Report by: Arya Witner, f4wonline.com
Meiko Satomura defeated Lacey Lane in a quarterfinal match
From the start, Michael Cole was pushing that it would be the biggest upset in the history of women’s wrestling if Lane won. Satomura tried to play nice early and showed sportsmanship by offering her hand during a break. Lane refused, so Satomura turned her foe into five feet of lumps. Lane missed a kick that would have missed by three feet if Satomura hadn’t ducked.
Lane got out of an armbar attempt and countered with a series of strikes, which got the fans behind her. Satomura battled back with a head kick and picked up the win with a Death Valley Driver! So much for the biggest upset in the history of women’s wrestling.
Lane shook hands and bowed in respect after the match.
Io Shirai defeated Deonna Purrazzo in a quarterfinal match
It was the return of “The Virtuosa” drinking game — because if you took a drink every time someone said “The Virtuosa” in regards to Purrazzo, you would have liver damage.
The match started slow with them feeling each other out, but the pace changed just as quickly. Shirai hit her suicide dive and, just like last time, I was afraid she was going to come up short and land on her head. Shirai stood on Purrazzo in the corner and counted along with the referee before breaking at four.
Purrazzo had trouble stringing together multiple moves in a row until she got in two hard chops. She followed with a hip toss and her basement dropkick. Purrazzo locked on the armbar, but no one believed Shirai would tap out. Shirai used the 619 and a springboard dropkick for a near fall. Purrazzo used the rolling German suplexes, which haven’t been seen in a while.
Shirai got locked in another armbar — and this one the fans actually bought as the finish — but Shirai somehow got out of it and turned it into a crossface. Shirai used her running double knees and what amounted to a back flip headbutt (as opposed to a moonsault) for the win!
Rhea Ripley defeated Tegan Nox via referee stoppage
This was the match that unfortunately had the injury during it. Nox hit a suicide dive 20 seconds into the match and landed awkwardly on her knee on the ramp. They tried to continue, and it made me think of the Trish Stratus vs. Lita match where Lita blew out her knee. Ironically, this was Nox’s knee that wasn’t injured last year.
The trainer came out and they did allow it to continue for some reason. It went maybe a minute or two until they did a spot that culminated with Ripley hitting a dropkick. Nox went down and couldn’t get back up. The referee waved the match off and the crowd went deathly silent.
We got polite applause when Ripley was announced as the winner, which was followed by a standing ovation when Nox was carried to the back. They showed women crying in the crowd.
Toni Storm defeated Mia Yim in a quarterfinal match
This match only had about eight minutes, but it was a fantastic eight minutes.
Yim learned from her last match and didn’t start this one by throwing strikes with her injured hand. She concentrated more on holds to wear down Storm and attempting to submit her. Storm, however, was content wailing away on her injured foe with hard strikes and high impact moves.
When submissions didn’t work for Yim, she decided that what was good for the goose was good for the gander and she began to kick at Storm. However, Storm then kicked her right in the injured hand, followed by a headbutt that put both wrestlers down.
They fought to their knees and exchanged a series of open handed slaps and chops. Yim hit a Saito suplex and a powerbomb for a pair of near falls. Storm blocked Seoul Food and hit Storm Zero to score the pin!
The semifinals are set. Next week it is Shirai vs, Ripley and Storm vs. Satomura. Who is going to the finals on October 28? We’ll find out next Wednesday. Until then, thank you for reading and I’ll talk to you again next week!