8 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear
4. Riho Vs. Emi Sakura - AEW Women's Championship Match
If the atmosphere was better, this meets the four-star scale.
Sadly, the least-receptive crowd of the Dynamite era didn't provide it, but AEW is partially to blame: they front-loaded the sequencing of the show and paid the price in the middle.
Still, at its best, this was tremendous, barring minor moments of hanging around; the expected teacher-versus-student dynamic manifested with smart psychology and brutal physicality. If this was the last lesson delivered by Sakura, it was likely the most painful; she battered Riho's spine with an awesome-looking tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, one of several moves the Champion sold to perfection. She barely needs to bump - almost every move executed on that frame looks devastating - but she registers and projects the pain with such great authenticity.
Her raw, emotional style requires that loud cauldron atmosphere to put it over, and the volume was lacking. But if they didn't roar, they certainly cooed at Sakura's great-looking rolling surfboard.
On a night of mixed finishes, this finish ruled: the exchanges accelerated to jaw-dropping warp speed by the 12 minute mark, and the cradle pin was a neat exclamation on the student-becomes-master tale.
Star Rating: ★★★¾