wrestling / TV Reports

Cook’s AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament: Deadly Draw (Night One) Review

August 3, 2020 | Posted by Steve Cook
AEW Women's Tag Team Cup Tay Conti Anna Jay 1
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Cook’s AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament: Deadly Draw (Night One) Review  

Hey kids! Tonight, AEW presents the first installment of their Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw. The rules are fairly simple:

1. The Tournament is a random draw.
2. All competitors must draw a color.
3. Matching colors will become a team.
4. Selections are final and cannot be appealed.

I for one am happy to have BattleBowl: The Lethal Lottery back in my life. I’m just sad there won’t be a two-ring battle royal at the end. Let’s hook ’em up!

We start with a two minute countdown and some music that would fit in well in a clothing store. The opening song tells us what makes a champion.

– Tony Schiavone is joined by VEDA SCOTT for commentary! I’m already excited. Shaul Guerrero serves as the ring announcer and introduces Madusa, who introduces the tournament. If you have Madusa in your building you gotta bring her out there.

– Earlier today, Dasha spoke with the Nightmare Sisters, who have to choose their own color and might not be partners. Brandi is disappointed. They spear-headed this whole thing, have an undefeated record, but the rules are the rules, and she has to do what she has to do. As it turns out, they both drew red. What a coincidence! Well, maybe not, since Allie dove into that contraption while Brandi was talking to Dasha & made sure she drew red too. But I’m sure that would have happened either way! Certainly Brandi & Allie aren’t cheaters, right?

– Dasha then spoke with Penelope Ford & Kip Sabian. She draws baby blue, and as it turns out, Mel also drew baby blue earlier. Penelope is good with that.

Quarterfinal Match: Mel & Penelope Ford (w/Kip Sabian) vs. The Nightmare Sisters (w/Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall): Something tells me that Mel still might have some hostility towards Brandi for the whole head-shaving bit that didn’t lead anywhere. Maybe. Nice to see QT back from quarantine. Penelope & Allie start, Ford working the headlock wih those guns of hers. Allie yanks her down by the hair, talks some smack to Mel, knees Penelope down for two. Still enough time to blow QT a kiss. Tag to Brandi, double elbow, Best Friends elbow drop. Mel tagged herself in on the rope rebound, and goes right after Brandi. Even trying to yank her hair out in revenge! Brandi fights back with a headlock takeover, does a little dance for Penelope, sends Mel into the corner. Tag to Allie, she works Mel over some more. Mel finally gets Allie into her corner and tags in Penelope. She gets an early advantage, Allie gets Ford down on the ropes, Sabian yanks her out. QT comes over, Penelope is sent back in the ring but Allie gets booted down by Mel! Back in the ring, a gutbuster gets two. Allie gets her neck snapped on the ropes, Penelope chokes her with her boot in the corner. Mel comes back in & lays some smack down. Allie reaching for that tag, but Mel drags her back to the corner. Tag to Penelope, and they make a wish with Allie’s legs. Allie keeps trying to come back and get to her corner, but Penelope isn’t about that. Matrix move by Penelope leads to a Stunner, tag to Mel, she goes up top, misses the elbow, and here’s the tag to Brandi! A couple of clotheslines don’t work on Mel, but a boot & a superkick have more success. Peneople knocked off the apron. Sling Blade by Brandi gets two. Penelope & Allie come in and it’s a fight! Mel hits a choke bomb on Brandi, but Paul Turner gets there too late and only counts two. Sabian up on the apron, QT yanks him off but gets decked for his trouble. Allie rakes Mel’s eyes, Brandi hits a spear and gets the three count!

Winners: The Nightmare Sisters (9:30 via Rhodes pin on Mel)
Star Rating: **1/2

– Not a surprising result there, but some solid action. Mel really needs to be doing…well, something in AEW. Penelope & Allie did well carrying the match, Brandi worked fine in her spots. Nothing bad here.

– Plug for All Out

– AEW Heels promo with Brandi talking over some action.

– Last Wednesday, Nyla Rose drew the color purple, and Dasha revealed that Ariane Andrew had already drawn purple too. Girl Hi! Real Talk: I had no idea who that was until Twitter informed me it was the former Cameron.

– Earlier today, Anna Jay is with Dasha, who points out she’s one of the newest members of the Dark Order. Anna doesn’t want to talk. She draws black, as did Tay Conti. Neither look particularly excited about it.

Quarterfinal Match: Ariane Andrew & Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs.Tay Conti & Anna Jay: Tay is making her AEW debut here, and it’s a little surprising Tony didn’t say that we might remember her from that other Wednesday night show. Anna takes her mask off before the match, which I appreciate. The Dark Order sans Cult Cabana comes out with Anna, but leaves after Anna enters the ring because they’re gentlemen, of course. They wouldn’t interfere in her matches like those goobers QT & Kip. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Larry Csonka would be all about the TayJay pairing. Veda is high on Ariane’s potential here, pointing out that she trains all the time. Constantly preparing. Sadly, Nyla does not come out to Vickie’s techno Excuse Me theme. Ariane & Anna start. Anna is not about the handshake, so Ariane slaps her. Shoulder block by Ariane. Drop toe hold by Anna. Headlock, reversed by Ariane, knocks Anna down. Stomp to the back gets a near-fall. Nyla not showing any interest in tagging in. Anna with a roll up, tags Tay in, double clothesline! Tay with some ground & pound. Nyla comes in now, chokeslams Tay & Jay! Nyla actually tags in now and is all over Tay. Misses in the corner, Tay with some strikes, tries to hook an armbar, kicks Nyla down! OK, Tay showing us something here. Tag to Anna, front dropkick to a kneeling Rose gets two. Tilt a whirl into a powerslam by Nyla gets two. Jay runs into a clothesline for two. Tag to Ariane while Nyla takes a breather. Splash in the corner, a facebuster gets two on Jay. More counting attempts. Nyla sends Anna into the corner hard, but Anna gets kicked. Anna fights back with a chop block and starts working over the knee. I hope she has a submission finish, though Tay might have something she could do with that too. Here Tay comes in, and now she’s working on that left leg. Leglock in the ropes, bangs it off the apron and gets a near-fall. Anna elbow drops the leg, stretches it out a little bit. Nyla breaks it up with a punch but Anna fires back. Blind tag to Tay, who gets Samoan dropped. Tag to Ariane, who hits a series of moves including a headscissors. Front bulldog by Ariane! Anna breaks up the count and stays in there with Tay. Double suplex is blocked by Nyla, who clotheslines them both. That knee giving her issues though, she’s gotta roll outside. Double A with a snap suplex! Split leg drop by Ariane, who didn’t realize Tay got a tag in there somewhere, and Anna hits a variation of the Natural Selection for the three count!

Winners: Tay Conti & Anna Jay (8:54 via Jay pin on Andrew)
Star Rating: **

– Better than I expected to be honest. Tay & Anna did a nice job working over Nyla’s knee, and I’d rather see them continue on in this tournament than Nyla & Ariane working a tag partners that don’t like each other gimmick.

– Sure enough Nyla clotheslines Ariane after the bell. That’s all she does, as that left leg is still giving her problems. Tony on Vickie: “Boy, she talks a lot!”

– Alex Marvez interviews the Nightmare Sisters. Brandi says it’s a huge win, and now she thinks she’s a huge deal here. She’s on her way to major success! Allie tries to bring up she did ok too, and Brandi says “we” for five seconds before putting over her action figure and social media followers. Brandi says she’ll get Allie her own action figure! It seemed like Allie was the one not to be trusted when this team started out, but now Brandi’s starting to get a little full of herself. Could be interesting.

– Marvez interviews Tay Conti & Anna Jay. Tay says they’re the prettiest and most dangerous team in the tournament. Anna just wants to talk about the tournament and isn’t interested in discussing the Dark Order.

– Tony wishes us a good night.

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Considering this show featured three teams that had never teamed before, two wrestlers that had never appeared in AEW before, and a roster lacking in big time ring experience, I thought this went well and was a solid start for the tournament. Also nice to hear Veda Scott on commentary & also see Shaul Guerrero & Madusa making AEW debuts. I wouldn't put this up there with the Mae Young Classics just yet, but it was a fun little show with some good entertainment value.
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