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AEW& #39;s women& #39;s division is struggling. Anyone with eyes can see that. However, I think the discourse around the division over the past few months has been at best, unrealistic and at worst, argued in bad faith.
AEW tried to do something pretty ambitious from the start where they would use joshi talent to prop up the division until their US-based performers were at the level they needed to be.
However, Visa issues basically killed that entire plan.
They also lost Kylie Rae, who was probably going to be a key player in the division... so right out of the gate, AEW& #39;s women& #39;s division came out limping.
Having said that, they don& #39;t get a pass just for that. In 2019, they screwed up a lot.... a WHOLE lot:
1. They put the championship on Riho, and while Riho is great and was booked very well, she wasn& #39;t around nearly enough to establish a brand new title.
2. The first major PPV build was completely botched as Emi vs. Riho is a great story that they failed to capitalize on and tell effectively due to a severe lack of build. It was so bad that Emi was on Twitter trying to piece together a build.
3. The Nightmare Collective came across extremely tone-deaf as they put together a team of two below-average wrestlers that to be quite honest, aren& #39;t good enough to wrestle regularly on Dynamite, a wrestler that is broken down and quite frankly can& #39;t go anymore, and.... Luther.
4. This one isn& #39;t ENTIRELY something I would call a screw up but it& #39;s worth mentioning: They simply did not have any female "stars" in AEW.
5. Sadie Gibbs shit the bed and they quickly realized she wasn& #39;t ready for prime time... not to mention having an altercation with Bea Priestley at All Out in the battle royale, which carried over into a near shoot fight backstage
.....although I think many would argue that was more of a "Bea problem"
And finally...
6. They barely had any women& #39;s segments and this is a problem that continues on in 2020. (note: I say SEGMENTS and not matches, I will discuss that in a bit)
6. They barely had any women& #39;s segments and this is a problem that continues on in 2020. (note: I say SEGMENTS and not matches, I will discuss that in a bit)
In the beginning of 2020, AEW made some very positive changes:
1. Nightmare Collective was abandoned
2. Kris Statlander was signed and pushed
3. Nyla was pushed decently as a champion leading to the Shida win
4. Britt Baker became arguably one of the biggest stars in the company with her heel turn
Despite this, they still had issues. Visas were still not cleaned up and the US-based women& #39;s talent were still quite green and had to be protected and showcased in a way that doesn& #39;t expose them. So even though they fixed stuff, they still were not where they needed to be.
THEN COVID HAPPENED
COVID obviously has an a negative impact on every wrestling promotion on the planet, but for AEW, the company that planned to rely on foreign talent to prop up their division until the US-based women were ready, this was crippling.
To add to it, Kris Statlander and Britt Baker were injured. It has gotten so bad, that as of today, August 12th, there are now only 8 signed women that can actively wrestle for AEW:
Hikaru Shida
Nyla Rose
Big Swole
Allie
Brandi
Abadon
Anna Jay
Penelope Ford
....... That& #39;s it. That& #39;s all they got right now
Nyla Rose
Big Swole
Allie
Brandi
Abadon
Anna Jay
Penelope Ford
....... That& #39;s it. That& #39;s all they got right now
Despite these issues, I think the women& #39;s division since Revolution has been booked very well. AEW& #39;s clearly not there, but that doesn& #39;t mean they& #39;re not trying to get there. I& #39;m going to say it again: The AEW women& #39;s division since Revolution has been well booked.
More tweets coming in this thread.... Here is a slight intermission. Here is a picture of Chihiro Hashimoto suplexing some nerd while you wait.
