After months of anticipation, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) crowned its first women’s champion on the premiere of Dynamite.
Tonight, the Joshi wrestler and 22-year-old veteran, Riho, defied the odds to defeat the hometown favorite, Nyla Rose, in a hotly contested match.
Riho earn a shot at the vacant title last month at All Out when she defeated Hikaru Shida in a one-on-one match. The win set her up to clash with a much larger opponent in Rose, who outlasted 20 other women to win the Women’s Casino Battle Royale.
This match started pretty much as you would expect with both competitors relying on their strengths early. Riho attempted to use her speed and stiff running knee strikes. Meanwhile, Rose applied pressure, using her substantial size advantage and various holds to wear her opponent down.
The fight kicked into high gear when they took the action outside of the ring. The current High Speed Champion lept from the top rope to hit Nyla with a flying crossbody, but “The Native Beast” caught her out of midair and hit her with a devastating backbreaker.
Later, Rose laid her across a pile of chairs and attempted a cannonball senton. But missed and landed back first on the unforgiving steel. Riho quickly took advantage and hit her with a double stomp from the apron.
Back in the ring, she hit her with another but it wasn’t enough. In possibly the best near fall of the night, Riho planted Rose with a Ranhei but she still kicked out.
Nyla took all of the offense the young veteran could throw at her including an impressive Northern Lights Superplex. Just when it looked like Rose could regain control, Riho nailed her with a double knee strike to win and become inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion.
Did you watch the premiere of AEW Dynamite? Drop a comment below and let us know what you thought of this match.
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