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AEW WOMEN’S TAG TEAM CUP TOURNAMENT
“THE DEADLY DRAW NIGHT THREE SEMI-FINALS YOUTUBE REPORT”
AUGUST 17, 2020
PRE-TAPED AT DAILY’S PLACE, JACKSONVILLE, FLA.
AIRED ON YOUTUBE
REPORT BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Tony Schiavone and Veda Scott along with ring announcer Shaul Guerrero and backstage interviewer Dasha Gonzalez
– The show opened with clips of the event so far and Tony Shiavone and Veda Scott welcoming the viewers and noting the two matchups of the night. They then moved right to the first match.
(1) BIG SWOLE & LIL SWOLE vs. THE NIGHTMARE SISTERS (Brandi Rhodes & Allie w/Dustin Rhodes, Q.T. Marshall)
Big and Lil Swole came out dancing and prancing and when introduced Brandi Rhodes heeled it up by have ring announcer Shaul Guerrero make a big deal about Brandi’s action figure.
Lil Swole and Brandi Rhodes started the match with several exchanges of pinning combinations. Brandi tagged in Allie who hit a couple of moves but was quickly dominated by Lil Swole. Big and Lil Swole exchanged some quick tags and put the boots to Allie. Allie made it to the outside where she was assisted by Q.T. Marshall, who took the brunt of a Tope by Lil Swole through the ropes. Brandi and Allie were able to keep Lil Swole from tagging out and punished her, getting a two count.
Brandi and Allie continued to work well together, tagging frequently and keeping Lil Swole from tagging out. Lil Swole was finally able to hit a double under-hook move on Brandi and was able to make the hot tag to Big Swole, who came in on fire take out both Allie and Brandi,, getting a two-count with a pump kick. Lil Swole tagged in and hit a couple of fall-away suplexes for a near fall on Allie, while Big Swole tossed Brandi, who came in for the save, out of the ring. As this was happening, Dr. Britt Baker started jaw-jacking on a megaphone from way outside the ring, kind of distracting everyone, especially Big Swole, (including the cameramen and the director, who cut to shots from all over the place, losing site of the action in the ring). As the “dust” cleared, Allie hit a neck-breaker & elbow combination on Lil Swole to get the three-count while Brandi grabbed onto Big Swole’s leg to prevent her from breaking up the pin.
WINNERS: The Nightmare Sisters (Brandi Rhodes & Allie) in 8:00.
(Morgan’s Take: I was not impressed by this match at all. Both Brandi and Allie are sloppy in the ring and their moves look forced and, if this word applies here, stilted. It is almost like you can see their thoughts as they run through the rehearsed moves and their moves lack crispness. The Swole’s are much better, both in terms of athleticism as well as wrestling and it is unfortunate, that AEW’s story telling here mandated that Brandi Rhodes and her stupid action figure had to win. Very disappointed but not surprised. Plus, lest I forget, having Britt Baker do the distraction angle and for the production people to appear so disorganized really took me out of the match and seemed totally ridiculous. Baker was so far away from the stage, that she wasn’t even lit properly. Obviously, this is meant to build on the Baker vs. Big Swole angle that has been going on, but it just didn’t look right and based on where she was in relation to the ring, just made Big Swole look stupid paying any attention to her. The whole thing was very WWE-ish and AEW needs to be careful of doing this too often.)
– After the match, Big Swole charged the ring trying to get after Brandi, who beat a hasty retreat, all the while protecting her little action figure. Wow, they are really pushing this action figure thing with Brandi to the point of “go-away heat”. Be careful AEW, you are on thin ice
– Several “promos” aired for the AEW All Out pay-per-view, the action figures, and Brandi’s Heels website and then we moved right into the second match with Tay Conti making her entrance followed by Anna Jay accompanied by the “entire”(as Shiavone said) Dark Order.
(2) TAY CONTI & ANNA JAY (w/Dark Order) vs. IVELISSE & DIAMANTE
Shiavone and Veda Scott did a major verbal build up of Diamante as she entered the ring. Keep an eye on her.
Tay Conti and Ivelisse started things off with Tay in control initially, eventually getting Ivelisse in a hanging arm bar over the ropes before she tagged in Anna Jay. As Anna Jay came in Ivelisse was able to make the tag to Diamante and the two went at it, with Anna getting the best of Diamante with throws and kicks, including a sliding drop kick to a seated Diamante.
Diamante made the tag and she and Ivelisse double-teamed Anna for several minutes and handed out a ton of damage. Every time Tay tried to get in the ring to help, she only ended up distracting the ref which allowed Diamante and Ivelisse to do more damage. Anna hit a few strikes but Ivelisse hit a pair of face slams, but Anna kicked out at two. Both Shiavone and Veda really sold Anna Jay fighting back, building her up despite the beat down. Anna finally hit a drop kick and both her and Ivelisse tagged out.
After the tag, Tay came out on fire, blistering Diamante with kicks and a brutal knee lift, followed by a spinning slide slam. After another strong knee lift to the face, Tay covered Diamante but Ivelisse came in for the save. Anna joined Tay in the ring and all four exchanged forearms and kicks before Diamante and Ivelisse hit the ropes and each delivered a cutter/stunner move. Ivelisse kicked Anna Jay out of the ring, then helped Diamante hit a flip neck-breaker on Tay (an impressive looking move). Diamante covered Tay for the three-count and the win, while Ivelisse prevented Anna from coming to the rescue.
WINNERS: Diamante & Ivelisse in 8:00.
(Morgan’s Take: A much better match than the opener. Even Anna Jay looked pretty good, and the other three (Tay, Ivelisse, & Diamante) are all very solid and put on a good show. It definitely appears that Diamante is the standout here and I expect to see her get a good push going forward on Dynamite.)
– After setting up the finals of The Nightmare Sisters vs. Ivelisse and Diamante, Shiavone threw back to Alex Marvez for brief interviews with the night’s winners. First, The Nightmare Sister, where after the obligatory shot of Brandi playing around with her action figures, she and Allie began arguing a bit, but then Brandi made nice-nice and said that Anna did great and they should be a shoe in to win the finals. Then she started in with more action figure stuff. This gimmick has to stop.
– Next up Ivelisse and Diamante who spoke about how long they have been doing this (10 years for Diamante and 16 for Ivelisse) and made a point of how much they wanted to win. A good quick promo and showed how tough these two women are.
– As they signed off, the finals were hyped to be part of the special Saturday Night edition (6p) of AEW Dynamite. Good move to use this to hype the Saturday Night event.
FINAL THOUGHTS: At a total run time of 30 minutes, this was a very tight show without a lot of extraneous fluff. I was very disappointed in the action and wrestling in the first match and that the Nightmare Sisters won the first match, but I guess it is inevitable when Brandi is involved. Big Swole is something pretty special and I do not know if AEW has signed Lil Swole but, if not, they should. The second match was good, I would almost say very good. Anna Jay still needs some work, but Tay Conti, Diamante, and Ivelisse are ready for Primetime and should be really good additions to the AEW roster.
As the Women’s Tag Team Tournament wraps up the preliminaries and moves to Dynamite this Saturday, a couple of thoughts on the event. Overall, I think this was a good way to introduce some more women to the roster. While I would have liked to see it on Dynamite, being on YouTube did allow for some of the women, whose skills are still developing, to get some work in and some screen time. I think the event deserves a thumbs up and if it does lead to some bolstering of the roster, believe it served its purpose.
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