By Mark Rodriguez
We got four matches tonight to check out, and something happens between Athena and Billie Starkz. We just had to cover this one.
The show opens with a segment with Athena berating Billie about how they always seem to win in singles matches and lose in tag matches. She calls Billie a failure and says she expects her to be as such. Tonight Billie faces Marina Shafir so she gets a chance to avenge their los against Marina and Rousey. After Billie leaves, Athena cuts a promo on Eddie Kingston since he said she doesn't carry her weight in Ring of Honor, as Lexi backs her up.
We get a second segment where Lexi asks both Maria Kanellis and Rachael Ellering about Leyla's condition since she has a match tonight. Rachael asks Maria why she was talking to the Renegade Twins and Leyla also comes in to inquire the same. Maria says she was only introducing herself to them and both women doesn't quite buy it. Since Leyla has a match, she asks if Maria will be in her corner and both Maria and Rachael say they will be.
Match 1- Trish Adora VS Emi Sakura
As the match starts, both women try to whip each other towards the ropes without one being able to move the other. Emi goes for a shoulder-tackle but can't knock Trish down. Emi tries this several times but can't make her budge. Trish runs towards her and is able to knock her down hard. As she runs again, Emi makes Trish stumble into the ropes with a Trip Toe Hold and rakes her nails across her back.
Emi gets Trish into the corner and hits her with some hard chops and then runs at her with a flying crossbody. Emi then grabs her in the surfboard and drops her onto the mat.
Trish grabs Emi's arm and sends her to the mat twice with a wristlock takeover. She then picks up and slams Emi down with a Full Nelson Bomb. Trish tries to pick her up, but Emi scrambles out of her grasp, trying to reverse it into some sort of submission move. Trish gets out of it and chops Emi across the chest. Both women trade chops, Emi winning this by hitting her with rapid fire chops. Emi runs towards her but Trish drops her with a Pump Kick and goes for the cover. Emi kicks out at two.
Trish goes for the lariat but Emi blocks the first one and gets knocked down by a second one, but with not enough force. Emi goes for the ropes before she can get pinned. Trish yanks her away from the ropes and tries to pick her up but Emi hits her with a back elbow. Emi hits her with a lariat and goes for the cover but Trish kicks out. Emi then grabs her with the Butterfly Backbreaker, gets the pin and wins the match.
Mark's Thoughts-
This one could have gone either way, since Trish is rising in the ranks, while Emi still gets some decent wins here and there. I'm still getting used to Emi dropping the Freddie Mercury gimmick, the most noticeable part is her no longer doing the claps when she goes her chops in the corner/running crossbody spot.
Pretty good match and both women got some good moves in. There were times that Trish was close to taking Emi down, but in the end Emi Sakura won.
Jupi's Thoughts-
Yay! Emi! I like her still. She’s fun. I thought it was an in action match honestly, but either way let’s see how this will go since Trish Adora is good too and if we get a tea time moment.
This match, man! Both should off their strength, especially with the chops exchanged.
With the back and forth, I wasn’t sure what to expect. They were so evenly matched. The most impressive spot was when Trish was holding up Emi, like trying to get her to submit, but the angle looked so odd and like it would’ve been difficult to do. It just showed how strong Trish was.
Looking at Emi in the ring and how long she’s been in the industry (about 30 years iirc), I’m surprised she isn’t a title holder in either of these promotions. I’m sure she’d be good for it in AEW. I already have an idea on how I’d book it since the women’s division is lackluster in general. Could just go with the angle of Japanese wrestlers on the roster getting overlooked and her avenging Hikaru Shida’s loss…but I’ll stop there. No need to get into the other AEW shows. 😅
Match 2- Leyla Hirsch VS Heather Reckless
The match opens with Leyla mocking Heather's height, probably the only woman she could get away with doing so (and even then Leyla is just barely taller than her). Leyla gets her in a headlock and then knocks her down with a shoulder-tackle. Heather drops to the mat so that Leyla can trip over her as she bounces off the ropes. Leyla drops down and grabs her and rolls her back up to her feet in a rear waist lock but Heather swings her down with an armdrag.
Leyla picks her up for a backbreaker. She then presses her knee against Heather's throat while she's hanging off the ropes. Leyla gets her up against the ropes and throws some chops at her. She then picks her up and backwards slams her. Leyla picks Heather up in a suplex position and just drops her onto the mat.
Leyla runs towards Heather but is stopped by an uppercut. Heather grabs her for a cutter but Leyla reverses this into another slam. She then grabs her in a Cross Armbar, making Heather tap instantly. Maria steps into the ring to congratulate her but Leyla walks right past her, ignoring her attempt at a handshake. Leyla still wants to do things her way, even though Maria is still trying to take her on as a client.
Mark's Thoughts-
Short match as a lot of these In Action matches are. Poor Heather didn't do much offense. The art when Leyla grabbed Heather off the floor and rolled around reminded her of when people wrestle alligators. The major part here is how Leyla reacts to both Maria and Rachael. It's the irony where Leyla somewhat puts more stock into Maria who is obviously shady, but pushes away Rachael who actually wants to get along with her. With Maria talking with the Renegade Twins, I am curious how this story will progress.
Jupi's Thoughts-
I already sense this will definitely be a short match. Reckless tried. There wasn’t much to it. That poor jobber. There wasn’t much to this match…just led to Reckless submitting.
Well, at least we still get to hear Hirsch’s theme.
Match 3- Billie Starkz VS Marina Shafir
Both women shake hands but Marina isn't letting go. As she tries to pull Billie in for some sort of attack, Billie socks her in the face and rolls out of the ring before Marina can retaliate. Billie complains that she can't get back into the ring with Marina waiting for her and starts 'warming up' with jumping jacks. Billie gets back into the ring and narrowly dodges Marina's running kick. She grabs her for a roll up but Marina kicks out.
Marina kicks Billie down and slams her with a judo throw. Marina gets Billie hanging off the ropes and kicks her across the back. She goes onto the ring apron and tries to kick her across the face, but Billie grabs her foot and shoves her back, making her fall to the floor. Billie runs and goes for a dive, but Marina catches her.
Marina grabs and throws Billie into the barricade. She goes for a kick and misses, getting her leg stuck on the barricade (luckily she didn't kick someone in the front row). Billie takes this chance to grab her and gouge her in the eyes. She then runs Marina into the barricade.
Billie grabs Marina and hits her with a suplex onto the floor. She then grabs her hair and slams her to the floor. With Marina dazed, Billie grabs her and rolls her back into the ring. Billie goes for the ropes but Marina gets up and hits her before she can do anything. She tries to grab Billie, but she punches her off. Billie tries to kick her away but Marina grabs her legs and swing them to the side. Billie swings her legs right back and kicks her in the face with a Rebound Kick. Billie grabs Marina for a German Suplex and goes for the cover. Marina kicks out at two and Billie gets into the ref's face.
Billie grabs Marina's arm and starts kicking her across the face while talking trash. Marina catches her leg once and they both grapple, with Billie also trying to get her into an ankle lock. Marina attempts another submission hold but Billie socks her in the jaw. Billie grabs Marina's arm again and starts kicking her but Marina manages to grab her leg and trip her down. She kicks Billie in the legs until she falls on her knees, and then she hits her with a kick across the face.
Both women grab onto each others wrists while trading blows with their other hand. Marina wins this contest and trips her down. She kicks Billie across the back and then across the face. Marina goes for a submission hold but Billie manages to kick her off and make her stumble out of the ring. Billie goes for a dive and this time she manages to knock Marina down though her knee is hurt. Billie gets Marina back into the ring and goes for the swan dive but Marina has her knees up. Marina then picks up Billie and viciously slams her to the mat and goes for the cover. Billie manages to kick out.
After slamming Marina down again, Billie attempts another swan dive off the ropes and this times connects. However, Marina still musters the strength to kick out. Billie grabs Marina and picks her up for an Underhook Face Buster, Marina gets out of it, but Billie kicks her across the face and tries again, this time slamming her down. Billie Starkz goes for the pin and wins the match. After the bell rings, Billie runs over and kicks the hell out of Marina while she's down and kicks her off the ring.
Athena and Lexi show up and Lexi dresses Billie up in a yellow graduation gown, while she is wearing a red graduation gown. Athena makes a speech about the 2023 Minion Valedictorian and despite it sounding like it's going to be about Billie, she instead presents the award to Lexi. Billie is humiliated and at this point she had had enough.
As Athena and Lexi leave the ring and prepare to head out, Billie finally snaps and throws Athena into the barricade. Despite this betrayal, Athena seems to be laughing evilly, while Billie storms off.
Mark's Thoughts-
The match was pretty intense. Billie really put Marina to her limit. We get to see Marina and all her holds and throws and intensity and Billie as she mimics Athena's heel tactics. For those waiting for when Billie would finally turn on Athena, they pulled the trigger on that tonight. It's funny to see Lexi actively take part in the story outside of the interview segments.
I thought the 'this is enough' face Billie made was pretty funny. It looked like a cross between her trying to hold back her tears in character... while also looking like she's trying to hold back her laughter out of character.
I guess Marina throwing her socks into the crowd is going to be a thing now. I'm surprised they did the spot where Marina tries to kick Billie and misses, having her foot stuck on the barricade. It just felt that there a risk where she could have accidentally kicked someone in the front row.
Jupi's Thoughts-
It’s the 18-year-old Billie Starkz! Did you know that she was 18? Just like Nick Wayne! 😆 Okay, seriously, I have NO predictions here. This is a singles match. Seems Shafir will have the upper hand, though. Athena was complaining earlier how Starkz does well in singles matches but not when it comes to tag matches. Let’s see if this will ring true here.
The match was interesting. Marina had a run for her money since Starkz was determined to win, being the 18-year-old prodigy and all. 😝
Starkz pulled an Athena at one point when she tried to pin Marina. It was a two-count and Starkz went after the ref.
In the end she did manage to pin the strong and intimidating Marina Shafir! She also tossed the Code of Honor out of the window, as she attacked her after the bell rang. She didn’t follow the code in the beginning either. She did try a few Athena-ish tactics, like stalling or trying to get in a cheap shot, but they didn’t always land and Marina easily avoided or countered.
There was this one submission move Marina used and I was like, how in the world is Starkz even tolerating that! I know wrestling is scripted but they’re still doing the moves. It’s impressive. My body would’ve been cramping up! 😖
Anyway, in the end, Starkz won clean. You can definitely see how influenced she is by Athena. Her poor poisoned and corrupted 18-year-old mind. 😛 As I’ve said in prior articles, at least I think I did, I still wonder when and if Starkz will turn on Athena. It just feels like a good set up for it.
Now the aftermath is where all the stuff happens and answered what I’d been wondering since Starkz forcibly became Athena’s minion. Athena and Lexi came to the ring. Lexi was in a red (ketchup) cap and gown and they put Starkz in a yellow one (mustard). Okay, so my mind jumped to Sektor and Cyrax when the crowd was referring to the two as ketchup and mustard. Athena announced the valedictorian of the class of 2023 from M.I.T (Minion in Training) or whatever it was. 😆 Anyway, the honor was bestowed upon Lexi. It made the 18-year-old Starkz sad and she looked like she wanted to cry. I mean, “she’s just a teenager” and “just graduated high school”. Those announcers…geez!! 😂
Starkz stepped up to Athena but she backed down, but then attacked her anyway. Athena just laughed! Man where will this go? I think Athena is purposely pissing her off so she can have a worthy opponent and was expecting her to reach her limit at some point. It’s like in some shounen manga/anime series. Since I’m a Hunter x Hunter fan, I’ll go with that. The character Gon wanted to fight the creepy bishie Hisoka but Hisoka didn’t view Gon as “ripe enough”. This is how I’m viewing Athena and Billie. I don’t know if that’s the direction they’re going, but at least it’s not being booked by Tony Khan, it’s a plausible possibility. Let’s see if I’m right. 😅
We have an additional segment as Tony Kahn announces the upcoming Ring of Honor PPV, Last Battle alongside Lexi, still dressed in her graduation gown. Billie Starkz shows up and demands a title shot against Athena at the event. Tony agrees that Billie has won nine matches and is one of the top contenders, so she will get her shot against Athena at Ring of Honor Last Battle 2023.
Match 4- Nyla Rose VS Zoey Lynn
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