Cero Reviews AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament - Japan Only

[cero2k]

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament - Japan
February 15, 2021
Ice Ribbon Dojo, Saitama, Japan

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament First Round Match
Yuka Sakazaki vs Mei Suruga - 7.5/10
Not in her corner officially, I think they're working ring duties, but Lulupencil and Chie are out there cheering for Mei.

This was great, Mei is such an explosion of energy that she made Yuka look tame. It was obvious prior to the match, but you could tell that Yuka was advancing, she held out a lot during the match, it was Mei that got to really show off and go all out with her arsenal. The match was actually a lot of Mei running wild over Yuka, who would occasionally drop Mei with something stronger than Mei's offense and balance out the field. At the end, Yuka won with the Magical Girl Chicken Dude.

I was ready for Excalibur to call the Apple Mutilation, but he didn't. Sad.

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament First Round Match
Veny vs Emi Sakura - 8/10
Veny AKA ASUKA to the world. Excalibur explained that Veny's entrance Kimono used to belong to Hana Kimura, and was gifted to Veny after Kimura's death.

This was great, my favorite match of the evening. Veny was fire out there and Sakura, you could tell that she had been working out and getting ready to go, she looked in great shape compared to a couple of months ago in ChocoPro. This was also the first time in over a year that I've seen Sakura inside a ring in a singles match, it was great to see her do some moves that she has had to modify to work in the ChocoPro environment.

The match was back and forward with a lot of striking, a lot of Veny aerial attacks, but at the end, it was Sakura that dropped Veny with a Tiger Bomb for the win.

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament First Round Match
Ryo Mizunami vs Maki Itoh - 7/10
Every simp will disagree, but Itoh should have lost here, losing is kinda her thing. The match was pretty much an Itoh move, but without a crowd (that they totally could have had if AEW wouldn't be traumatized with spoilers in a tournament that they won't even play on Dynamite), her stuff doesn't come off as well. She did have a great dynamic with Mizunami, she got to play as a little bomb going against a bigger opponent than her, which is also 99% of her character. Mizunami submitted Itoh with a great and vicious looking headlock.

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament First Round Match
Rin Kadokura vs Aja Kong - 6/10
Arguably the weakest match, but given that it's Kong, it's understandable, she's older and limited to her abilities at this point. This was pretty much every Kong match that I've seen in the last two years or so, sans the bucket. Kadokura looked good in what she was able to do, which she did do a lot, just nothing that looked as good as if she had been wrestling someone else. Kong won with the top rope falling elbow.

Kong vs Mizunami and Sakazaki vs Sakura are your Japan side semifinals.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I thought this one hour show was great, all four matches were great and different from each other. The wrestling was good and the booking quite predictable.

From these matches, you can tell that AEW are just looking to put over recognizable faces, and not potential. Even with Itoh, the booking tells me that AEW is not really looking into making anything out of these women aside from Sakazaki who has already been featured. It seems that they're trying to get Sakazaki back in the states for a short run to try and mix things up since they've been circling around the same wrestlers for a while now. I hope and pray to the old gods that none of these women get signed to AEW and they stay in Japan.

As for commentary, Excalibur was fantastic, I don't know how much Joshi he actually follows, especially ChocoPro, but he was on point on everything, he didn't call some moves, but that's understandable. Also props for getting the pronouns correct. No doubt that he is the best on commentary.

[cero2k]

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament - Japan
February 22, 2021
Ice Ribbon Dojo, Saitama, Japan

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinals Match
Emi Sakura (w/Mei Segura & Yuna Mizumori) vs Yuka Sakazaki - 7.5/10
It's nothing new for Gatoh Move fans, but it was kinda weird that Mei, another participant in the tournament, would come out as another's minion. She did lose to Sakazaki though, so you could say there is an interest there.

Match was great, experience and power advantage for Sakura, while Sakazaki had the speed, youth, and heart behind her. Match was mostly Sakura on top, working over Sakazaki's back

Post-match - Sakura, Yunamon, and Mei all attacked Sakazaki until Shida ran down for the save. Sakura and Shida had a staredown. Yuka had her legendary sad face that could sell the Tokyo Dome by itself.

AEW Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament Quarterfinals Match
Ryo Mizunami vs Aja Kong - 8/10
This was a hoss fight, and arguably the better option for Kong to have a longer match and look good. Match saw Mizunami work over Kong's right knee, while Kong mostly went for the chest and head, chasing either the falling elbow or the backfist. The match had a lot of striking from both women, a couple of great near falls towards the end with Mizu landing a top rope leg drop, and Kong hitting the backfist.

Mizunami working over Kong's leg would end up being the reason for her win in a fantastic and smart finish. Kong went to take out Mizu outside the ring, with the hopes of winning by countout (it being 10 since AEW), but when Kong made her rush back to the ring, she was too hurt to move fast, and Mizu managed to recover and make the count instead.

The best thing about this match was Mizunami doing her gimmicks and Kong wait for her like what the hell? slap to the face!

Yuka Sakazaki vs Ryo Mizunami for the semifinal, aka Japan's final.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good follow up to day one of the tournament. Both matches were good, the right women won, and they even had a little angle to set up a match for Shida to have while she's in Japan. I was hoping that this show would feature the losers of the first round in order to make up the time, but not doing so ended up giving both matches a good amount of time and obviously, an easier viewing for me.

I happened to watch this one in Japanese, not sure if this was the case for most, but even with Excalibur's great work last week, I found this to be far more enjoyable, especially because Hikaru Shida was reacting to the matches.