From day one, the plain weak spot in All Elite Wrestling was the ladies’s division. As a start-up firm, the problem of constructing a roster from scratch would at all times be tough.
On the boys’s facet, the roster was not less than boosted by a number of established names, together with Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and Chris Jericho–the identical couldn’t be mentioned for the ladies’s division.
The few ladies in wrestling that might be thought-about bedrocks for a division have been firmly entrenched in WWE on the time, and the restricted quantity of obtainable ladies on the free agent market actually made AEW’s division seem like that of an growth crew. There have been older veterans, equivalent to Superior Kong and Mel, who ended up offering little or no to the division, and unproven wrestlers, equivalent to Britt Baker and Nyla Rose, who ended up being long-term belongings to the division.
The outcome was a big hole between the standard within the males’s and girls’s divisions. Whereas the boys have been having a number of the greatest wrestling matches on the planet, many ladies’s matches have been struggling to be satisfactory. This was an anticipated problem, and regardless of rational individuals understanding that the ladies’s division was a piece in progress, it grew to become a straightforward goal to criticize AEW.
The COVID-19 pandemic additional destabilized issues. Within the early days of the ladies’s division, imported expertise from Japan, most notably Riho, was counted on to be the rock of the division whereas a number of the much less skilled abilities had an opportunity to develop. COVID made it rather more tough for expertise from exterior the US to enter the nation, urgent a number of the youthful wrestlers into the highlight sooner than anticipated.
Tony Khan and AEW’s artistic course additionally appeared to lack deal with the ladies’s division. Whereas one may argue that the ladies wanted extra storyline course than the boys, given their lack of expertise and in-ring high quality, the ladies have been hardly given something. Maybe one storyline at a time, centered across the ladies’s title, would happen on AEW tv. Along with the opposite challenges, that indifference absolutely stunted some progress within the division.
The AEW ladies’s division was a black mark for AEW, nearly a assured location for the least-anticipated match on the PPV, or the bottom quarter hour on an episode of Dynamite. It was maybe the one factor AEW was doing on the time that was considerably worse than WWE.
Over the past yr, although, that dialog has largely disappeared. By a number of achievements, AEW has shed the stigma related to its ladies’s division. Whereas some faults nonetheless exist, the division has been largely firing on all cylinders, and is now not a big weak spot when evaluating the AEW product, and for the final yr or so, the work within the division has undoubtedly been superior to the work being completed in WWE.
Familiarity breeds respect
The primary noticeable improve within the division is that for the reason that firm has now existed for 5 years, the AEW fanbase has familiarity with a number of the longest-tenured wrestlers. Even when a wrestler has some deficiencies, followers will develop to love them if they’re given sufficient time to understand their strengths.
Britt Baker, who is definitely probably the most impactful wrestler from the unique slate of AEW ladies wrestlers, is seen because the cornerstone of the ladies’s division, at the same time as numerous different acts have been introduced in and pushed. As the big babyface pop for her return throughout Forbidden Door would counsel, Baker is a sizzling act within the firm, coming again at simply the proper time to enter a feud with Mercedes Mone, which appears to be like destined to be a main match at Wembley Stadium.
That familiarity goes past an curiosity in Baker, although. Hikaru Shida, who was a vital performer for AEW throughout the lean occasions of COVID-19, is a extremely popular wrestler who at all times will get robust reactions from the gang. At this level, she could also be extra like an upper-mid-card wrestler than a champion, however Shida is a beneficial piece in AEW.
One other authentic is Nyla Rose. Rose isn’t used ceaselessly on tv as of late, and her work will not be at all times as much as par, however the followers acknowledge Rose for her dedication to AEW, her world-class social media sport, and the general good work she has completed in AEW. Rose has limits as a performer, however years of onerous work get acknowledged and revered by AEW followers, which helps bolster the division.
Aggressive recruiting
Whereas Tony Khan can actually be criticized for not giving the AEW ladies’s division as a lot artistic consideration because it deserved–it’s onerous to criticize him for not seeking to open up the checkbook and attempt to enhance the division. Every time a free agent turns into out there, Khan makes a play to carry them in.
In some methods, this has exacerbated the issue, as veteran wrestlers with restricted upside, equivalent to Madison Rayne, Taya Valkyrie, and Saraya, have been introduced in and finally helped contribute to the picture that the division was not excellent. It additionally pushed some focus away from doubtlessly growing abilities–particularly, Saraya, who, as an expensive veteran, nearly assuredly will get extra tv time than less-heralded prospects with larger upside.
That aggression finally paid off and helped form the ladies’s division into a high quality of AEW. Touchdown Toni Storm was a significant win for AEW after she crashed out of WWE. Bringing in Jamie Hayter full-time after utilizing her right here and there become being one of many shrewdest acquisitions Khan has made with AEW. Willow Nightingale was signed off of the indies and allowed to slowly matriculate up the cardboard in AEW, rising as an natural babyface pressure.
Khan landed his greatest prize when he signed Mercedes Mone earlier this yr.
After years of ready, AEW lastly had a feminine Jon Moxley, a longtime, acknowledged star who, if issues went proper, may elevate the ladies’s division and your entire firm. Mone’s performances up to now have been polarizing, however AEW has been very dedicated to using her as a real prime star.
Actual artistic course
With the depth of the division growing, the artistic elements behind the division have improved. Mone deserves a ton of credit score for that, she is perceived as such a giant star that the funding in her is huge, so AEW at all times has to seek out one thing for her to do and a purpose to place her on tv.
Outdoors of Mone, Toni Storm’s “Timeless” character has been a significant sport changer for the AEW’s ladies’s division. Whereas the dramatic elements of the character have been polarizing to some, there isn’t any doubt that the character of “Timeless” Toni has been a significant artistic pressure inside the ladies’s division. Not solely organising applications throughout Storm’s prolonged run as ladies’s world champion, but additionally in introducing Mariah Might to AEW audiences.
The Might/Storm dynamic has the potential to be some of the outstanding tales within the historical past of AEW. Khan has proven an curiosity in long-term tales about private relationships, with Hangman Adam Web page and The Elite and MJF and Cody Rhodes being two examples. Might, who has main star potential, has been fastidiously introduced alongside in a protracted and winding story, as her presence will get an increasing number of concerned with Storm’s title.
There may be additionally the rise of Willow Nightingale, who shined in her feud with Mone earlier this yr, and put actual strain on Mone to rise as much as her degree. Nightingale could be very a lot a star of the current–a pleasant badass who males, ladies and kids can relate to. Nightingale has grow to be so in style that it appears unlikely she can be left with none artistic course sooner or later.
The improved artistic course and recognition of the ladies’s division culminated in Forbidden Door, a PPV occasion that had by no means had greater than two ladies’s matches on its card up to now, that includes 4 ladies’s matches on June 30.
Not solely have been there 5 matches, not one of the matches, except for Might vs Saraya, which was mainly a squash match, felt misplaced on what was a loaded PPV card. The matches all weren’t simply thrown collectively, however a part of tales the corporate was seeking to inform. Might vs Saraya was part of the larger Might/Storm dynamic; Storm vs Mina Shirakawa had been constructed for weeks round Might’s allegiance to her two buddies, Mone vs Stephanie Vaquer was constructed over the previous month, with Mone seeking to lastly win the New Japan Robust Ladies’s Championship, and Willow Nightingale and Tam Nakano vs Kris Statlander and Momo Wantanabe was clearly part of the Nightingale vs Statlander feud.
The present additionally highlighted AEW’s working relationships with different ladies’s promotions, with STARDOM offering Shirakawa, Nakano and Wantanabe, whereas Stephanie Vaquer got here from CMLL. Forbidden Door highlighted that AEW’s worldwide relationships are stronger than ever, which may solely profit the ladies’s division additional as extra expertise is offered to AEW.
For all of the dialogue about AEW as an entire being an organization that has did not progress wrestlers–there appears to be a number of ignorance concerning the development your entire ladies’s division has made lately. The division is now not a big problem for the corporate, and is slowly turning right into a power and a possible benefit it might probably at some point have over WWE.
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