One of the bullet points on my AEW agenda for 2023 is for Emi Sakura to have a match against Jade Cargill. Emi’s had a banger with AEW World Champion Jamie Hayter, she may have even topped that in her ROH World Title match against Athena, and now she’s facing a woman who’s being positioned as Jade’s equal in Taya Valkyrie. Getting my Jade vs Emi match is feeling like landing a helicopter: Lot’s of overlap but we haven’t quite hit our mark yet.
I thought for a second that Taya Valkyrie is coming out first but—oh no!—Emi got the “already in the ring” jobber entrance! 🙁 But a little disrespect ain’t gonna slow Emi down. Both women exchange huge crowd popping chops. Then after standing up to several of Emi’s shoulder blocks, Taya goes for one of her own, taking Emi off her feet. Valkyrie follows this up with Knees To The Face in the corner for a 2-count. Valkyrie goes for Road To Valhalla early but gets distracted when Jade & Leila Grey walk out onto the ramp.
Emi takes advantage and takes control. Jade & Leila walk down to the ring to cheer on Emi. We get another chop battle which is momentarily interrupted by Taya patting her own boobs as if to say “Doesn’t hurt, see?” The crowd starts a “Let’s go Taya” chant and seems legitimately miffed by this.
When we come back from commercial, Sakura body splashes Taya against the steel steps. The action returns to the ring where Taya hits Emi with something of a Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Taya hits a Spear and then Road To Valhalla and as the referee is counting we can already see Jade in the background taking off her shoes. Leila jumps in first and gets Taya’s finisher. Then Jade comes in and goes face-to-face with Taya. It comes to blows. A knee to Jade’s midsection assists Taya in setting up Road To Valhalla but Leila has recovered and punches Taya in the back. Jade then hits Taya with Jaded.
It would appear that we are in the homestretch of this feud. Mark Sterling shenanigans have drawn this out from March 15th, where Taya debuted in Winnipeg. This coming week, AEW is in Brittsburgh, so it’s safe to assume somebody else will be the focus there but the following week AEW is just a couple hours drive from Jade’s hometown in Sunrise, Florida. Selfishly, because I will be there, I’m hoping this is where the match takes place. If not then, I’m not sure any other venue makes more sense and Double Or Nothing would still be a month away. We’ll see if it gets announced this Wednesday!
