Disclaimer: I’m obviously writing this on 11/8/19, the day before the Full Gear PPV. If the show or booking does anything to prove me wrong here, I’d be ecstatic to make a post, or send out a tweet, declaring myself to be wrong.
It’s hard to not compare NXT to AEW. They’re on the same nights at the same times, they both started by catering to the internet type fans who want to see great wrestling, but have had to adjust that mentality for being on a national cable network, trying to also get casual wrestling fans to watch. Since the “Wednesday Night War” started in October, AEW has had the edge as far overall ratings, and also with the coveted demographic, but both shows had been trending down. Until this week, when AEW saw an 8% increase and NXT saw a monstrous 40% increase. It’s easy to see why. WWE had been putting NXT guys on Raw and SD, and people tuned in (or tuned back in) to watch NXT to see what was happening next. It’s a luxury that AEW doesn’t yet have, since they only have on show on TV, and have their YouTube show “AEW Dark” and also the “Being the Elite.” Two shows on YouTube only, versus a show on the USA Network and Fox, which do you think more people can watch?
This is also true of the women’s division in AEW versus the WWE/NXT one. The ‘women’s revolution” has been going for almost five years now. We’ve seen the women being used much more prominently in recent years, getting their own Royal Rumble, their own Elimination Chamber, being in the main event of WrestleMania this year, and now gearing up for the first ever women’s War Games match. Once again, it’s not an entirely fair comparison. This all didn’t happen overnight for the WWE, they’ve spent years cultivating their rosters, and washing away the memories of the “Diva’s Division” where PPV shows featured bra and panties matches and lingerie pillow fights. AEW is starting from the ground up. But, I think it’s pretty hard to look at the landscape of the AEW women’s division and not feel let down.
History has shown that it’s not hard to book women wrestlers in a manner to get them over, and make people want to see them. There’s a reason Lita vs. Trish was able to main event Raw for the women’s title in 2004. There’s a reason that the Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong feud in TNA was often the high rated segment of the show. In both cases, they were made to feel important, and as a result, people wanted to see it. However, this isn't the case with AEW it seems. To paraphrase Bubba Ray Dudley, if AEW was the program or flyer to a wrestling card the women's division would be the fine print at the bottom that says "Plus, one other exciting match!"
In their roughly six month history as a promotion ( starting from Double or Nothing), AEW has managed two establish exactly two women wrestlers. Dr. Britt Baker, and Riho. All due respect to Jim Cornette, who clearly isn’t fond of them using the Japanese talent. But, I have no issue with it. It’s never a bad thing for talent to be able to work in front of new crowds, and it's not bad to let fans experience different styles. He may very well be correct that Riho will never draw a dime in this country. But, it’s 2019, it’s long gone by the wayside of certain wrestlers being counted on to draw crowds. I went to NXT shows in 2015 and 2016. The only thing I knew about ahead of time were some of the wrestlers, and I knew that from reading the results from the show the night before, since I knew the lineup wouldn’t be drastically different.
Just for fun, let’s look at the lineup for Full Gear and see where the women are positioned.
Britt vs. Bea being put on the Buy In is absolutely infuriating. Their feud has been the only real feud that the AEW women’s division has had (Allie vs. Brandi seems to have fallen by the wayside). From my review of the women’s tag match from the Fight for the Fallen buy in:
“The exchanges between Britt and Bea hints at something bigger happening between the two of them later on.” - Indeed that’s what happened. Bea helped eliminate Britt from the women’s battle royal at All Out, costing her the chance to be the first AEW Women’s Champion. Since then, they’ve wrestled in two tag matches, once on AEW Dark, and then on AEW Dynamite. There was a chance for something to happen when Britt wrestled Jaime Hayter (Bea’s tag team partner in Stardom) on Dynamite, but nothing happened. Plus, on AEW Dark, there was a great video and promo from Britt Baker to build up to this match.
The buildup for the women’s title match? After the match was announced, Sakura pinned Riho in a tag team match this past week. As Brian Last put it: If wins and losses matter, why is Emi Sakura getting the title match? Her overall record is 2-2, with one singles win. Further more, the tag match that Emi pinned Riho in was Emi and Jamie Hayter vs. Riho and Shanna. Why not add Britt and Bea to make it a trios match, and then build anticipation to two matches instead of just one? If Emi Sakura isn't available to be on TV regularly, why put her in the title match on the PPV?
While we're at it, let’s see what the rest of the women’s roster (according to AEW’s roster page on their website) has been up to.
Allie: Seemed to be headed to a feud with Brandi, but it looks like it’s been dropped. She’s been a regular on AEW Dark.
Awesome Kong: She’s settled into the role as Brandi’s enforcer, which is perfect. She’s probably the most established member of the women’s roster, which is the best reason to use her sporadically.
Brandi Rhodes: From my review of Fight for the Fallen:
“I can appreciate that Brandi wants to wrestle, but, if this is any indication of what to expect from her matches, then it ought not be a regular thing. She’s perfectly useful as a mouthpiece or as an authority figure.” It looks like someone seems to concur. She inexplicably attacked Jaime Hayter backstage, and has done a couple of vignettes. I think she’d be great as the heel authority figure, running the division with an iron first. But, they need to get it off the ground sooner rather than later.
Hikaru Shida: Like the other Japanese talent, sans Riho, she seems to be used sparingly. Seeing as she pinned Riho in July and has 3-1 record, maybe she ought to be challenging for the women’s title tomorrow night. She was on Dynamite last week, and put in a good showing against Shanna.
Leva Bates: The librarian gimmick is death. She’s made a few Dark appearances.
Nyla Rose: Talk about a missed opportunity. She hasn’t been on Dynamite since the decision match for the title on the first episode. She’s the perfect monster heel in the Awesome Kong and Nia Jax mold. She dominated the women’s battle royal at All Out. Since losing to Riho on the first Dynamite, she’s all but vanished, aside from a couple of matches on Dark (seeing a trend?)
Penelope Ford: She’s hardly been around. She did two matches. Guess what show?
Sadie Gibbs: See Penelope Ford, only she was also in the battle royal at All Out, so she’s had three matches instead of two.
Shanna: Put in a good showing in her debut against Shida two weeks ago. Her coming back last week is a good sign. But, that’s more about how little the women have been featured, rather than how good she is.
Yuka Suzuki: Like Sakura and Shida, she’s barely been used.
Also, Jamie Hayter has had two appearances on Dynamite, one of which was against the good Doctor, in her hometown nonetheless. Mercedes Martinez was a surprise appearance at All Out, and worked Dark this week. Aja Kong made a surprise appearance at Fight for the Fallen, and hasn’t been seen since. While Aja is obviously going to be expensive to use, and limited in what she can do, both Jamie and Mercedes would be good pickups.
There’s over a dozen women on the roster, and a two hour show can only accommodate one match? The women’s title match at the PPV has no reason for happening, and the only anticipation to it comes in the tag match *after* it was announced? Why should anyone care about the women’s division when only Riho is being used regularly on Dynamite, and the rest are regulated to occasional matches on Dark?
I think AEW absolutely has the talent roster to have a good women's division. But, between the division as a whole being used sporadically, mostly being booked in a 50/50 manner (if you look at their records as of today, only Riho and Baker have standout win loss records, because they've had the most matches), and the matches seemingly being treated as one-offs with precious little in the way of feuds, angles, etc. Then AEW has a long way to go before they can even hope to being compared to the WWE and NXT divisions. At best, they're ahead of the WWE divas of the mid-late 2000's, if only because they treat the women like athletes and wrestlers, but, that isn't a particularly high bar to clear.
