In All Elite Wrestling there has been questions as to who would be challenging AEW Womens Champion Riho for the title at their upcoming PPV, and it has been announced by AEW themselves on Twitter that it will be the woman who trained her, Emi Sakura. We will also see a grudge match between Britt Baker & Bea Priestley on the Buy In (preshow).
Teacher vs. Student
Riho made her debut in 2006 at the age of 9, with Emi Sakura being her primary trainer. This might seem odd to western fans, but it’s not uncommon for japanese female wrestlers to start their training and make their debuts at a very early age. This is what makes Riho a 13 year veteran of the industry at 22, and makes her wise beyond her years in the ring, but that experience level is dwarfed by Sakuras 24 years in the industry. Sakura is a living legend of joshi puroesu (the name for Japanese womens wrestling), having won gold pretty much everywhere she has been. Her style mostly boils down to theatrics at this point, but you best believe that on Saturday she will turn back the clock and give a classic performance with her star pupil.
Teacher & students. She became a Wrestler while in elementary school. That's why our matches were always prejudiced wherever we went. People fell something when watching a match. However, to make people wanna watch the match is a Pro Wrestler’s first job.#gtmv #AEWFullGear pic.twitter.com/KVg99Ctbf2
— Emi Sakura🍫 (@EmiSakura_gtmv) November 6, 2019
How Did Emi Sakura Earn This Matchup
Emi Sakura doesn’t hold the best win loss, but won a fatal four way matchup last week on AEW Dark, beating other potential contenders in Allie, Penelope Ford, and Sadie Gibbs. The only other prominent women in AEW right now are Bea Priestly & Britt Baker, but they’re set to face off at Full Gear in what will be a grudge match. There is also Hikaru Shida, but she has a loss against Riho and only just reemerged for AEW so she’s not a contender yet unfortunately. This match should be a treat, and an excellent showcase of the joshi puroesu style of wrestling which seems like it will be prominent in this company.
“It Means I Can Rip Your F****** Jaw Off”
The other women’s match set for this PPV is Bea Priestley & Britt Baker, who have been on a collision course since Fight For The Fallen, where Bea Priestly with one swift, stiff boot to the back of Bakers head put her on the shelf with a concussion. On AEW Dark, Britt Baker cut a heated promo about the lack of professionalism that Priestly showed both in & out of the ring surrounding her injury, and threatened to use her knowledge as a dentist to rip Priestley’s jaw clean off her face. This match won’t be pretty, and I imagine the winner will be next in line for a shot at Riho; but they need to settle their issues first. It will be part of the free pre-show, so you have no excuse to miss this match.
Full Gear is set to be a great PPV showing, headlined by Cody vs. Chris Jericho for the AEW Championship as well as the Lights Out Unsanctioned Match between Jon Moxley & Kenny Omega. It’s going to be hard to not get overshadowed by those matches, but the women of AEW are going to make sure they’re what people are talking about on Sunday morning.
