13 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Fyter Fest 2019

4. 'The Native Beast' Rises

Fyter Fest's second women's bout saw Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, and Nyla Rose collide in a three-way dance, with the winner gaining the opportunity to establish themselves as an early frontrunner in the nascent division.

How Rose would fare was the biggest question heading in. While Awesome Kong's Double Or Nothing appearance was a great surprise, it undermined the 'Native Beast.' She's supposed to be being set up as the monster heel, after all, and it was tough for her to get any shine while competing against one of the strongest female archetypes of that character. Here, she'd have every opportunity to flex her might against the smaller joshi wrestlers, and she started fast, tossing both women into the corner before countering their early team-up with the kind of power one would expect.

While it's clear that she's still growing into her role as a performer, Rose is an intriguing prospect and building much of the bout around her dominance was a smart idea. Credit to Sakazaki and Riho, too: they sold and bumped well, and bridging out of Nyla's early double-pin attempt got the crowd going.

Sakazaki, 'The Magical Girl,' came alive with a dive to the outside. Shine shifted from the monster to the underdogs from there, with an explosive Riho/Sakazaki sequence erupting when Rose re-entered the fray, and while there were a couple of moderately sloppy moments, they nailed the layout and got over. That's what was most important.

Riho's win on Rose is a brave booking choice, too, but a more interesting one than Nyla just running through the smaller women. Let's see where she goes next.