SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
As we head towards WrestleMania weekend, many of us are attempting to get our viewing priorities in order. Wednesday marks the start of a four-day onslaught of independent shows emanating from Vegas and available to stream online. With quality content dropping daily, you may be a bit behind and struggling to figure out where to fit it all in. I’m here to let fans of women’s wrestling know what you need to catch up on over the past few days and what you can put off till later, if ever.
MUST WATCH
Thekla vs. Jamie Hayter – AEW Dynasty
This 20-minute match was a showcase of two of the best women in the industry today.
Divine Dominion vs. Hyan & Maya World – AEW Dynasty
Go in expecting a squash, stick around for a highly competitive and entertaining contest between the best new team in wrestling and exciting new arrivals you may recognize from Ring of Honor.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Charlotte Flair – WWE Raw
A rare TV singles match for Flair and an awesome opportunity for the ever-improving Valkyria.
Liv Morgan attacks Stephanie Vaquer – WWE Raw
Liv brought her fire to a startling new level this week in one of the best-built matchups on the Mania card.
IF YOU HAVE TIME
Alex Windsor vs. Marina Shafir – AEW Dynasty
Solid, hard-hitting match with a decisive finish.
Arianna Grace vs. Lei Ying Lee – TNA Rebellion
Some decent action and a little chicanery for good measure.
Iyo Sky vs. Kairi Sane
It went long enough to count as a real match, even though it could’ve used ten more minutes. But c’mon, it’s Iyo and Kairi. You can probably find the time.
Lola Vice vs. Jacy Jayne
Not quite PPV-level, but a good championship match.
SKIP
Honestly, I’m rarely going to recommend you full on skip anything. If it wasn’t mentioned above, and you love women’s wrestling, find the time for the rest of the stuff listed in the Stray Observations. Only one segment was an affront to my sensibilities this week and deserves mention…
Elegance Brand vs. Returning Legends
A lot of screaming, food, c-level celebrities and all the other stuff TNA seems to love. I’m glad no one walked through the room while this was on.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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STRAY OBSERVATIONS
AEW Dynasty
Alex Windsor defeated Marina Shafir
-This was a fun 9-minute match. It’s too bad Marina Shafir has been reduced so much lately, suffering clean pinfalls on both Collision the night before this show and a few weeks back to Mina Shirakawa. It all made her feel like an unserious threat to Windsor. I’d love to see her be built back up, as her stock was pretty high from spending so much time as the muscle of the Death Riders.
-Windsor is so good in this style of match. She should hold the Strong title for a good, long while.
-The NJPW Strong Women’s Title has only been around for nearly three years, but has an impressive lineage, including Willow, Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer and Mercedes Mone. You know, just in case you were curious.
-Is Shafir smiling after being pinned as a way of softening the fact that she lost? The commentary team continues to point it out, so it’s meant to be something. I mean, it’s kind of a tough look to get beat up and then smile about it, but if it happens repeatedly, don’t you just run the risk of looking kinda dumb?
Kamille defeated Big Anne
-NWA Powerrr circa 2019 was one of my all time favorite weekly wrestling shows. At the very center of it was champion, Nick Aldis, and his silent assassin of a valet, Kamille. It was the version of her I was hoping to get when she first arrived in 2024 when she instead became a befuddled lackey for Mercedes Mone.
-I did not have a bonus women’s match featuring a local indy wrestler on my bingo card for tonight, so this is cool. Big Anne also wrestles as Anna Beretta for a promotion called ASW in Canada. If you want to watch a wrestling match break out at what appears to be a county fair and include a hurricanrana on a gravel walkway, you should absolutely google her name and promotion.
-Kamille finishes this off with a Torture Rack into a swinging power bomb that gets an audible gasp from the crowd. I don’t know if she’s been brought back simply to be another “returning” wrestler to be fed to Willow or if there are plans for her beyond that, but she definitely had that retro NWA look going here and seemed to win the crowd over.
-Willow runs out at the end to get beat up once more and remind us that it was pretty silly of Kamille to jump her from behind earlier and cost herself a title match.
Divine Dominion defeated Hyan & Maya World
-Really loving the exposure being provided here first to Anna Beretta and now to two of the more prominent faces of the ROH women’s scene in Hyan and Maya World. Wait, Excalibur is saying they are new additions to the AEW roster? I mean, they’re still about to get killed, but awesome.
-Cool to see the live crowd give Maya and Hyan a friendly welcome. Like, literally. Maya looked around and waved from the ring and you could hear fans saying “hello” to them.
-Ugh. McGuinness can’t help himself with the creepy BS every time. Nigel, do you also find Swerve to be “statuesque?” Or Adam Copeland to be “leggy?” Please shut up.
-Dominion has either been teaming for years or just have a natural chemistry and spend a ton of time working in the ring together. And I know they just started teaming recently. They are unreal.
-Hyan, in particular, is getting in far more offense than I would’ve thought.
-I have watched a lot of Maya World recently and she has never looked quite this good. She has really stepped up for the occasion and I’m more excited for this team’s arrival than I was before this match.
-Hyan’s inevitable death eventually arrived, courtesy of a Dominion double choke slam and stack pin, but that was way more competitive than I’d anticipated. Seek this one out. Really fun match.
Thekla defeated Jamie Hayter
-I watch a LOT of women’s wrestling from many different companies. I feel confident saying between Divine Dominion and Thekla, no one is besting AEW these days. They have truly struck gold and have the opportunity to raise the profile of their division right now. As loaded as their roster is, Thekla can absolutely carry the main event of a PPV, even by AEW’s high standards. Let’s stop messing around with token women’s matches on most of the shows and really go for it. Between the aforementioned wrestlers along with Storm, Mone, Willow, Windsor, Shida and several others, the foundation is there. Let’s go!
-The ease with which Thekla executes so many high risk moves is beyond remarkable. I don’t think there’s a single wrestler in the industry with better conditioning.
-Bryan Danielson is such a good fit on commentary for this match. No lecherous comments, just insight from a decorated technical wrestler’s perspective.
-With all the Thekla praise here, let’s not lose sight of how good Hayter is, too. Not just anybody can balance Thekla’s trademark Spider Web leg scissor/arm bar and make it look so good.
-Oh my god, Thekla just kicked Hayter’s head off her shoulders.
-Yes, Hayter is one of only two women to pin Thekla during her AEW run, but she didn’t pin THIS Thekla.
-As certain as I am that Thekla will be retaining here, and I put it at 99%, that tombstone by Hayter got me.
-Give me Thekla’s finishing sequence all day, every day.
-Alex Windsor potentially inserting herself into a third feud by protesting the finish. The lady is just everywhere right now.
TNA Rebellion
Arianna Grace
-Knowing now what the “plan” was that Stacks shared with Arianna, that Xia would be turning on Lei Ying Lee, I find his wording interesting. He says the plan “just came to me.” Is he saying that he conceived the idea for Brookside to turn on Lee? Or does he mean that Xia approached him and shared her plan to turn in advance? Either development is noteworthy, but then, it’s possible he was just improvising and it didn’t mean anything.
Elegance Brand defeated Mickie James & ODB & Taryn Terrell
-The issue I have with the entire Elegance Brand package as it’s currently presented isn’t that they emphasize “sports entertainment” over wrestling. It’s that the whole thing just insults my intelligence. That feeling is perfectly epitomized with the picket signage the group is using here. Why on earth would serious professionals or, like, adults of any kind, walk around with signs saying “I am not a mark,” not to mention the cringy pickle sign the concierge was waving? To elicit a reaction, of course. But from who? Fourth graders? I attended a grade school play recently where the primary antagonist wore a shirt telling you he was a bad guy. It was done so that the smaller children in the audience could follow along, as well as a little tongue in cheek for the grown ups. This feels so similar to that scenario. If you’ll just do your job the right way, I’ll boo you. I don’t need you to wave signs in my face just in case I didn’t catch on and need to be encouraged to respond.
-Is the thinking that if you scream loudly, it will sound on TV as though the live audience is louder than they actually are? Not sure why it’s so difficult for the members of the Elegance Brand to speak at a normal level.
-More food fighting and C-level reality stars. This is fun for someone.
-Heather is an entertaining wrestler. It’s a shame we don’t get to see her ply that craft more. Even the glimpse of it we got during the lollipop spot with Taryn Terrell was so much better than the rest of this stuff.
-At least the current act went over the returning legends, so the priorities are in proper order. It’s still a bit strange to see to watch this celebration of ODB taking place in the ring immediately after she was pinned. Did that matter at all?
Arianna Grace defeated Lei Ying Lee
-If we’re to have understood the conversation at the beginning of the show correctly, it’s an interesting dynamic to watch Grace and go through this match knowing Lee will be double-crossed by Brookside.
-It’s not like Grace is terrible in the ring. She’s definitely coming along. Her entry-level heel schtick can be a real distraction at times though, both to the viewer as well as herself.
-Considering Xia and Stacks were in cahoots to some degree, what purpose was served by all the theatrics with having him removed from ringside? Is it just about lulling Lee into a false sense of security? Because I’m not sure she even noticed.
-How distracting it must be to be in Grace’s position. You know the person outside of the ring is going to interfere on your behalf, but when? And how? You don’t want to blow the rouse by communicating with them, and you don’t even know for sure if it’s legit, as you haven’t personally spoken to her. Do you continue trying to win the match on your own in the meantime?
-Xia Brookside pulls off the same heel turn as Nattie against Maxxine on Raw earlier this year. I feel as though there are so many more vicious ways to reveal your intentions than draping the foot of the opponent of the person you’re turning on over the ropes. From a viewers perspective, it lacks drama. Lee immediately went to anger and shock. I feel like the more appropriate and natural response in that instance is confusion. If I’m fired up in the heat of battle and on the verge of victory when my friend suddenly does that, I would not know what to make of it. At first, I’d assume you were trying to help me but messed up somehow. I’d have questions. And then, I’d wonder why you’re looking at me with a mean expression on your face. Then, I imagine I’d be disappointed more than anything. Anger, however, would take a little longer to surface.
-You could not pay me enough money to leave my house wearing a hat emblazoned with the letters TNA.
The Undead Realm
-James Mitchell and Abyss share a loving (and long) moment. It’s a little weird how this is shoehorned into the rest of this saga, though. It’s like someone was telling me a scary campfire story, introduced a character, and then trailed off talking about their feelings towards that individual and the struggles they had with their loved ones. Should I still be scared or do you need a hug?
-We did get a peep at Mara Sade, though, who is no longer having fun with this and Tessa Blanchard, who is starting to get a little weirded out.
-Apparently, the live crowd hated all of it. Even if you’re totally firing with this story, to spend 5+ minutes playing a video in the arena of two middle-aged men apologizing to one another for things many of us don’t exactly remember and expect a positive reaction is a big ask. More creepy ladies, less crying men, please!
WWE Raw
Lyra Valkyria defeated Charlotte Flair
-Part A of this singles pairing gave us the classic battle of Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss last Friday. The two have been wrestling each other dating all the way back to NXT in 2015. Tonight, we get a first time matchup, and an awesome experience for Lyra. Though in a way it seems astonishing that Charlotte is only 1/8 of a mid-card WrestleMania match, I believe it’s doing wonders for her reputation. Further, it’s matchups like this that show she is exactly where she’s needed right now.
-Lyra just casually busts out a handstand to the ropes. The more she can do to grab the audiences attention and stand out from the pack, the better.
-I’m appreciating the little things Charlotte is doing. The urgency she showed while positioning Lyra and performing that moonsault really put over the threat she recognizes Lyra as being.
-Heel tactics once again gain Team Lyra and Bayley the victory! I really like this look for them.
-Late edit here: I listened to the PWTorch’s Raw Post-Show and heard Wade discuss the finish of this match. He was perplexed that Michael Cole would declare Lyra’s win here a big deal, the argument being that it was tainted and as a result, Lyra didn’t really accomplish anything.
While I agree with that in a sense, I want to maintain that it is a big deal. Roman Reigns was the WWE Champion for 1,316 days. In the go-home segment of tonight’s show, C.M. Punk praised him for that. The record books show that the reign is legitimate and now Reigns will forever be remembered for that historic run. No one takes into consideration now that the majority of those days were spent with Roman being inactive or that, when he did win, it was almost always through nefarious means. He was in no way the sort of champion that near-record amount of days shows. Yet, here we are, forever celebrating him for it.
Lyra beat Charlotte. This week, that victory feels cheap. By as soon as next Monday, regardless of the outcome of the four-way tag title match at WrestleMania, Lyra will be remembered as having defeated Charlotte. Until she aspires to larger accomplishments, like becoming a World Champion, it will remain a feather in her cap.
Maybe even two years down the road, her and Charlotte will face off at WrestleMania for the title, and when that happens, this victory will be remembered. In my opinion, it’s why Michael Cole was right to celebrate it. He sees how these things play out and knows, even in the moment, that this win will be reflected in the record books and will be referred to in the future as a way to put Lyra over.
Should he, as an impartial commentator, have decried the victory? I would say only if that’s where the storyline is headed. Otherwise, he was celebrating it within the rules of how this universe operates. I understand, though, if Wade’s issue was more with Michael Cole’s reaction than Lyra personally feeling the accomplishment was a big deal. This is a slightly separate point now, but it sure feels like Bayley and Lyra are headed towards a heel run. If that’s the case, then that doubles the significance of this victory, as Lyra will additionally have heel bragging rights.
Stephanie Vaquer interview
-If Stephanie gets sneak attacked tonight and beaten down by the Judgement Day, after last week, I’m gonna say she kinda deserves it. Aaand, there’s Liv.
-The roles are a little screwy, with Liv coming across as the babyface half the time and Stephanie taking dangerous cheap shots. That said, I’m really glad the writing team(s) aren’t treating this feud as the priority they are Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. They can’t leave that one alone and its a total mess. This is just a good old fashioned wrestling blood feud and I am so here for it.
-Liv is amazing with her intensity tonight. I’m a little worried that she really lost her mind. Top notch stuff.
Iyo Sky interview
-Wow, the writing team scripting Asuka to call out Iyo for failing to land an important (or any) match at WrestleMania. Yeah, Iyo’s really the one to blame there, huh? That’s just surreal.
-Ooh, Iyo-Kairi for free on Raw. I’ll take it. And clearly we’re headed for Iyo-Asuka in the near post-Mania future.
Kairi Sane defeated Iyo Sky
-When Kairi gets cooking in a match, you forget for a minute how she’s been booked in such a pathetic lackey role. The inevitable breakup between her and Asuka will be incredibly liberating, not in the storyline sense but as an actual performer. I predict a huge year for Kairi Sane.
-I have not seen a crowd that cannot be brought to their feet by Iyo’s mid-match kip-and-flip routine.
-I can’t believe Iyo is even capable of standing after that smash into the post by Asuka. Brutal.
-Wait, so did Jade head over to Raw tonight knowing Rhea was going to be there and that she’d get involved in a match? Did they see each other backstage before hand or was Ripley totally surprised by that attack?
-It was never going to happen given the current context, but these two easily deserved 10-15 more minutes.
NXT
Kelani Jordan defeated Jaida Parker
-For being “smart” fans, the folks that attend NXT in Orlando sure act disrespectful to wrestlers who are working their asses off. To basically do your own cute version of the wave mid-match with rehearsed chants and claps is a really tacky look. They don’t deserve the effort they’re routinely given. Now get off my lawn.
-Nice of Jaida to check in with Kelani following that double clothesline on the floor and ask if she’s ok. I’m only kind of being sarcastic. Yes, you gotta do better keeping your communication discreet, but at the same time, I like knowing that they’re looking after one another.
-Parker is doing an awesome job selling the severity of that left leg injury.
-I wonder how abrasive Booker T comes off to new viewers. Amazing that I barely notice anymore.
-I like that Kelani kept swinging her legs after getting caught mid-air by Parker. It made the sequence feel much more real.
-Even-Steven booking as Jaida gets her win back. How does this feud end and who comes away looking stronger? No real answers at this point other than they just appear to be keeping each other busy with solid ten-minute matches.
Sol Ruca
-I feel like they’ve tried a few times to mold a promo that paints Sol to be the victim in her falling out with Zaria. It should be easy enough. For Zaria, it was heel turn 101. For some reason, though, whenever Sol starts getting into the details, I feel like I’m being dragged into hearing one side of a messy breakup where both sides share blame. How grateful should Zaria be, Sol? Yeesh. Leave me out of it.
-In regards to the North American Championship situation, first of all, it’s amazing Sol was even permitted to have someone else defend it for her. Since that was the case, though, the options were to surrender the belt or see if Zaria could get it done. It was the only option that gave Ruca a chance at retaining. Win or lose, Zaria was doing a solid. So why all the disappointment and “I trusted you” stuff?
Kali Armstrong defeated Skylar Raye
-Did the crowd just have too much sugar early on? They completely took over the opener with their nonsense, but 35 minutes in, and they’re nearly asleep.
-Skylar Raye did a terrific job here, right down to her Mr. Perfect-style selling of Armstrong’s pounce finisher.
-Kali Armstrong largely came across as a copy/paste “mean and tough” wrestler. There was a glint of swagger in there, but I assume she was super nervous the first time out. It’ll be interesting to see if she can tap into that unique element that makes her stand out going forward.
Kendall Grey
-Great profile on Grey. Her match with Lola Vice followed by the triple threat at Stand & Deliver felt like the start of her run as a major player on the brand. It was smart to immediately follow that up with a depth piece like this. My wrestling brain has been through some trauma over the years, though. Let’s not spend too much time talking about the significance of her friendship with Wren Sinclair. You make me nervous.
Tatum Paxley
-You just started feuding with Blake Monroe, like, three weeks ago. You’ve faced off once. Isn’t a casket match a bit of an overreaction at this point? And hilarious that Shiloh just whipped that thing together in an hour. Have you ever made a step stool? It took me two weeks. And that’s some fast-drying polyurethane.
Lola Vice defeated Jacy Jayne
-I feel as though we’re watching Jacy’s send off match, especially with Booker going on about how she didn’t need to rush cashing in her rematch clause. If thats the case, though, where does that leave Henley and Reid? I’m watching everything here.
-Jacy’s not innovating a new style of wrestling. She’s really good just having a match, but her biggest selling point is her time-crafted personality. She knows exactly who she is and it’s evident every moment she’s on screen. No one saw her coming this far on NXT. I’m fascinated to see what she can do on a main brand show.
-Henley and Reid are so good being the wolves outside of the ring. Their interference is just fluid.
-The pride Lainey Reid showed after cheap shotting Lola through the ropes was hilarious. She has displayed some real personality tonight.
-Paxley, in particular, did not look happy dragging Jacy from the ring. Wow, my mind raced in the seconds she and Reid threw Jayne to the side of the entrance way. But they were protecting her! Got it.
-Kali Armstrong coming out made zero sense to me until half the woman’s roster began showing up along with her. Hey TNA, see how this can work when it happens after the match, not during it?
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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