AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup results: Semifinal matches
By Parker Klyn for F4WOnline.com
Tonight is the final week of the AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup tournament with two semifinal matches: Ivelisse & Diamanté facing Tay Conti & Anna Jay while The Nightmare Sisters (Brandi Rhodes & Allie) take on Big & Lil’ Swole. The two winning teams will face off in the finals on this week’s AEW Dynamite.
**********
Per usual Tony Schiavone and Veda Scott are on commentary with Shaul Guerrero as ring announcer. Scott has been really solid in her role so far, having done the entire tournament.
The Nightmare Sisters (Brandi Rhodes & Allie) (w/ Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall) defeated Big and Lil’ Swole to advance to the finals
Before the match, Brandi asked Guerrero to reiterate that she is the only woman in AEW with an action figure, which was quite heelish. The story of the match was that the Nightmare Sisters haven’t gotten along as teammates.
Lil’ Swole and Brandi started off exchanging cradles before Allie tagged in. Lil’ Swole regained control, and the Swoles made frequent tags and double team moves as Allie was isolated.
Lil’ Swole attempted a suicide dive, but Allie pulled QT into her path. QT was holding Brandi’s action figure which upset Brandi as she was worried it had broken. As Lil’ Swole recovered, Allie took advantage and the Nightmare Sisters got the heat.
At one point, Brandi attempted an awful looking superkick that didn’t even get to Lil’ Swole’s chest, but she still got a cover for two. She and Allie continued to work well as a team until Big Swole got the hot tag.
Big Swole kicked Brandi’s action figure off the apron and hit a pump kick followed by a blue thunder bomb for two. Lil’ Swole got another near fall with a fallaway slam followed by a suplex.
It looked like the Swoles were about to get the win, but they were distracted by Britt Baker screaming through a megaphone on the outside of the ring. Allie then capitalized with a Final Cut for the win. Big Swole pursued Baker after the match as the Nightmare Sisters celebrated.
This was okay. Allie and the Swoles are good, but Brandi has yet to have a truly good match as a professional.
Ivelisse & Diamanté defeated Tay Conti & Anna Jay to advance to the finals
Mr. Brodie Lee, Stu Grayson, Evil Uno, and the two undercard Dark Order tag teams came out with Jay but immediately returned to the back.
This match had a strange dynamic as both teams are heels (or at least behaved like heels), taking long counts and distracting the referee. I’d say Ivelisse and Diamanté worked better in that way, but Conti’s definitely not a babyface and Jay is associated with the Dark Order. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very good either.
Ivelisse and Conti started off, exchanging strikes as Conti transitioned into some BJJ submission attempts. Jay and Diamanté tagged in and the former kept up her team’s offense with some kicks.
Diamanté cut Jay off and she and Ivelisse isolated her with power moves. The big heat segment came from a butterfly lock submission attempt by Ivelisse. Jay escaped and bought herself some time with a dropkick, followed by the hot tag to Conti.
Conti completely whiffed on a kneelift but followed it up by an impressive black hole slam for two. The teams had an awkward striking battle and then, Ivelisse and Diamanté hit stereo cazadora stunners. Diamanté then got the pin on Conti with an assisted Sliced Bread.
And with that, the finals are set: The Nightmare Sisters will face Ivelisse & Diamanté.
Alex Marvez interviewed Brandi and Allie. Both tried to take credit for their victory, but Brandi was the bigger person and admitted they did it together. Brandi kept putting her foot in her mouth and then scrambled to make up for it to save face with Allie.
Ivelisse and Diamanté then joined Marvez. They talked about their huge experience advantage, and said that they had to win for “their people, by any means necessary.”
Final Thoughts:
This tournament has not been impressive or even a worthwhile showcase of AEW’s women’s division. Neither match tonight was very good, and the most notable thing to come out of the tournament so far was Dasha Gonzalez’s performance last week.
If they can lay out a compelling story for Wednesday, the finals have a chance to be solid. I say that because based on what I’ve seen so far, just throwing these two teams out there to do a match is a recipe for disappointment. If AEW really wants to put over the more talented team (as well as the fresher faces in the division), Ivelisse and Diamanté should walk out as the victors.