2 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Deadly Draw: Women's Tag Team Tournament (Aug 17)
Earnest, progressive women's tournament or overhyped action figure commercial? You decide.
The oft-criticised YouTube portion of AEW's Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament concluded with last night's semi-finals.
As confirmed by the promotion, the finals go down on this Saturday's special episode of Dynamite. This comes after three straight weeks of YouTube shows, starting with a monster 600,000 viewers for the first episode, though the numbers had more than halved by week two, dropping to 299,000. It'll be interesting to see how this week holds up with the elevated stakes.
Ivelisse and Diamante reunited after felling Dasha Gonzalez and Rachael Ellering in the first round, looking to solidify their alliance for what could be a permanent tag team union in AEW. Elsewhere, The Nightmare Sisters of Brandi Rhodes and Allie faced off against Big and Lil' Swole, having defeated Mel and Penelope Ford the last time out, overcoming clear chemistry issues - though Brandi, not Allie, appears to be the problem now.
The finals need to step up in quality. Low on breakout performances and compromised primarily of stodgy, awkward bouts, little of the Deadly Draw has been TV-ready to date. TNT's wider audience necessitates an uptake, so here's hoping the winners can deliver that...