Jade Cargill vs Diamanté

At AEW Grand Slam for the TBS Title

I Was There

As stated in the previous match review (Storm vs Deeb vs Athena vs Baker), I was in Arthur Ashe Stadium for this match live! However, I always maintain that the televised version of a match is the true canon version so I had to wait to watch it to give it a true fair review.

A Match For Match’s Sake?!

So this was a bit of a curious match up just because going back a couple months I had fantasy booked in my mind a bunch of different scenarios for Jade Cargill at Grand Slam that would lead to big moments. Naturally, when it was announced that it’d be Diamanté taking on Jade I wondered if maybe Diamanté’s real life partner, Kiera Hogan, might turn on Cargill. As it turns out, this match was more of a fixture of the sport, which is actually what I want more of, I just don’t expect that from Tony Khan who has a penchant for setting up angles for matches.

Cool Is Cool

Besides being “just a match”, this was also a vehicle to introduce Trina, who’s an artist I wasn’t familiar with. Actually, practically all of the various rappers AEW has had on lately, I’m not familiar with any of them. But this is how I summed this up on Twitter:

Basically, if people cooler than me think this is cool, then that’s cool and I’m glad AEW is reaching out to a wider audience in this way.

To the Action!

Diamanté opens the match by ducking a lariat and kicking away at Jade’s knee. This would be a theme in this match. Every time Jade would overpower Diamanté, she’d use her quickness and tenacity to escape and then hit a flurry of offence on Cargill. It’s so good to see Diamanté on proper AEW television. She’s just such a solid performer and oozes badass energy.

Jade would interrupt a 10-punch spot on the turnbuckle and carry Diamanté to the center of the ring to Powerbomb her. The spot was to be Diamanté reversing it into a roll up pin but she kind of fell on her back with a thud but very quickly, both women recovered for a pin attempt. An unfortunate sequence but ultimately it was done safely enough and quickly enough to not be a big deal.

SUPER POWER

After one missed attempt, Jade would finally land her devastating looking Pump Kick. Diamanté recovered though and would send Jade to the floor, setting her up for a crossbody splash but Jade, incredibly, would catch her, need to step back to balance herself, shoving the barricade up against some fans. This spot was so impressive. I think there’s an argument to be made this spot should look smoother where Jade catches Diamanté without nearly losing her balance but my take is: This absolutely did not look contrived. It didn’t look like Diamanté was simply jumping into Jade’s arms but rather that she really threw her body at Jade as a well executed attack and that on any other woman she would’ve flattened her. But Jade is Jade. Think about the old super hero trope where Superman or the Hulk is stopping a train or missile. They don’t stop it dead in its tracks, their feet skid backwards for a while until they gradually bring whatever was speeding at them to a grinding halt. That’s what this looked like.

Jade would carry Diamanté back over to the ring with a noticeable limp and then F5 her onto the apron. This is where I, in the arena and watching again at home, became very concerned for Jade’s right leg. If she was selling then bravo, because I was totally sold on it.

Jade gets in the ring and hits Diamanté with the Jaded for the win. 38-0. 

Post match, Trina turns on Diamanté and shakes hands with Jade. Unclear as to whether this was a one-off or Trina will join Jade in the future.

A Genre all on its own

Jade Cargill man… She’s just so special. There is so much cool action packed into her matches and even when things don’t go to exactly as planned, she’s either quick enough on her feet or just plain strong enough to overcome it. 38 matches in her career. Incredible. I think a lot of fan’s enjoyment of this match may vary based on your own personal tastes but I just love these power move sprint matches that Jade does. They’re their own genre and make her matches feel like a special attraction. It’s weird to say but at just 2:36, this match was the perfect length. I’m sure other fans will look at the match length and point to the missed rollup spot and scoff at how positively I rated this match. But goddammit did this match ever have me FEELING stuff and isn’t that the goddamn point of pro wrestling?

Watch this match on YouTube