Athena/Willow vs Jade/Kiera

So this match was originally slated to be Jade Cargill, Kiera Hogan and Leila Grey vs Athena, Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale. For whatever reason (I don’t care to speculate) Leila Grey wasn’t cleared so it was turned into a tag match. Tony Khan, turning chicken shit into chicken salad, tells us that in negotiating the new match, Stokely Hathaway requested Kris Statlander be the odd woman out. And in a moment of being a sentient brick, I wondered “Why did he choose Statlander over Athena?” not realizing of course it was payback for slapping him in the back of the head. Statlander infers this in a pre-match promo by simply slapping her own head. See, even for daft wrestling fans you don’t need drown them in exposition.

Right away, you know that Jade’s undefeated streak isn’t ending in a tag team match and you know Athena’s not going to take the loss. So the finish is most likely Jade Cargill pinning Willow Nightingale. We shall see, ah?

Athena & Jade start the match but Jade quickly evades to tag out. Athena goes toe-to-toe with Hogan before dropping her with a hard right. Tags in Willow. Willow dodges a Dropkick in a funny spot then hits rolling senton and then running splash on Kiera Hogan for two. Willow then tags in Athena who she scoop slams onto Kiera Hogan. Great, great sequence from Willow!

Where’s the “Willow Nightingale is #AllElite“ graphic Tony? We’re all just curious. I’m just asking the question.😅

The action saw Jade Cargill and Kiera Hogan sent to the floor to setup a couple spots. First Willow, I thought was going for a running cannonball off the apron but it was actually more like a double block buster on both opponents which makes for one hell of a bump for Willow. Then Athena would spring off the ropes and over the top to the floor onto all three wrestlers.

Jade Cargill would finally get tagged in to the delight of her hometown crowd. She’d rock Athena with some splashes in the corner and then do her awesome looking pump handle slam for a 2-count. You know the one. This one:

Kiera Hogan would get in and do really nice tornado DDT on Athena. Full credit to Athena for selling it, that’s always how the effectiveness of a DDT is graded. Willow comes in and hits a Spinebuster on Kiera. Jade breaks the pin and throws Willow out of the ring. This leads to a great face-to-face and one-on-one between Jade and Athena. Maybe a preview of what’s coming up at All Out?

The action would come to a head when Athena would get popped up for a powerbomb but she’d come down knees first on Jade. Jade rolled out of the ring clutching her shoulder and I was sincerely worried about her shoulder or collar bone. Heart in my throat for a moment.

Kiera comes in for what looked like was maybe a Hurricanerana but Athena lifted her up for a power bomb on the apron which was a bit awkward but they pulled it out.

Stokely would get in Athena’s face and she’d basically pie face him out of the way only to have Jade Cargill run in with a pump kick on Athena, sending her back first into the steel steps.

In the ring, Kiera Hogan hits a jaw breaker on Willow and then tags in Jade. Cargill goes to setup Willow for something but Willow sneaks an inside cradle for two. Jade returns fire with what kind of looked like a non-sit-out Blue Thunder Bomb for two. And then finally Cargill hits Jaded for the win. 35-0.

Really good match. The ending was a little predictable but you’ll always take that trade off for great action every time.