It's good to be back and finally to be able to watch the match officially, not copy-paste the text from the Results section on AEW.com!
And what an excellent show we had!
ANNA JAY. A.S. vs. JULIA HART
NO HOLD BARRED
So, I will start with the obvious and said fact at the beginning of the match, when Julia Hart was making her dramatic way to the ring and was nailed in the back with a steel chair. Anna Jay and Julia Hart used to be besties! Yay! You know, nothing attracts attention like two former besties wanting to gauge their eyes and pull their hair blond extensions off... In the wrestling business and not only their best friends make best rivals! The whole knowing each other's weaknesses in every effing aspect, of their personalities, professional skills, etc. That is a Molotov cocktail! It always works.
I won't describe the whole match, move by move. You can read that on AEW.com and other sites for results. I will accent on the facts like some chairs were used, some kendo sticks, and even a trash can. But in the end, we have seen way more gory women's matches in AEW, and this one wasn't one of them. The moment Anna Jay put Julia Hart face first through a pile of chairs with a Gory bomb, I was thinking about the NXT Stand And Delver PPV's Women's Title Ladder match! That was some serious women's wrestling. Sorry!
I don't know what was the idea, what was in the head of the bookers, etc. of AEW, when they put this high standard as kind of match - it's a hardcore match, it raises a lot of expectations. Well, I am really sorry to say that but it wasn't cover what connoisseurs were expecting I guess. I didn't have any expectations, by the way. So, for me, it was a nice, small package hardcore flavored match that might be dedicated to further development between these two ladies' stables war!
The quality of the wrestling by the way was good. I won't stop repeating how pure technically the ladies of the AEW women's division are. They are so well measured and so stick together. It's a bit mechanical and so precise. When I watch WWE and AEW there is always some different dynamic in their female wrestlers matches. Just sense it if you dare! Even women who were performing for WWE in the past and now shine a bit brighter in AEW, are somehow changed. I think the pressure and the expectations are way more bearable in All Elite.
Anna Jay is someone who intrigues me since the first time I watched her. She is such a walking controversy - you are about to say that she reminds you of the Divas era, but then she hit a move on someone (like the gory bomb) and you are like "Naaah! She's more than that!". Beauty has always stood in the way of talent. I think that beautiful women like her need to work harder today to fight the prejudice that former icons like Sable, had established - If you are pretty, you don't need to work that hard. Fans will always be dazzled by you and won't care less if you can sell a move! Well, Anna Jay is totally someone who is an established fighter and makes you forget about her look.
Julia Hart! I was waiting to see her officially added to the Roster section (still waiting for Kiera Hogan) and to feel her like an official part of the family since she has been on the AEW ring for so long. I like her as well. Her gimmick looks very promising. Her wrestling skills are good,... well, she didn't show that much in this specific case of a match, because she dominated in the beginning, smashing heads in a table ringside is not a skill that will make you say "Amazing talent!", it's more like "Wow! She's really mad!", and have fun. But I know that she can do better than that and in the end, she won the match, which is fine.
Actually, since I am re-entering AEW's storylines world, for me it doesn't matter which of those talented women will win. They both were great for the short amount of time they had. They then needed to work on chemistry. They convinced me how their characters hate each other to death! LOL! I really think that they were able to do more in this No Hold Barred Match...So, be it!
WINNER: JULIA HART
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
