Red Velvet vs. Toni Storm

[8.0] "I thought this was really good for what it was 8th qonrn had some good moves and counters, Toni's character work was on point and Red velvet was impressive her, Toni and velvet looked cooked and delivered a fine course meal of a match. Good match and really good womens bout here in this show."

[4.0] "[2.0*] I think this match showed progression from the last Toni matches, but still was not enough in my opinion. This would be a decent match for this division before, but after the new additions, this was worse than literally every single Queen Aminata match on the company, so they need to figure this out."

[5.0] "Probably one of the best matches by Toni Storm in her "timeless" gimmick, I'm glad this didn't had any of those shoe throwing and Luther angles, just pure wrestling, with Toni controlling the match like a champion, and a good performance by Red Velvet - {**1/2}"

[6.0] "A solid match, but nothing spectacular, in my opinion. Velvet is a talented performer, but I'm still waiting for her to reach that next level. As for Storm, I really like her current gimmick, but I feel like it can hold her back from having a good match at times."

[6.0] "I thought that Deonna was good on commentary. Match was fine in the ring but unremarkable to me. Toni Storm plays her character well but it sometimes makes the action in the ring seem worse."

[5.0] "I dislike the way Toni's been working in-ring with this gimmick, it hasn't made for very compelling wrestling. It doesn't bode really well for her match against Deonna."

[6.0] "A decent match that had Deonna on commentary that added to the match in a nice way. Toni and Velvet also did a good enough job here to keep me engaged in the match."

[6.0] "Nice match, I hope this a turning point where Toni relies more on in-ring than the character, but that's probably not going to happen. (***1/4)."

[5.0] "Not the best match that either Toni or Red Velvet have had, but not their worst either. I think both have had better chemistry with other opponents of late. An entertaining match, Toni gets her classic spots in, Deonna is on commentary throughout giving little insights - the finish is the peak with Toni staring down Deonna while submitting Red Velvet. 2.5/5"

[7.0] "I think these two ladies did absolute fine out there. Deonna Purrazzo did good on commentary too which elevated this match a bit. Toni continues to have one of the better gimmicks in AEW. and I'm glad she's getting Luther on tv even if in a minor role."

[6.0] "Better than Toni's recent matches that imo have been too hokey and leaning too heavily into involving Luther and goofy cheating spots. Having her be more serious in the ring, with smarter comedic highlights is a much more to my liking. A good "public exercise" for the champion, would like to see Velvet kept in the foreground though as I have really enjoyed her since her return. Keep her "the chef is always cooking" line she said on Collision or wherever and lean into that, but ditch the actual apron and the stirring."

[6.0] "This was a fairly ordinary match that would have been better suited to Rampage. I'm glad they've toned back on the "Timeless" shenanigans while Storm is in the ring. She's a good enough wrestler that she doesn't need that stuff. Unfortunately, Purrazzo isn't that interesting on commentary."

[7.0] "The improvement of the women's division in AEW in the run-up to Mercedes' debut continues in leaps and bounds. Whilst a tough act to follow the opening match, Velvet and Toni nevertheless put on an entertaining match that did exactly what it needed to to set up the title match at Revolution."

[6.0] "Pretty solid outing for both wrestlers with a couple of nicely-executed spots (e.g., Red Velvet's cazadora bulldog and her leg lariats were great-looking, Storm's emphasis on demonstrating her ground game makes since given the Purrazzo feud). I feel like they could've given this a couple more minutes, but the post-match stuff with Luther and Purrazzo was fun."

[6.0] "A perfectly adequate match that exists to continue the Deonna feud. I am not convinced that AEW have done a great job in getting Deonna over since her debut but they are putting building blocks in for a stronger division at least."

[4.0] "[2.5*] interesting match, Toni and Red had a good performance and good exchanges, although I don't think Storm reached her full potential in the ring with her new gimmick, this match showed an improvement."

[6.0] "Basic match, kinda existed only to get to the faceoff afterwards. Decent showing for Red Velvet here though"

[5.0] "Pretty basic TV match, but I liked the small changes that Toni has made to her wrestling style to better embrace her gimmick. Things like the way she worked the headlock and the old school punch combo really sold the 'classic wrestler' element of the character. The match was pretty average overall, but it's nice to see Toni continuing to develop in the ring."

[8.0] "Deonna on commentary was a fantastic addition. Red Velvet fought Deonna only a few weeks ago so for Toni to treat her like a "work-out" shows heel disrespect not only to Red Velvet but also to Deonna. Red got in some great sequences, she's a very athletic woman but also knows how to sell so she will always make her opponent look fantastic. Mariah continues to linger in the background of this storyline as she watches her hero wrestle from the sidelines up close and helps to hype up the crowd for her. It was always clear that Toni would win and the post-match segment between her and Deonna was electric."

[5.0] "Just a totally ok TV match. Toni Storm's in ring work on this one was actually better than her recent outings with the Timeless Toni Storm gimmick. I do still miss her old in ring style, even if this gimmick is much better. Red Velvet did a pretty good job as well, glad to see her on TV more. I will say though, I have never liked this booking formula in any company where you have to beat the champion to get a shot at the champion's title. I can count on one hand the number of times this has actually happened in AEW, and so I think if they're just going to lose anyways, you may as well have the added stakes of the title itself to get the audience more invested because "title eliminator match" is just telling the audience "this match doesn't matter""

[4.0] "This had to follow the Hangman/Swerve match so the crowd was pretty dead, and I'm sure no one thought Red Velvet was going to beat the world champion who's in the middle of another feud, but it was a nice little match for what it was. Nothing fancy or trying to do anything but that's ok. Deonna on commentary wasn't very good and I think they're going to be stretching out this feud pretty thin by the time Revolution comes. Red Velvet looked good for her part. Much better than in the Thunder Rosa match she had."

[7.0] "Toni's finally started to work more like her gimmick. At first she was just working like regular Toni Storm but with a different personality, and then she was doing comically bad cheating spots, but now she's settled into a very fitting style that combines some of her core moveset with a very 50s-60s style of simple and snappy wrestling. Granted Red Velvet isn't the best opponent in the division, but she does put effort in and they had some solid back and forth while this lasted. I really liked that ankle lock to taunt Deonna as well. A pretty standard TV match elevated by what I think is Timeless Toni truly gelling with her character. ***1/4"