What’s up, smarks? Welcome to the AEW Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament.
Ok, that’s a mouthful – I’m just gonna call it the Women’s Tournament for brevity. There are two brackets – the Japan bracket and the American bracket, both of which will have one winner. The two will face off and the winner will go on to face Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s Championship at Revolution. Anyhow, this is the Japan bracket – the American bracket airs on TV and the first match of it already aired, so if you want to keep up with the American side, I recommend you check out Robert Ward’s Dynamite recaps. With that out of the way, let’s see what Japan has in store for us.
For commentary, we have Excalibur alone! Unique for AEW commentary; last time there was a women’s tournament we had Veda Scott and Tony Schiavone, let’s see how Excal does on his own. Tonight we’re seeing the first 4 matches of the opening round.
The Return of Yuka Sakazaki
Time for our first match: we’re coming live from the Ice Ribbon Dojo with the return of Yuka Sakazaki vs the debuting (in an AEW context) Mei Suruga, the first of many AEW debuts tonight. Like all other matches in this tournament, 20 minute time limit, one fall to a finish. Lower chyron gives us a fun fact; Mei is the youngest competitor here at age 21. She has wings that reminds me of Sexy Star’s (Hey, go check out my Underground Recount articles!). Mei Suruga is mostly native to Gatoh Move, trained by Emi Sakura (who is also in this tournament), but lately has also been showing up in Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling as part of NEO Biishiki-gun.
It’s been nearly a year since Yuka has been in an AEW sanctioned ring – 349 days to be exact, if my math is right. Since then she has also been competing in TJPW, though more frequently than Mei. As far as I can tell, they’ve not met in TJPW in the past year, so this is a unique matchup. I’m not as familiar with the catch style so I can’t say if it’s catch for sure but it does start very grapple-like, as does most Joshi wrestling I’ve seen. This was initially a shock to me when I first saw some Joshi stuff – I expected a lot of high energy stuff right out the gate and perhaps you did too, considering Yuka is in this match.
Mei fakes out Yuka and scares her to get an advantage, being able to work her over a little and apply a bodyscissors to an Oklahoma Roll. Yuka gets out and gets a headlock, giving her a lead and a pin, though Mei bridges out. Yuka maintains a lead for a bit, getting an STF on after a sequence. Mei makes it to the ropes, though. Mei gets a bit of a lead with a scoop and bodyslam leading to a two count, then leading for a submission in the middle of the ring, landing an amazing bridge on Yuka. Again, another slow crawl to the ropes.
Another failed pin by Mei leads to Yuka gaining the lead once more. Yuka goes for the magical girl splash, but Mei dodges and lands a diving crossbody, which Yuka counters for a two count. Mei locks a reverse bodyscissors, goes for a pin but again, only two. An impressive bodyscissors for a 2.5 by Mei afterwards. More holds by Mei, a high energy sequence again landing Yuka a two.
Magical girl 450 splash gains Yuka a win. No surprise since she is signed by AEW, but nothing to be salty about. Great showing by Mei, I was a little familiar with her but I hadn’t seen much. I think she’s one to look out for in the coming years, hopefully she makes more AEW appearances down the line.
Emi Sakura’s Return
Another return to AEW, she has actually had a larger absence from AEW than I realized. She hasn’t competed since near the end of 2019. Which does make sense, considering she’s had to run Gatoh Move and Choco Pro.
With another return comes another debut, with VENY. Excal uses they pronouns for VENY which is A. awesome that he uses them, and B. awesome VENY goes by them, as a fellow they/them. This is the first time I’ve really seen VENY in any capacity. VENY made their name in Pro Wrestling WAVE but has been around the block since then, showing up in DDT and Pro Wrestling Zero1.
Emi’s not here with her Freddie Mercury gear as usual, but a more regal look. VENY was also wearing a kimono that belonged to Hana Kimura. Ouch, still hurts to think about her. Again, more grappling in the earlygoing. Emi gains a lead and throws VENY around some and then lands a Romero special. Emi maintains the lead for a little but VENY evens the playing field. They then land an arihara moonsault to the outside. It doesn’t last for long, however, as Emi hits a backbreaker and regains lead.
VENY hits an armdrag of sorts from the top rope to get some lead and hits a running SSP for a two count. Emi hits a standing dragon sleeper, though. They try to reverse it but get hit by a cutter. The crowd (probably an equivalent to the one you see on AEW where it’s wrestlers who aren’t wrestling) do the we will rock you chant for Emi, who lands a crossbody. She lands one Vader bomb and goes for another, but VENY gets their knees up.
VENY lands a submission, nearly getting Emi to tap, but of course she makes it to the ropes. Stiff kicks from VENY lands a two count, tries to go for another cover but doesn’t quite make it. Emi hits Angel’s Wings, but it takes toll on her too as the two lay in the middle of the ring.
The two stand and get in a strike exchange. A variety of kicks staggers Emi, allowing VENY to land a shotgun dropkick, but again, only a two count. Emi knocks VENY down for a two count after some moves; they have a sequence, giving VENY a 2.5. Emi lands some chops on VENY who’s on the ropes. VENY lands a leg lariat, then a chokeslam and yet again, only two.
VENY goes to the top ropes for a moonsault press, but Emi moves out of the way for a two with a Magistral, which VENY kicks out of, but Emi transitions to an arm dragon sleeper. Emi breaks it for a Tiger Driver and a three count. I know Emi is, again, already an established face in AEW but I kind of wanted VENY to get the win.
I’m not going to lie, VENY didn’t impress me necessarily as much as Mei, but it’s my understanding Mei is a prodigy of sorts – and it’s not to say VENY didn’t impress me at all. The sort of lucha style they had going on interested me. The two go for a handshake, but VENY slaps Emi. Now Emi and Yuka are gonna have to fight, which is a first – to my understanding the only time they’ve shared an AEW ring was in trio’s competition once, to my surprise.
Maki Itoh Finally Arrives
One of the most hyped up entrants finally makes her AEW debut against Ryo Mizunami, who I thought was a debut, but she actually showed up at the original Double or Nothing. Maki, as always, sings her entrance. She’s a mainstay of TJPW. Meanwhile, Ryo made her name in Pro Wrestling WAVE much like VENY, and since then has shown up in Gatoh Move.
They lock up, Maki gets Ryo to the corner. She challenges Ryo to hit her, which she does, making Maki cry. Of course, those are only crocodile tears as she stomps on Ryo’s foot. She then taunts, going for a shoulder tackle, but doesn’t have the strength nor velocity to take Ryo down – in fact she only does damage to herself, giving Ryo the lead.
Many chops to Maki in the corner. Whip to the other corner and more attacks for a two count. Maki gets some momentum with a hammerlock DDT. An array of offense from Maki, ending in a kokeshi for a two count. She then goes for a Boston Crab, but Ryo kicks out of it rather easily – follows up with a strong power slam for a two count. Even more offense from Ryo for another two.
We now get a strike exchange, which Ryo gets the most of. Again, Ryo takes the lead, but Maki rolls through for a single leg Boston Crab. Ryo nearly makes the ropes, so Maki breaks it, catching a lariat and then headbutting it. They bash heads some, leading to a sequence that gives Maki a two count. Maki went for a diving headbutt, but Ryo rolled out of the way.
Ryo hits a spear and nearly wins, but Maki kicks out – Ryo has it scouted as she lands a hold, forcing Maki to tap out. I’m sure some of the people anticipating Maki are sad whilst die-hard Maki fans are used to this, knowing she’ll rebound from this, somehow. Ryo was really impressive to me – she looked extremely strong. With that, we’ll move on to the final match of the night.
The Legendary Aja Kong
Rin Kadokura makes her debut against Joshi legend, Aja Kong. Rin mostly shows up in Marvelous That’s Women’s Wrestling and Pro Wrestling WAVE while Aja Kong has a storied career throughout All Japan Women’s Wrestling, GAEA Japan and most recently Oz Academy. Sadly, Aja Kong did not come out to Electric Eye on this show.
Rin tries to attack Kong, but Kong has the strength advantage and is too much of a unit for her to really do much damage. Aja Kong lands a bunch of two counts. Kong mostly keeps the lead, going for another two count. Rin gains some momentum, though, getting a one count via dropkick – not any more due to Kong reaching the ropes.
Aja Kong reverses a maneuver, landing on Rin for another two. Rin tries to regain momentum, but Kong stays on top, landing another two. She eventually does get momentum back, however, landing a senton for a two count. She then tries for a top rope move, but Kong moves out of the way, landing a backdrop driver for a two. A clothesline for another two. Diving elbow scores Kong the win.
Kong looked dominant as always, but I kinda wish we could’ve seen more from Rin. She still looked impressive, however. Kong will go on to face Ryo.
That concludes the first round Japan bracket for this tournament. I’ve seen consensus people loved the Emi Sakura and VENY match, but as you could’ve guessed, I personally liked Yuka vs Mei more – again, no disrespect to Emi and VENY. All in all, fantastic matches.
It wasn’t announced when the semi-finals will air, but I expect it’ll be the same time next week. Whenever it is, I’ll be sure to cover it. In the meantime, coming up this week is another opening round match on Dynamite between Serena Deeb and Riho, so again, be sure to check out the Dynamite recap for the upcoming episode.
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