This week we were treated to Big Swole versus Emi Sakura. This would be Big Swole’s first match on AEW Dynamite and her first match since she officially signed with the company. We would also get appearances from Allie/The Bunny, Penelope Ford and Brandi Rhodes throughout the show.
To start we have The Butcher, The Blade and The Bunny vs Cody and QT Marshall.
The Bunny would heel it up throughout the match interfering when necessary to aid her comrades to victory. A decent role for Allie her and so much better than the happy-to-be-there schtick she was doing before.
Next, we get the only women’s match of the week, Big Swole vs Emi Sakura.
The match started with Shida watching from ringside. The two competitors kicked things off with a test of strength until Sakura got the advantage with arm drags and nasty looking hair whips much to Swols’s chagrin. Swole answered with a nice sharp backhand, however, Sakura’s experience came into play and caught Swole in a rolling surfboard stretch to get back in control.
Big Swole would fight back with strong uppercuts and a tornado DDT until Sakura would hit back with a brutal looking Tiger Driver backbreaker and into a comedic microphone stand spot where Swole would show off her James Brown moves before hitting the Dirty Dancing ripcord rolling elbow for the win.
The match was ok and served its purpose by getting Big Swole a victory and to look good in the process.
Winner: Big Swole
She just exudes a star power that makes her stand head and shoulders above the rest of the division. She’s popular, talented and well on her way to becoming the biggest name on the AEW women’s roster. Big Swole was just the big signing that AEW needed.
During this week’s AEW Dark we were given an absolutely phenomenal segment featuring Big Swole, in which she spoke candidly about her illness, struggles and need to succeed. We now have Swole’s backstory, her reason for doing this and why she has to do it and all in under 2 minutes. This is the type of stuff that AEW does really well and needs to showcase way more across all of their available platforms and not just online.
Loser: Emi Sakura
I’m starting to feel bad now but I just don’t get it and what’s more, her matches just aren’t that good. Yet AEW continues to showcase her regularly. This time could be given to much more deserving talent such as Bea Priestly, Sadie Gibbs or Riho (remember her).
Winner: Penelope Ford
Ford shone this week. Firstly on AEW Dark where she showed off her amazing acrobatic skills and offence when she got involved during Sabian’s match against Omega.
Secondly, she again interfered in Kip Sabian’s match in another star-making showcase. Commentary put her over big time as she flew about the ring dazzling with quickfire attacks and lightning-fast assaults. This the perfect role for Ford as she works excellently as the sneaky heel valet, we just need some more wins, please.
Next, we are given a segment with Brandi Rhodes kissing a bald man’s head and saying that she still wants Kris Statlander to join the Nightmare Collective. This was good and Brandi seems to be enjoying the role. It also continued the storyline, which is what the show has been lacking so more of this, please.
Speaking of Kris Statlander, it was announced that she would be facing Britt Baker in a number one contender match next week. Wait? What? Why? Who? Ranking system? Shida?
I don’t get it.
Anyway, it should be a killer match.
Final Thoughts
Another decent showing for the women of AEW. Matches happened, storylines progressed and interesting albeit confusing matches were made. The improvements are continuing, which is all we can ask for, isn’t it?
What did you make of the show? Good, bad or meh? Let us know below and as always stay tuned to Diva Dirt for all of your AEW news and updates.
