AEW Dark Elevation Episode 102 2/13/2023 Women's Wrestling

 By Mark Rodriguez

We got three matches tonight. Jade, the current TBS champ, graces us with her presence. We also get to see Skye Blue, Madison Rayne and Yuka Sakazaki in action!

Match 1- Leila Gray & Jade Cargill vs Dulce Tormenta & DD Doom 

The match opens with Dulce Tormenta facing off against the current TBS champ. As they grapple, Jade shoves Tormenta towards the ropes and presses her into the top turnbuckle. Jade kicks her in the midsection and hits her with a European Upercut, and then drags her over to tag in Leila. Leila, the sole remaining Baddie that Jade has left, starts hitting Tormenta and slams her back into the mat. Leila wastes too much time posing and and dancing, which gives Tormenta time to grab her for a roll up pin. Leila kicks out. 

Dulce Tormenta hits her with some elbow strikes but Leila grabs her for a Russian Legsweep. Leila goes for the cover but Tormenta kicks out. Leila waits until Tormenta gets up and lays her out with a lariat. She then socks DD Doom off the ring apron. Leila tags Jade in who destroys Tormenta with a brutal Pump Kick. DD Doom steps in and Jade slams her with a Samoan Drop. Jade then grabs and slams Tormenta with Jaded and wins the match. Jade is currently at 52 and 0. Who will take her down?

Match 2- Emi Sakura & "The Native Beast" Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero vs Skye Blue & Madison Rayne 

The match starts with Madison facing off against Emi Sakura. Emi fakes Madison out of a grapple and then grabs her by the hair, taking her up to the ring post. She's about to do her chops but Madison ducks under them and set her up against the ring post instead. Madison hits Emi with elbow strikes. Emi tries to hit her but Madison grabs her and runs her into the turnbuckle on the other side of the ring. Madison runs her face into another corner of the ring and then runs over to tag in Skye. Madison and Skye fling Emi towards the ropes and Skye hits her with a high knee strike as she bounces back. 

Skye gets Emi in a Snapmare and Madison knocks her down with a low clothesline. Madison goes to her corner and Skye attempts a cover but she can't keep Emi down. As both women get up, Emi claps the sides of Skye's face, making her drop to the mat. Emi grabs Skye's arm and bites into it. Emi drags her along as she goes over to tag in Nyla.

Nyla grabs Skye and hits her until she's able to dodge and kicks back. Skye kicks her knee out and goes for a kick to the face, but Nyla catches her boot. Nyla shoves Skye back towards the ropes. Skye goes for a Tijeras, but Nyla catches and gets ready to powerbomb her. Skye slips from her grab trying to grab her for a Canadian Destroyer but Nyla counters by just dropping to the mat, landing on Skye. She goes for the pin but Madison cuts in.

Nyla angrily stomps on Skye and then picks her up. She goes over to tag in Emi and body slams Skye. Emi slaps Skye on the butt and then hits her with a flying crossbody that knocks her through the ropes and out of the ring. Emi grabs Skye by the hair and drags her along while doing the snooty anime girl laugh. Madison argues with the ref and Nyla keeps them distracted. Skye manages to get out of her grasp and rams Emi into the barricade.

Suddenly Vickie Guerrero knocks Skye down with a Spear! Emi grabs Skye and gets her back into the ring. She then tags in Nyla. Emi picks up Skye and drops her onto Nyla's knee. Nyla goes for the cover but Skye kicks out. She then grabs her in a rear chin lock. Nyla goes another cover and Skye kicks out again. The Native Beast sends Skye over to the ropes and hits her with a running elbow smash. Skye drops in a sitting position and Nyla runs at her for a Cannonball. Skye moves out the way, letting Nyla crash into the bottom turnbuckle and using this chance to tag in Madison. Nyla tags in Emi, who quickly runs over to knock Madison off the ring apron, leaving Skye with no one to tag.

Emi starts hitting Skye with several chops. Skye gets behind her and gets her in a backstabber. Skye goes for the ropes and runs towards her but Emi catches her and spins her into a back breaker. The move seemed to have taken a lot out of Emi as she goes over to tag in Nyla just as Skye tags in Madison.

Madison runs into Nyla twice, not knocking her down but getting her dazed. She runs in for a low dropkick, sending Nyla to her knees. Madison starts hitting and kicking her and then goes for the ropes. Skye sneaks in to hit Nyla with a kick to the face. Emi comes in and grabs Skye, slamming her face into the mat. Outside of the ring, Emi slams Skye into the barricade. She then moves back and runs into Skye with a crossbody splash up against the railings. Back in the ring, Nyla picks up Madison and slams her down. She goes for the cover and scores the win for her team.

Match 3- Vertvixen vs "Magical Girl" Yuka Sakazaki 

Both women grapple and Vertvixen gets Yuka in a headlock. Yuka manages to shove her off and grab her from behind. Vertvixen gets out of her grasp but is up against the ropes. Yuka runs at her and kicks her in the face. Yuka rolls her along the match and takes to the ropes. Vertvixen sees this and runs towards her. Yurk gets out of the way leaving her opponent to crash into the top turnbuckle. Yuka jumps off the ropes and knocks her down with a flying dropkick. 

Yuka grabs Vertvixen and tries to get her up against the ropes, but her opponent jumps and rolls out of the way. Yuka runs towards her, Vertixen trips her with a legsweep. Vertvixen rolles up next to her, grabs her, and slams her face into the mat. Yuka crawls over to the ropes and Vertvixen follows. Vertvixen stomps on her and then takes to the ropes, starts 'running' on her face. Vertvixen then backs up and runs towards Yuka, hitting her with a running diving forearm. 

Vertvixen grabs onto Yuka, getting ready to slam her with a suplex. Yuka hangs on and starts hitting her back to stop this. Yuka kicks her in the midsection and goes for a suplex, however, Vertvixen picks her up and slams her down instead. Vertvixen goes for the pin but Yuka raises her shoulders at the last possible second. 

Vertvixen is surprised but gets up and runs towards Yuka. Yuka clocks her with a discus forearm. Yuka picks her up in a fireman's carry and spins her around, letting her drop. Yuka goes for the ropes and hits her with the Magical Dream Girl Splash and goes for the pin. Yuka Sakazaki wins the match. However, as she celebrates her win, Athena suddenly runs in and smashes her in the face with the Ring of Honor title!

Athena tosses Yuka out of the ring and follows her. She grabs her and throws her up against the steel steps. The RoH Women's Champs rolls Yuka away from the steps and starts to dislodge them from the ring apron. The Fallen Goddess picks Yuka up and sets her on the steps, one of her legs caught between the steps and the ring apron. She then socks her in the face as the crowd boos. 

Athena runs into the steel steps with a dropkick, badly injuring Yuka's leg. Athena goes for her title belt and returns to talk trash to Yuka. Yuka smacks her face and Athena kicks her violently. As Athena leaves, Yuka tries to go after her but the champ kicks her down with a big boot. Athena heads out with her title as her theme music starts to play.

My Thoughts- 

Good set of matches. Jade gets to show off some of her impressive power and Leila also showed her skills. It's a shame we didn't get to see any of Dulce Tormenta's luchadora skills and DD Doom didn't do much of anything. Maybe we can see Dulce Tormenta go against someone like Skye Blue for a fast paced match down the line. 

It's funny how Leila is basically the only Baddie left. It's even more ironic that at first Jade didn't even want her around and felt she had to prove herself before joining up with her. 

The tag match was fun, and Vickie was actually in a good mood, seeing that they were in El Paso Texas, which is Guerrero Country. Vickie even surprised everyone by knocking Skye down with a Spear. They kept holding back Madison during the match so I thought she was going to run in for the win, but surprisingly, Nyla destroyed her and still got the win. Good to see Vickie score a win in her home town.

Yuka had a good match against Vertvixen, but the big surprise was Athena's sudden attack on her just as soon as she won. Looks like Vertvixen got the hell out of there as soon as Athena showed up, which was a good call. Things continue to get intense for those two. There's still a ways away from the next Ring of Honor PPV (Supercard of Honor on March 31st) so we'll have to see how this will go.