

Velvet runs at Billie, and Billie is able to dodge her and elbow her on the back of the head. Billie gets her onto her shoulders but Velvet goes for the Poisonrana. With Billie dazed, Velvet lands a kick to the side of the head and lays her out. Red Velvet pins her and gets the win.

Red Velvet is set to challenge Jade for the TBS Championship on Dynamite.

Athena looks for a Tag Partner

Athena is being interviewed about her upcoming tag match against Yuka and Skye. Athena grabs the mic and shoos the interview away and decides to look for a partner. She goes up to Diamante and asks her to team up. Diamante refuses since the last time they fought, Athena kicked her head in. Athena offers her a future shot at the RoH Women's Title if they win, and Diamante agrees.

Match 2- Diamante & Athena vs Yuka Sakazaki & Skye Blue

Athena and Diamante show up, with Diamante being forced to bring along glowsticks. Diamante wasn't having it with the glowsticks and that already got her on the wrong foot with Athena. The match opens with Yuka and Diamante grappling. Diamante shoves Yuka towards the ropes and knocks her down as she bounces back. Yuka grabs her for a snapmare and kicks her in the face. She hits her with a sliding elbow strike and goes for the pin. Diamante kicks out.

Yuka tags Skye in and they both grab Diamante and knock her down with a double clothesline. Yuka hits Diamante with a body splash and Skye runs in to kick her in the face. Skye pins Diamante while Yuka keeps Athena back, but Diamante was able to kick out. Diamante manages to sock Skye in the face and bring her over to her corner, tagging Athena in.

Athena grabs Skye in a headlock and then punches her across the back to knock her down. Skye manages to send Athena flying with the tijeras. She goes for a kick but Athena blocks it, but she swings around and kicks her with the other foot. Skye runs towards Athena but crashes into the top turnbuckle. Athena runs in to attack her but also misses as Skye takes to the apron. Skye hits Athena in the face and climbs the ropes. Diamante starts talking trash to Skye, distracting her long enough for Athena to hit her with a flying dropkick. Skye stumbles out of the ring and Athena tags Diamante in.

Diamante and Athena grab Skye and run her into the barricade. Diamante grabs Skye and rolls her back into the ring. She gets Skye up against the ropes and starts kicking her. Diamante distracts the ref as Athena lands a cheap shot on Skye. Diamante grabs Skye and slams her face into the top turnbuckle. She climbs on the ropes and hits Skye ten times as the crowd counts along. Diamante gets her in a snapmare and goes for a cover. Skye kicks out.

Diamante brings Skye back to her corner and tags Athena in. Athena kicks Skye across the back as Diamante lets her go and gets onto the ring. Skye hits Athena and gets loose. She tries to leap to tag Yuka in but Athena catches her and keeps her away. Athena sets her down near her corner and socks her in the face. She starts kicking and stomping on her and then tags Diamante in. Diamante grabs Skye and hits her with a suplex. Diamante tags Athena back in who starts slapping Skye and taunting her. Skye angrily punches her back. Skye back elbows Diamante and keeps hitting Athena. Skye crawls over to tag in her partner but Athena grabs her legs. Skye kicks her off and finally tags Yuka in. With Diamante down on the ring apron, Athena has no one to tag so she charges towards Yuka. 

Yuka and Athena start trading shots until Yuka knocks Athena down. With Athena up against the ropes, Yuka runs at her and kicks her in the face. She gets Athena in a snapmare and then goes for the ropes. As Athena gets up, Yuka leaps off the ropes and knocks her down with a dropkick. Yuka gets her in a scoop slam and goes for the cover. Diamante runs in to break up the pin and then gets her in a suplex. Skye comes in and knocks Diamante down with a thrust kick. She tries to kick Athena, but Athena catches her leg, picks her and slams her. All four women are down.

Yuka and Athena get back to their feet and each one tries to pick up and slam the other. Yuka runs in and kicks Athena in the face. Athena takes this chance to quickly tag Diamante in. Yuka grabs Athena with a Tijeras that sends her rolling out of the ring. Diamante runs in behind Yuka and tries to catch her off guard with a roll up pin. Yuka manages to escape. Diamante tries to grab her for a suplex but Yuka beats her back. Yuka grabs Diamante, spins her around and plants her into the mat. She pins her and scores the win. Skye and Madison Rayne come to celebrate with her.

Athena has injured her ankle when she fell out of the ring, but she still climbs into the ring to threaten Yuka. There isn't much Athena can do her in her condition as all three women stare her down so she leaves for now. 

Yuka/Dark Order segment

Lexi is interviewing Yuka about her recent win when the Dark Order show up. They say there's an opening since Anna Jay left them and wonder if she wants to join. Yuka happily says 'hai', which the Dark Order members take it as her saying 'hi'. This happens a few times and Lexi tries to explain but the Dark Order guys don't listen and take it as Yuka not being interested and they leave.

My Thoughts- 

Good matches for this 100th episode of Dark Elevation. The match between Billie and Red Velvet was pretty good. I thought Billie her when she managed to land the swanton and I wouldn't have minded if she won. It's too bad her opponent has this 'building up her momentum' story, or Billie could have had a bigger shot at winning. After all, we can't have Red Velvet building herself up to challenge Jade for the title if she's losing matches on Dark Elevation. Still, it was a very good match.

Red Velvet did challenge Jade that week on Dynamite and the champ retained. The question by now is, just WHO will be the person to take down Jade?

Athena continues to be a comedic and aggressive heel as she recruits Diamante as a tag partner. I like her personality so far, it's a mixture between being overly cocky and not taking her opponents seriously, while also being violent and vicious. The match was fun and I like that this feud puts Yuka more in the spotlight. She has been in AEW before but she always felt like a special guest star. Now that she has some beef with Athena, she feels more like a regular. Can't wait to see this go down.

As for the Yuka/Dark Order segment... oh man, that was a cheesy joke. I just had to roll my eyes. I know what they were going for but this might have been funnier a few decades ago when Japanese stuff felt more 'foreign', but with all the anime and manga rolling around, the average joe should already know 'hai' means 'yes'. But then again, the Dark Order were pretty much portrayed as idiots during this segment. 

Not sure how things would have gone if Yuka did join the Dark Order. Not really sure if they would have elevated her, especially since currently the fanbase is divided between wanting the Dark Order to do more or just go away. But hey, if they can ask her again with a translator book on hand, Yuka does seem interested.

Good fun episode. I also like that they're making the Athena/Yuka feud take its time. Athena sitting out a week or two due to her injured ankle is a good way to make this last long enough for the next Ring of Honor Pay Per View.