14 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (16 Oct)
12. Presence Of Mind
Riho is proof that a roll-up victory need not be a fluke.
WWE have conditioned fans into believing that such wins are born of luck and luck alone, with Michael Cole's trite "he stole one!" line framing it as good fortune rather than skill or presence of mind. This immediately undermines the winner - particularly when they prance around the ring like they've just won the World Cup, while the incredulous loser struggles to contain their disbelief.
When Riho does it, it's because she's smart, understands her strengths and weaknesses, and knows how to use her smaller frame to counter into opportunistic situations. This is how she has won the majority of her AEW bouts so far and it's how she defended the AEW Women's Championship over Britt Baker (do you know she's a dentist, by the way? Do you?!) last night, rolling the good doctor up as she got tunnel vision while trying to apply her Lockjaw finisher.
The match itself was solid enough. Fans popped loudly for Riho's double stomps and other big spots and while dunking on Baker's performance has become trendy online, she was fine here (aside from one sloppy early moment). It was largely a neat and tidy defence that played well on the size difference, with the slippery Riho frustrating Baker with constant counters, and Britt looking despondent in defeat.