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Persephone defeats Mercedes Moné for CMLL Championship at The Night of the Amazonas
The return trip on Mercedes Moné journey as international title collector continued on Friday as she delivered the CMLL Women’s Championship back to the same place she won it eight months ago. The story at The Night of the Amazonas in Arena Mexico, though, was more focused on the company’s conquering babyface, Persephone, who finally captured the title after falling short in a previous attempt last October.
The nearly 20-minute contest saw Moné target Persephone’s right arm early, forcing the challenger to battle through the injury for the remainder of the match. Moné frequently taunted the live crowd, whose exuberance made for an electric atmosphere. Megan Bayne, wearing an AEW ring jacket, supported the champion in her corner. The woman Persephone defeated to earn the title shot, Olympia, carried a towel and encouraged the challenger throughout. Neither supporting wrestler got physically involved in a meaningful way. These elements, along with several members of Persephone’s family seated at ringside, helped create a big fight feel.
The demeanor of the new champion marked a departure from her recent appearances on ROH’s HonorClub, where she carried herself much like Moné did tonight – a menacing heel who frequently taunts the audience and her opponent. At Arena Mexico on Friday, she received a hero’s welcome. Her victory was celebrated in-ring by the entire babyface locker room. The announcers praised the fact that Persephone’s win had brought the title back home to CMLL.
No women’s bout on Raw, only one in-ring segment
For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, an entire episode of Monday Night Raw aired without a physical confrontation between members of the women’s roster. The March 2 episode limited the involvement of the women’s division to AJ Lee’s in-ring promo, an interview later held on the entrance ramp with Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky, one pre-taped segment featuring Liv Morgan, and a handful of backstage skits.
The last time an episode of Raw aired without a women’s match was November 24 of last year, but even that show featured a major brawl between all 10 members of the upcoming War Games match. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to the first two weeks of the pandemic shutdown that limited production to the Performance Center. On March 16, 2020, Raw’s first episode without a live audience only featured one match – Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade. The following week, March 23, there were three additional matches, none of which involved the women’s roster. It should be noted that the world was scary and confusing at that time and many wrestlers were isolating before figuring out their next steps and rejoining the roster.
Since March 30, 2020, and with the exception of the War Games lead-in last November, at least one women’s match has taken place on every episode of Raw, oftentimes in the main event slot. To provide some context, the last roster to sit out an entire episode of Raw included names like Sasha Banks and Deonna Purrazzo. The Iiconics were still a tag team, Liv Morgan was a member of the Riott Squad, and Nikki Cross had yet to become Almost a Super Hero.
It’s unclear why no women’s matches were featured this week. Certainly, some storylines were advanced, and the stage was set for a Gauntlet match with IC Title ramifications taking place next week. On a show that included several lengthy talking segments, however, along with a couple of inconsequential filler matches on the men’s side, it’s noteworthy that so many members of the women’s roster were present, but given the night off from in-ring action.
Ripley and Cargill blur the lines
One of the biggest stories the day after Elimination Chamber was the online sparring between the match’s winner, Rhea Ripley, and her now WrestleMania opponent, Jade Cargill. News reports and social media posts alike offered much speculation as to whether or not the two were having a genuine argument or simply furthering their story.
It appears the truth in this instance lies somewhere in between, with Cargill being a bit less savvy than Ripley when it comes to trading “worked shoot” barbs. Likely knowing they were both being encouraged and assisted in carrying out their disagreement, she felt comfortable bringing up Ripley receiving help from the social media team. And really, digging up obscure, years old clips in a short period of time that showed Cargill praising her was probably not something Ripley did on her own. But when Ripley deflected the charge, Cargill went deeper with a shot about Rhea spending hours with the creative team.
It feels like that was a “WTF” moment for Ripley, who was suddenly having her real life character called into question. This is when contemporaries, such as Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, sensed things had gone too far and jumped in to defend Ripley. The lag between their tweets and Ripley’s final say on the matter seems to imply there was a period of actual conversation between Ripley and the office and likely the office and Jade. Ripley would finally post what appeared to be her saying the matter wasn’t a work and taking a final shot at Jade. The fact that it was removed a short time later feels like the office telling their employee “Okay, that’s enough.”
By the time Smackdown rolled around and the two met in the ring, none of the content from the online spat came into play. The two focused on appearances and in-ring ability and called it a day.
There are six more weeks before WrestleMania. Eventually, the writing team will figure out a way to bring up points from the Twitter/X beef that don’t ruffle any actual feathers and we’ll see some of this revisited. For now, however, it seems we witnessed a fake argument pushed a bit too far and reigned back in. The end result is both women having more material to work with during the lengthy build towards their match.
AEW Dominates Wrestle Queendom 8
On a week filled with marquee matches and events, the biggest celebration of International Women’s Day in pro wrestling was saved for last. Pro Wrestling EVE’s Wrestle Queendom 8 ran the gamut, from fast-paced action to engaging comedy to ground-and-pound to high-stakes drama. And standing tall throughout were the women of AEW.
The Babes of Wrath split off into singles competition, with Harley Cameron showing that the version of her we receive each Wednesday on Dynamite is actually a bit toned down. Her surreal four-minute victory over Amira Blair was filled with theatrical singing, props, and a generous dose of sexual innuendo. Willow Nightengale successfully defended her TBS Championship in a far more traditional wrestling match, besting the excellent Nina Samuels with a combination pounce/snap power bomb.
The hometown hero, Alex Windsor stole the show along with the decorated Syuri. The two wrestled a hard-hitting 16-minute match that saw Windsor become the new NJPW Strong Champion.
The highly-anticipated in-ring return of Charlie/Dakota Kai was tampered by Kris Statlander. Continuing on with her newfound intense persona, a heelish Statlander delivered an incredible triplet of tombstone piledrivers, without breaking her grip, to earn the victory and maintain her EVE International Championship.
Though the biggest moment for the live crowd and long-time fans of Pro Wrestling EVE was the beloved Session Moth Martina defeating Rhio (not to be confused with AEW’s Riho) for the EVE Championship, the victories of the women of AEW are the ones we’ll be hearing about on Dynamite and that will resonate the loudest with American fans.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Stray Observations:
WWE Raw
-Is Kairi finally reaching her breaking point? I love the Kabuki Warriors as a team, but if this is the start of a singles run for Kairi, LFG.
-As of now, I still expect Becky to get her return match against AJ at WrestleMania. She will certainly be on the show and although there’s plenty of time, I don’t see her or AJ connecting with another opponent in a deep enough manner to be deserving of such a grand stage. Furthermore, while AJ can mix it up with a handful of others between now and then, I think only a select few would be counted on to get her safely through a high-quality Mania-caliber match.
-Liv is not the sort of wrestler that requires post-production on her promos, but that was well done. I also love that Stephanie had the guts to say everything she did to Liv’s face, but as the heel, Liv recruited a production crew when Stephanie wasn’t around.
-Will Bayley’s Jekyll and Hyde affliction return or is she just better now? Her pairing with Lyra has really brought some things out of the younger wrestler. If Bayley can’t be main eventing, at least her talents are being put to use as a coach/mentor.
-So much happening in that brief Rhiyo promo. Even though it would make zero sense and I know better, part of me was worried one of them would turn on the other. Why have you done this to my brain, wrestling?
-I love Rhiyo delivering a parting address. It was magical watching Rhea turn to the camera and completely transform back to the Eradicator we haven’t really seen since before she began teaming with Iyo. Boom, just like that, Mami’s back.
-Liv is such a good “mean girl.” You watch Raquel being manipulated right before your eyes but the whole thing comes off as so sincere. Of course Liv is supportive of her bestie chasing after a “lesser” title.
-Ok. There really wasn’t a single women’s match on this program?
NXT
-Blake Monroe is so smooth and natural sounding that Jaida Parker never stood a chance with her retort. I like Parker’s infliction and her confidence is coming along, but she spoke entirely too fast for her words to have much of an impact.
-Nikkita Lyons looked good in this sample-sized match, quicker and more intense in small bursts than the style she used to build her name in the first place. But then, I suppose that’s the nature of Speed contests. Hail and Sinclair is a match we haven’t gotten on TV before that feels like it should be a fun 3 minutes.
-You don’t put the words Shayna Baszler and fun together very often, but that was a nice surprise. Baszler has reportedly served in an agent role periodically, including for at least one Kelani Jordan match, so there’s a connection there. Her deadpan reactions to Jordan’s breeziness were reminiscent of Baszler’s run with Nia Jax on Smackdown a few years back. I’d love to see more of her in this type of role on NXT.
-Well, that’s certainly the first time I’ve seen someone cut a promo on a doctor in their office. Lola wasn’t speaking the way a person normally does when in that position. At least we now know that hand injury of Lola’s is not going away any time soon.
-I’d been thinking more about Zaria potentially winning the title than a run-in by Sol Ruca, but I feel like that was given away the moment both Jayne and Zaria started looking towards the entrance at the start of the match. That was an inevitability, regardless, and Jacy looking expectantly toward the locker room was pretty hilarious.
-I’m super high on both of these wrestlers, but there was a ton of daylight throughout that match. Something just wasn’t clicking. Ruca “smashing” Laney Reid with the belt at the end but missing by about 6 inches was the real topper there.
AEW Dynamite
-As someone who is thrilled that the Iinspiration once again has a major national platform, I actually don’t hate them being squashed. In fact, given all the trepidation AEW fans have had about their arrival, it was probably the best way for them to debut. And their performance told us all we need to know about how game they are. They were hilarious.
-In the meantime, the Brawling Birds couldn’t have been made to look any better.
-I don’t love that Don Callis bigfooted our main event by declaring his own mid way through the show. The six-man was really good and ended in a title change, so I get it, but women’s mains are so rare in AEW that it took a little bit of the shine off of things. Kudos to Excalibur for at least acknowledging the shift later by referring to Thekla-Thunder as “the first of our two main events.” Still.
-Shafir continuing to push buttons with the “make me laugh” barbs is going to bring something very bad out of Toni Storm.
-Raquel Rodriguez might be Big Mami Cool, but Kris Statlander went full on f’n Diesel tonight. What a look.
-Thunder is the best she’s looked since returning. This match is coming at the right time.
-The swagger of the Toxic Spider has gone to the next level since she won the title. While entirely its own thing, she’s already rivaling late-2018 Becky Lynch in that department.
-Thekla’s core strength allows for some incredible signature spots. It’s how she incorporates them into a fluid offense that ties the package all together. Her selling is excellent as well. She really gets her opponents moves over effectively.
-That Thunder survived the first spider walk/spear put her over as on a level above just another opponent.
-Everything from the top turnbuckle strike exchange on was gold. Thekla is one of the very best in the game right now.
-An intense Statlander cradles the head of her fallen friend as she stares down her enemies. She’s so focused on her foes that she then… drops Thunder’s head, letting it bounce off the mat. Ouch.
-Thekla: “I’m untouchable right now.” No doubt.
-My wife is not a wrestling fan by any means, but she’s been the victim of plenty of second-hand exposure over the years. She almost always breaks from what she’s doing to watch a Toni Storm promo. “She’s awesome,” was the feedback tonight.
TNA Impact
-Cool to see the title match kicking off the show. Prior to the two-night WrestleMania format, the opening match was the second-highest honor; the co-main event of sorts. When any of the weekly televised shows start that way, it gives the match a similar feel.
-Tessa and her crew enter and you automatically assume shenanigans. Then much of the rest of the roster begins arriving and you don’t know what to think. Had the commentary team spent a fraction of the time explaining everyone’s presence that they did kvetching about Steve Maclin, it would’ve been far less distracting. The idea was apparently to get over the fact that everyone wants the title, but as a viewer, you’re left waiting for the run-ins to begin.
-A potential mystery attacker angle was set up last week, with Jody Threat left lying backstage. Tom Hannifan asks Tessa if she was involved. “Yeah, we did that,” she replies. I cannot tell you how refreshing (and hilarious) that is.
-This Elegance segment was a look at the dark side of sports entertainment. Heather and especially M screamed so much, it was hard to follow their point. Then they call out the C-Level reality show stars in attendance and things get even worse. We rebound briefly with a surprise appearance by ODB before plunging into the deep end with everyone writhing around in food. What a wreck.
-Elayna Black and Mara Sade put on a quality performance in their first ever match. The program clearly has a ways to go and should build nicely from here. I only wish Sade would reconsider her ring attire. Visions of Robert Kennedy wearing blue jeans while working out shirtless in a sauna come to mind.
-And now we look at the brighter side of sports entertainment, as the supernatural version of Rosemary makes her full-fledged return. We’d seen hints for months, but given how mentally taxing Courtney Rush has said maintaining the gimmick had become, I wasn’t sure we’d ever see it again. This is quite literally the monster Rush has created and, as long as she’s enjoying things, I feel we’re in for a fun ride.
ROH HonorClub
-The new, in-studio era of ROH kicks off with Persephone. In terms of ability coupled with cool factor, she’s second to perhaps only Thekla.
-As the crowd chants for the scrappy Sara Leon, Persephone mocks them while continuing the beating.
-Drew McIntyre’s Claymore has nothing on Persephone’s shotgun dropkick.
-While holding Leon at full extension in a crucifix power bomb, Persephone takes a second to mock the crowd one last time with a well-placed “Let’s go, Sara.” Incredible.
-Zayda Steel has been appearing so frequently between AEW and ROH TV lately. Given the level of talent she’s facing, you have to think she’s better off taking this path versus the WWE ID program she departed from last year.
-Given how vocal both Steel and Mina Shirakawa are in the ring, the quieter studio setting allows for that to become an aspect of the match.
-Insane cloverleaf backbreaker by Mina. She’s barely stood alone since joining AEW and it makes me wonder how under the radar to many viewers she may be.
-The camera angles are more creative and open than you typically see in this sort of setting. The cross body by Zayda looked like a million bucks.
-Between Mina and Christopher Daniels, it’s cool watching Zayda apply on-the-job training in real time. There’s also money in her innocent-apology-while-
-Athena juggles her current scorned mother story with Maya World along with a new top-of-the-card feud by laying out Deonna Purrazzo as part of a “teaching moment.”
-Lacey Layne took one hell of a between the ropes curb stomp by Renegade. Kudos to both women for getting an audible reaction out of this viewer.
WWE Smackdown
-The Irresistible Forces will eventually end the way every Nia Jax partnership does. In the meantime, it’s so unusual to watch her carry on with a true contemporary. They don’t bicker or throw shade. They’re just… pals.
-In a world currently filled with tag team buddies, I’m still waiting for Kiana and Giulia to make sense. They’re two of the freshest, fast-rising women in WWE at the moment, but outside of some unspecified business relationship, what is their deal? Have we ever even seen them interact with one another? They mostly just cut side-by-side promos.
-Shortly after performing a self-aware Flair strut, there was actually an audible “Charlotte” chant amongst the Portland crowd. Then she won. And they cheered. It’s really working.
-B-Fab and Michin would greatly benefit from a couple squash matches to show us what they do well and why they’re a threat. These random backstage pop-ups are so hollow.
-The face-off between Rhea and Jade reminded me of that between Blake Monroe and Jaida Parker earlier this week. Rhea is so believable in her mannerisms and delivery that it makes every mis-step of Cargill that much more glaring. If the champion is going to hold her own in the build to this match, she’ll need to find a way past the frequent verbal flubs and exaggerated reactions she displayed tonight.
CMLL: The Night of the Amazonas
-Mina Shirakawa is silly and quirky, but so incredibly sound in the ring. Though the commentary team painted this show as CMLL against the world, the crowd is thoroughly behind her as she battles their former World Champion, Zeuxis.
-The Puerto Rican Zeuxis was once CMLL tag champs with Stephhanie Vaquer. It’s fun to watch these international shows and consider all the passing ships.
-Megan Bayne’s ability has been implied since her arrival in AEW a year ago, but she’s yet to receive the platform there that she was given in her CMLL debut tonight. She needs to be unleashed.
-Olympia is the CMLL equivalent of Bayne, with a little less height and experience. Her power moves, including a spot where she hoisted Megan on her shoulders and busted out some squats, got a huge pop from the crowd.
-If WWE were to make a submission to this genre of emerging nimble powerhouse, they’d have the perfect candidate in Kiana James.
-Aubrey Edwards has worked all three matches involving AEW talent. Weird to see her in the referee attire of another company.
-Mercedes adjusts her brand of belligerence wherever she goes. Here, she briefly wears a custom mask and taunts the crowd with luchador mannerisms.
-From a sinister heel in front of a couple hundred folks in a studio to the heroic “hometown” face in a packed world famous arena over the course of five days. It’s been a hell of a week for Persephone.
-The main event atmosphere here is wild. Pretty sure it was Persephone’s mom that just doused Mercedes with a beer. It wasn’t an angle or part of the match, just the behavior of an enraged fan.
-Indie legend, Veda Scott, has been terrific on commentary all night.
-Every match tonight ended when a big move led to a pinfall. It’s such a refreshing change of pace from the routine of multiple finishers and series of near falls that permeates American wrestling.
AEW Collision
-Good god are Megan Bayne and Lena Kross an imposing duo.
-So impressive that Mina and Megan would fly into Phoenix for a match less than 24 hours after each wrestling in physically demanding contests in Mexico. I assume they’re being placed in a tag match tonight so they can largely rest while… ok, no. They’re both starting the damn match.
-Unlike Raw earlier this week, AEW was dealing with a legitimate shortage of women tonight with several members of the roster in the UK for tomorrow’s Wrestle Queendom 8 or obligated to MPX in Texas. As such, we received one tag match, cobbled together prior to the show. While an off night would be acceptable for Bayne and Shirakawa, that ended up being one of the best TV matches we’ve gotten this week. Just incredible action.
-I speculated earlier this week that perhaps Kross was brought in to team with Penelope Ford so Bayne could focus on singles competition. After tonight, though, I’m worried Ford might be a third wheel once she returns.
-The crowd in Phoenix seems extra drunk and obnoxious. The fact that we got intermittent “Lena” and “AEW” chants here is a testament to what a great match all four women put on.
-With Storm pulled under the ring by Marina Shafir, leaving Shirakawa alone, it quickly became apparent MegaBad would steal the win. Fantastic that the honors went to Kross. I feel as though big things are in store for her.
-How brutal was this crowd? When’s the last time you heard “What?” chants at an AEW show? And during a Thekla promo, no less. Just embarrassing.
-I know everyone aspires to be World Champion, but until now we haven’t heard Toni Storm mention that particular ambition for some time. You have my attention.
NXT: Vengeance Day
-Good to see Blake Monroe adorning protective chaps, similar to Tiffany in Elimination Chamber. God knows I’d be decked out Norman Smiley-style for a match like this.
-I don’t think I’ve seen a brick introduced to a hardcore-style match before.
-At the end of the day, NXT is a developmental program. It doesn’t make sense for wrestlers there to be taking years off their career to for the sake of impressing the audience or even adding to their reputation. To that end, Monroe and Parker did a good job getting through this match in one piece.
-If the storyline hadn’t already done so, this match will forever link Paxley and Dame, similar to Ciampa and Gargano or Sasha and Bayley.
-Spears attempting to lull Paxley into a countout had me screaming at my television. I think the sentiment was similar amongst the live audience.
-You need to suspend your disbelief a little extra to allow for the backflip out of the codebreaker, but it’s well worth the bargain. That was just a cool looking move and a great finish to an excellent match.
-Jacy Jayne is so good at tapping into real emotions to convey her heelish convictions. She weaves overconfidence with vulnerability like a politician.
-Paxley and Reid just telegraphed their impending turn on Jayne and all three of them played it off so well.
-So fun to watch someone with Jordan’s athleticism compete in an Underground match. If MMA worked like this, I’d actually watch.
-You knew Vice was likely to win heading in, but with Jordan’s stock so high, it kept the door open. Entertaining fight, cool finish.
Pro Wrestling Eve: Wrestle Queendom 8
-Harley Cameron’s victory over Amira Blair was the apex of ten minutes you either loved or spent wondering what the hell was going on. This included, but was certainly not limited to a venue-wide rendition of Sweet Caroline, led by Harley. If you enjoy her on AEW television, you should see Harley when she’s really having fun.
-Willow appears to be even more beloved in London than she is in the US, and that’s impressive.
-Just past the halfway point of this show, and it feels like Alex Windsor is the Sunday afternoon equivalent of Friday’s Persephone. It’s hard to imagine one of the remaining matches topping what she just accomplished with Syuri.
-Statlander didn’t bring her Terminator gear to London, but she’s just as moody as we’ve seen her lately.
-Charlie/Dakota Kai enters to Joey Valence & Brae’s Hooligang, the same song my grade school son is currently obsessed with. He discovered it on the Goat soundtrack and I have to wonder if Charlie recently saw the movie, too.
-It’s great to see Charlie performing at a high level once again. I hope there’s a door opening in the US for her soon.
-For all the production issues on this stream (almost entirely audio), the video package leading in to the main event did a perfect job of introducing Session Moth Martina and her journey.
-Windsor was beloved, but no doubt Session Moth is the Persephone tonight.
Thanks so much for reading and, of course, for supporting women’s wrestling. Feel free to leave a comment or drop a line via email at jeffp.rush@gmail.com or on Twitter/X @nottherightjeff
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