10 Best Matches AEW Still Haven't Booked
5. Nyla Rose Vs. Yuka Sakazaki
We saw a glimpse of their chemistry at last year's Fyter Fest, but the one-on-one match, built with the natural storyline, is the programme to base the Women's division around upon a return to something approaching normality.
Kenny Omega had a much different vision to underpin the Women's division than that which fate has conspired to make of it. He sensed that the unexpectedly brutal, beautiful struggle of undiluted joshi was criminally under-explored in the U.S. scene, and earmarked Riho and Yuka Sakazaki as the two marketable workers at the forefront of it. Though not served particularly well in storylines, Riho's per-segment drawing power and the super-enthusiastic arena audiences that bought into her spirit proved him right.
Something new and exhilarating was there, and Nyla Rose Vs. Yuka Sakazaki is the best manifestation of that vision: the hoss who could shred her in the ring and on the mic versus the Magical Girl so slight that she can barely keep her balance on the top rope - but is so spirited that she finds a way to launch into a springboard attack from that position, regardless.
Yuka is the most enchanting underdog in all of wrestling, and so barely resembles a pro wrestler (much less a great one) that it's never not awesome watching her roar into action. The total plight facing her would elicit booming sympathy before the lock-up.
Imagine that, after a spree of unexpected victories leading to a match sold, almost with solemnity, as the biggest mismatch in company history.