It’s always fun to watch folks develop in the wrestling business. Some wrestlers take a long time to develop, while others appear to have the so-called ‘it’ factor from the first time you see them. Case in point, Harley Cameron.
I remember like yesterday the first time Harley Cameron showed up in AEW. She was part of the so-called QTV faction and she was just hanging out backstage taking notes with them. During my weekly Dynamite chat I simply asked, “Who on earth is THAT?” Because not only was she beautiful, just sitting there she exuded charisma. So yeah, she was originally a reporter or something and she wore, get this, GLASSES. Girl if you are reading this, you really need to bring those back!
For this early encounter in her career, she is taking on MAFIOSA. I’m not sure if that’s a mafia reference, but I’m going to pretend that it is. Also I loved this freeze frame of her so much I may make it the new thumbnail on all my socials.
The match starts and Harley takes her down with a snap mare. Now that’s one of the most basic moves imaginable, but Harley celebrated this like she’d hit a space flying tiger drop. Yeah, blow that mafia chick a kiss!!
Mafiosa gets a bit of offense in, leveling Harley with a back elbow. Harley comes back with a nice move out of the corner and then a clothesline as well.
We get some more basic stuff next, with some knee strikes and a side Russian legsweep. Or maybe it’s a side Australian legsweep being that she’s from Gold Coast.
Seeing that she has things well in hand, she grabs a phone and stars taking selfies of the massacre she’s perpetuating. I’ve always loved that gimmick, and am shocked no one has that as a regular part of their moveset.
Mafiosa misses a clothesline, which Harley turns into a neckbreaker…
…before wrapping things up with a backstabber for the win. I love her little ‘no no no’ finger waggle, she should bring that back too. Now if you think this stuff all looked pretty basic, there’s a reason for that – as best I can tell, this was Harley’s tenth pro wrestling match. Not tenth match in AEW, her tenth match EVER. With that in mind, this was pretty darn impressive, as I’ve seen a lot of folks with a hundred matches that don’t look that good. What can I say? YAY HARLEY!