Tay Conti had her biggest opportunity to date in her career as she faced Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s World Championship on tonight’s Dynamite.
The match begins with both competitors showing their extreme respect for one another with Shida giving a quick bow. The two then lock up and they both exchange heavy strikes. Shida would break up the back and forth with a knee to the midsection.
Moments later the two find themselves outside the ring and Shida hurls Conti into the guardrail to gain the momentum. The champ follows up with a brainbuster to the mat on the outside.
The action goes back in the ring and Shida executes a beautiful bow and arrow making sure her own shoulders don’t touch the mat. Shida then stretches the arms of her challenger. A fury of submission attempts keeps Conti on her toes. Conti starts to take control as she gets a pump kick in. Moments later she hits Shida with a senton. Shida fights back and hits a Falcon Arrow and gets a near fall.
Conti then is placed up on the top turnbuckle and eventually gets driven into it with a backstabber type attack causing her to fall to the outside. Once she gathers herself and gets back in the ring, Conti hits the Tay-KO and goes for the pin but Shida kicks out at the very last second!
After an exchange of strikes from both as the match comes to its end, Shida hits Katana to put away Conti and retain her title.
Post-match as Shida is celebrating getting close to a year as champion, Britt Baker makes her way out to the stage. She unveils the updated rankings on the screen now that Conti has lost. This makes Baker the number one ranking and thus the number one contender for Shida’s title. Baker gives a wave to the champion before ending the segment.
With Double or Nothing a little over a month away it is clear that Baker will be the one to face Shida at that event.
Conti may not have won the gold tonight but she will certainly have another opportunity down the road.
Also tonight there was a promo for Jade Cargill in which she explained she doesn’t need a manager. In the video, both Matt Hardy and Vickie Guerrero showed their interest. She says that she is her own boss but if anyone wants to manage her then they better make a “helluva deal.”
As for next week Kris Statlander will be taking on Penelope Ford. Statlander returned several weeks ago and went right after Ford upon her return. The two were in a rivalry before Statlander went out with her injury over a year ago.
What did you think of Shida vs. Conti and this week’s Dynamite? Leave your thoughts below.
