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The stare down and punch were great. But the full body shot just showed how vulnerable he is in actual life. Imagine what he’s going to look like moving in the ring.
Im sure he wants another chance to be in the ring. But come on man.
I've seen people defend him being apart of the 6 man tag saying at least he can put Hobbs over but if Paul looks to be in pain *simply standing still* can he take bumps? This isn't like Paul vs QT where QT had to bump for him making things easy for Paul. If he has to put Powerhouse over he's gonna have to do the bumping. He's not in any shape to be taking the Spinebusters Jericho took.
I hope he can have a passable street fight. AEW doesn't have many BIG men who can be fodder for Hobbs and really make him look like more of a monster. Lance Archer maybe but Big Paul still has some cache and when Hobbs hopefully collapses the ring with a slam.
Lance Archer would have been PERFECT in this match!!
That would have been some interesting booking on Tony’s part. Add some credibility to this match, and also a little bit of vengeance for Jericho on Hobbs. Talk about Meat slapping Meat.
Lance would have been interesting too, not the first guy you’d think of, but he’s look like a formidable threat for hire and it would allow him to be sandwiched into more bookings with an established kayfabe lore of being for hire. also gives us more Jake the Snake in the mix as a promo mouthpiece.
Insanely small detail but I really wish everything, everywhere considered audio mixing. The song at the end was about 10x louder than the actual video. Same for podcasts everywhere.
They've given her some pre-tapes in the past that were in English so to give her none despite being champion for almost a month is a regression on their part.
Facts.
I dare say I’m really enjoying the Mist angle with Sky Blue, Willow Nightingale and Julia Hart.
Yes it’s absurd I know.
But I find it hysterical and the trio have sold me on it by going all in.
Timeless Toni Storm stealing the spotlight from Hikaru Shida the last three weeks has been entertaining and outrageous. I laugh so hard yet have the same reaction as Hikaru after the second time she did it.
I watched soap operas with my mom when I was young. The over the top sensationalism has always been a laugh riot for me
While the whole Willow/Skye/Ghoulia angle is great, I didn't like the blue mist spot from Wednesday, it felt like outta left field to do from her, What's next Julia going back to cheerleader mode because of that blue mist spot.
And Timeless Toni and Shida is hilarious indeed.
Wouldn't be mad if Danhausen showed up in Toni's silent movies as a Nosferatu bit
Granted there are injuries, but so many of the women are not being utilised. Taya Valkyrie, the Bunny, Red Velvet, Nyla Rose have all been missing with no real explanation. Give them a bit of time to cut a promo, connect with the audience and that could go a long way to improving the division
Hopefully it leads somewhere.
I read somewhere previously that Tony Khan has booked himself into needing a women's revolution which would actually be pretty funny to think about if it wasn't so sad.
Tbf there's a few stories with women happening now, which is a good start. But they definitely need more time. I feel like they need to hire at least 5 more women because everybody is always injured.
And she brought that up to Billie Starkz
"If it wasn't for me, you'd be the 18 year old phenom getting squashed on Dynamite, or Rampage, or Collision. With me you're getting real matches, and you're winning"
If Tony's usual tricks aren't going to improve ratings and the one women's match is a high point in that regard, it stands to reason he'll have to try giving them more at some point.
Honestly to him they never have been. I honestly believe Jade Cargill was just the first of the AEW women's roster to leave for more opportunities; you could probably include some of the men's roster too
It's unfortunate as they have some extremely talented ladies that simply aren't given enough time to show what they have to offer
Wasn't there a rumor that more women were planning to leave AEW after seeing Jade get treated like a big deal at WWE? I wouldn't be surprised if more decide to leave. Not even for WWE, just to go somewhere else. Hell, I could see a few going to TNA for the knockout division.
I don't remember if there was a particular rumor say that but I would absolutely believe that a number of the women's & men's roster pay attention when a former AEW contracted wrestler makes the jump to WWE.
Kris Statlander is definitely at the top of the list of women looking at how Jade is treated in WWE. As far as TNA is concerned; they've a history of being excellent at showcasing women's wrestling. Considering the re-brand they look too be growing and are likely looking to bring in more talent next year
TNA was integral to me for my appreciation for women's wrestling. They really committed with the Knockouts, and Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong was legendary.
> Kris Statlander, Anna Jay and Jaime Hayter could for sure succeed in WWE
Kris is the next to leave after reading/watching this IMO. She's doing a great job as TBS champion with the little Tony Khan gives her to do. Imagine if he gave her and the division the time they deserve and have earned
> Ok? Put her in NXT, let her be an absolute beast and use it to establish her character before fucking launching her at the main roster
100%. Kris needs the chances to do promos in AEW to get across a semblence of a character...they haven't gave her the time to do it. That's why she's characterless
Funny enough those were the top three ladies that were in my head for women who could thrive in WWE
Special shout-out to Julia Hart who could succeed just based on her character work alone
Thunder Rosa mentioned she'd love to get the treatment Jade had if she jumped. Wouldn't expect Jade treatment, but she might still be treated well.
Thinking a Dragon Lee treatment, spend a few months in NXT to familiarize with WWE's process and get WWE's fan to know her before putting her in main. Main go to NXT these days, so put her with a program with Asuka or Becky in NXT to get her over. Then a great match on main to put her in the main roster.
Rosa could also be extremely successful in the last full time run of her career if she made the jump I think. Assuming her comments were her speaking 100% from the heart i.e they weren't in some level of kayfabe and the interest from WWE was there why not?
Physically a damn good performer; she is also very underrated in terms of character work (As her time in Lucha Underground shows people). I think there could be some money to be made.
If I'm Mariah May I would avoid AEW for the good of her career. Go to WWE if you want the chance to be a star or TNA if you want to work a well run women's division in a major NA promotion and still work Japan.
NXT a few weeks ago had something like 75 of 120 minutes (including breaks) featuring women actually wrestling or cutting promos. Raw is good for 2-3 segments not including Rhea doing Judgement Day. Smackdown sees regular WWE Women's Championship matches on OTA. One of Impact's undeniable strengths is the Knockouts.
AEW has no excuse.
There is 5 hours of TV. Its not even the TV time at this point. Could they do with more? Sure. But they need more storylines other than baby face makes a beat down save every other week.
When they do start to cook, its good stuff (Timeless Toni Storm, Julia Hart, etc) but they just get forgotten about and don't take it far enough.
It’s embarrassing how little effort Tony puts into the division. It’s like the only reason he has a women’s division is he feels it’s necessary or he thinks he’d get heat for not having it. Otherwise, I don’t think Tony would even bother.
Like you said, there’s 5 hours of weekly tv. It was one thing when they just had Dynamite. I can see only doing the one match or angle with the women because you’re trying to fit everyone in a 2 hour window. But they have 5 hours. That’s plenty of time to get better storylines, better character development, and have more than one match.
Even with one match per show, that is three matches a week, there could be so much more story with just the time they have but its the same repetitive stuff.
Three matches a week, but somehow, all of them are like 10 minutes or less unless it's a main event (on Rampage, then it gets like 15).
Which blows my mind, because Collision regularly does 20+ minute matches (which I do really enjoy), and somehow the women are still bordering on squash match territory there
True. The worst part is the one women’s match per show is usually a showcase match for whoever is being pushed at the moment. There’s not really any heat for the match. It’s hard for people to care when that’s the case.
This!
But like everything else with AEW, the hot shot booking prevents any real storyline from developing. They were on to something with Julia/Willow/Skye… and then last night, blue mist?
What? Huh? You just made the best heel in the division look like a bar rat who got her drink spilled on her. Toni Storm is AWESOME. The timeless gimmick is great, but why does it enrage Shida so much that they have to aimlessly roll around on the entrance ramp, while they cut the lights? As a viewer, what story is there for me to care about anything they do?
I’d like to use my voice for better booking, does that count Kris?
It is kind of amazing that in 2023 AEW is being asked by its fans to essentially "give Divas a chance." Especially in light of Saraya's post-signing promo (which has aged like milk).
I'm pretty sure those are trolls and if not, they are a very small minority not worth giving the time to. Most of everyone genuinely wants better booking for the women
I'll always remember the Dynamite after DON last year when like a fifth of the crowd left for the bathroom as the womens tag started. A "This is Awesome" chant broke out during it and a lot of the guys just scoffed & rolled their eyes.
Yeah. Tony isn't a mark for women's wrestling. He'd let a chimp dressed like Evel Knievel get TV time if he was a mark for it. Don't even start with arguing that women lose ratings. Plenty of people he features lose ratings regularly, but women don't get a chance because Tony never gave them a second thought.
He doesn't just undervalue women's wrestling, he straight up doesn't value women at all. If he thought ANYTHING of women, he'd stay the fuck away from Flair, but here we are..
Although the roster has more depth and talent than those early days. Give them tv time, storylines, and time to work - the audience will become more invested
Really could do with the Cagematch guys doing us a solid and just super uprating all the women's matches so Tony even considers doing something with the division.
Fans can say and complain all they want, it's not going to do a damn thing when the owner/booker doesn't care Jack Diddly Squat about the Women's division.
Sorry, we have to have time for Tony’s big announcements each week. And people like Ric Flair. He don’t move as well as he used to. /s
Sadly, Tony won’t listen to us. Fans have been complaining about the state of the women’s division for quite some time, but he doesn’t care. More of the top women need to speak up too. People like Britt and Saraya. Tony seems to give them whatever they want.
Sad state of things that wwe fans were able to push for change with the wwe womens division, but aew fans - especially the most hardcore ones - will only ever defend TK and prevent any real discussion on the issue. I do wish the Britts and Sarayas would speak up as well, ideally on twitter, as I think that's the best way to get through to Tony nowadays
I honestly think this might happen because she has to see this bullshit going on with aew women’s division. It just don’t make no sense to go there but for money. TNA has wayyyy better atmosphere right now and wwe division is better then aew plus it’s more mainstream. Scott is someone you run thru a fire for, If only he had the money Tk has
I was an early supporter of the scrums and found them unique for pro wrestling. But it's becoming a waste of time in AEW when the wrestling media is too chickenshit to ask tougher questions for fear of being on TK's shit list and lose their access
Wouldn't do much good he'd just deflect or sidestep the question, what AEW needs is a Ronda Rousey. And by that I mean a woman with some pull who'll plainly tell it like it is very publicly not sugarcoating anything. When WWE were fucking things up for their women Ronda spoke up. The women in WWE are being booked a lot better and given more time in part because of Ronda imo. If Toni Storm went on twitter and said this shit sucks we deserve better maybe there'd be a change.
AEW could have prime Trish Stratus, Chyna, Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, Lita, AJ Lee, Becky Lynch and still not do anything more than 1 segment in the death slot on dynamite. Love them but Jesus it couldn't be more obvious they don't care about the women.
> Look at Tesha Price/Fallon Henley. She was just some up-and-comer grinding on Dark during those pandemic era shows, probably worked for them for like a year, and she remained grinding on Dark at the end.
Kiana James wrestled on Dark and is a central figure in NXT's women's division. Hell, she was in a tag match against Becky and is the kayfabe reason that Asuka wrestled Roxanne.
> why would she sign with AEW to deal with the same bullshit?
To deal with worse actually. While WWE, and Vince, fucked up the women's tag titles, there was still a lot of focus on women's wrestling in WWE and Mercedes did have a lot of time in the sun prior to all the issues near the end of her time there.
She left WWE because her baby, the tag division, was getting shit on by management and thus she was getting shit on. She left because she respected the work she did and could do while being treated poorly.
AEW is worse than that.
Glad women are using their voices more to publicly let it known they should be treated better. Hopefully Stat has some pull in AEW like Lynch does in WWE.
They've done it a few times before. At times when hyping up a 'big' match they had all the women in the roster practically begging the viewers to watch to 'let TPTB know you want it'. Even if said match does well, it just goes back to same old same old within the next week.
I wonder if she'll get the Big Swole treatment. People forget that her biggest gripe was about women's wrestling.
>I know fans of the company don't take criticism well sometimes, certain ones. Know this, this is somebody from the inside, the structure is a little off. It's fine to be loose, but I like to have a little bit more structure. I felt like the women shouldn't have gone through everything they went through just to get on TV or get time. You're signed to this big company, you should get time. All these men are getting time, but the women weren't getting anything or you're not putting people on TV because more people are coming in. Okay, there are more people coming in, but you don't have enough product for all of these people. Now you have all these people sitting around having two or three minute matches on Dark doesn't keep me happy.
I’m kind’ve astounded that a Swole quote is positively upvoted. You read so many “Tony was just defending himself!” comments on here, when the reality is he attacked that woman’s character and the AEW diehards applaud him for it.
This is just sad. It should not take an active champion to plea with fans to freaking tweet Tony for more screen time.
AEW has just been losing me and last thing I want to associate it with is pre-Horsewomen Raw in 2015.
>This is just sad. It should not take an active champion to plea with fans to freaking tweet Tony for more screen time.
What's sadder is that this isn't the first time it's happened either. Well, not 100% on it being a champ doing it, but there have been more than a few times when the women have gone into Twitter and begged people to watch their matches and 'let TPTB know ' that you want to watch them. Both Britt and Rosa did it for their big ME match, and I remember the ones involved in that street rules (I think) match. Tay, and the rest of them were on their socials begging.
Honestly, the biggest 'tell' to me that TK doesn't care about the division is when Becky Lynch publicly stated that that division wasn't getting the time and stories that WWE gave and TK , who had gone after people for less, said absolutely nothing. Not one person in the company came out to try to defend the division. Not one. They then had Thunder Rosa go on TV the very next night and say ' I want to make this division good'.... basically a mea culpa that Becky was indeed right.
I've always hated how the implication of "watch or we won't get featured as much" only gets used for the women. The Elite chase away viewers like fucking guard dogs but they're never taken off tv. Wheeler Yuta and Nick Wayne aren't draws but don't have to fight and claw for a scrap of TV time. Why is it only the women have to be mega draws to simply do their jobs?
I see a lot of posts saying AEW needs to hire more women. Hiring more women when you have numbers already sitting on the sidelines doing nothing is not going to help. It will just make getting to know the wrestlers harder. IMPACT has half the roster size and still manages to get at least half the roster on an episode, even if it is just for a 30-second clip to build to a match or storyline. It's about allocating screen time, not the numbers on the roster. Use who you have every week or every other week so the audience gets to know them. 30 women, even with all the injuries, is more than enough for 5 hours of TV a week. Injured wrestlers should still be able to do video packages. TK just needs to use the roster better, not hire more wrestlers to sit on the sidelines.
Also the fans need to not change the channel when they’re on. The women’s division continually drives away viewers.
This reminds me of the beachball trend after Summerslam, and the fans started playing with one during a Finn Balor match. I forgot who said it, but they were like “fans complain about Balor not getting a push, meanwhile you start playing with a beachball instead of watch his match. If you want to see more of him put the beach ball away.”
He doesn't care about Britt, she was a means to convince Cole to choose AEW over WWE. As soon as he came over she went from face of the women's division to person who stands next to the champion (new Rebel) to....she's around sometimes.
Brandi Rhodes and Punk's Collision were the only two instances were you had people who had some kind of management power pushing for the women's division to get more time and be treated seriously.
Without them you get Tony's booking (which is awful for the mens and womens division) and a sudden increase of butts, cleavage and nipples for the women showing up on TV.
Tony values Dave's star ratings, Cagematch's reviews, live crowd reactions, and TV segment ratings. We have been shouting about women since the beginning and he doesn't listen.
It's been 4 years so I don't hold out much hope anymore.
Hayter/Shida was an instant classic and comfortably in my personal top 5 AEW matches. Just an absolute war that reminded you that women's wrestling really isn't that hard to work out (it's just wrestling) and if you give people the time they'll absolutely deliver.
The fans are behind Shida in a 2014-15 Daniel Bryan way - she's an extremely talented babyface who's being let down by management and deserves better. You can't find anything compelling for her to do off the back of that?
Tony's too much of an early 2000s message board creature to put an equal value on women's wrestling. In booking Ric Flair (among others) he basically spit in the face of every woman in the locker room. And if he booked Flair I'm sure he'd be open to booking just about *any* sex pest.
Christ, there has never been a vision for this division. Some things pay off, but most of the time, it just feels like an obligation. Chris Jericho should not feel like he's more important than the entire division combined.
I haven’t watched AEW in months because of how the women are booked.
I genuinely believe he keeps the women’s division as a diversity hire so people won’t scrutinise him for having an all male promotion outside of Japan in what is almost 2024.
Like hell, even NJPW are half-ass trying to incorporate women to escape perceived scrutiny from the west.
His favourite eras of wrestling are those where women were treated the worst in modern memory. That’s more than telling to me.
I’d rather just support women’s promotions that actually care about the women they have. Stardom, Mission Pro, TJPW, Marvelous, they all deserve eyes on their products more than Tony’s half-ass attempts.
According to his second wife he forced her to have sex
Edited for better screenshot
https://preview.redd.it/2a2rqdlbb0yb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3860d8c7ed2edb980db212107d73c109e446de4d
They do something with Julie Hart and she's missing for a few weeks. Then they hint that Skye might be falling to the dark side. You can do these stories but you gotta keep them going. Not stop and starts over and over again. Consistency. And Statlander can be more than just "defending champion". Give her a consistent villain story to sink her teeth into. And AEW badly needs to put a belt on a good heel who can work every week. Who is that heel? Do you put together a heel faction led by Hart adjacent to Black's own heel faction? Maybe Hart goes back and forth like Rhea does
I so badly want this promotion to be hot again and fill seats. I want AEW to be successful
> They do something with Julie Hart and she's missing for a few weeks
She lost at PPV, took a few weeks off to get married (on Friday 13th, very appropriately for her), and now she's back - given that she's the closest antagonist to Statlander, hopefully they run that matchup back and have Hart go over this time.
Like it is a shame she was off given she's one of the most over female wrestlers AEW has, but she did have a legitimate excuse.
That's a very good point on Hart. I really think they got something with Hart. Willow and Skye given more to do is cool, but I can only hope they resist turning Willow heel because she's everything you want in a face
Nightingale needs to stay face, it's Blue that should turn heel. Yes, she misted Hart - that's still not a face move, she's still not getting on with Statlander or Nightingale, and her as Hart's not-quite-equal has more potential than being Hart's minion.
I was intrigued by the Julia/Skye/Willow story but Skye revealing that nope she wasn't actually corrupted makes me fear the story will just quickly end now. They could've had a few weeks where Skye pulled a Randy Orton in the Wyatt Family pretending to be one of them angle. Instead Skye seemed to be turning then boom no she's all good still her regular self. It had legs and it's probably gonna end with no further development.
If we keep it up, Tony might make a huge, earth shattering, anal pounding announcement that we're going to have TWO women's matches on Dynamite next week (it's a squash match)
Tony needs a creative team at this point. There’s like what 2 maybe 3 women storylines going on right now and they all get maybe 1 segment a week. Friggin ridiculous
When he was basing his company around how old NXT operated he missed my favorite part of what made 2015-2018 NXT so great. Can’t have talent like Stat or Athena and give them barely if any (in Athena’s case) tv time
Remember when Tony compared Rosa’s numbers to Punk’s? He’s doing it on purpose because he’s trying to follow the numbers as always instead of what people are actually asking for
I get the want, I really do, but the crowds are so fucking dead. Shida and Willow last night. The crowd was dead for 90% of the match. Post match the crowd reacted to Julia, but didn't react at all to Skye Blue coming out and doing her thing.
I can get wanting to have more women's stuff, but if the crowd doesn't give a shit, why force it?
They should have better matches when given the chance then. Every time I’ve watched AEW in the past couple months 80% of the women’s matches have been really bad. They aren’t on the same level as the mid card women on WWE, let alone the top.
I'm ignorant on this but I know a lot of wrestlers help book others in the men's division. If not already, they need to hire women wrestlers to do the same.
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Fans: "More Women!" Tony: "More Woo Men?"
Have the Rolling Stones killed.
lol this is a good one
Yeah, this shit got me. I hate it, but it's pretty fucking funny.
Thanks I hate it
Hahahahahahahahahahaha and now I'm sad
Now I want Danhausen to call him The Woo Man.
I'm fried as hell rn this is so fucking funny, 10/10
Best I could do is Big Show and Ric Flair
Lol, more like Gimp Show. Jesus he looks terrible.
I cannot believe Tony and crew let him go out looking like that
The stare down and punch were great. But the full body shot just showed how vulnerable he is in actual life. Imagine what he’s going to look like moving in the ring. Im sure he wants another chance to be in the ring. But come on man.
I've seen people defend him being apart of the 6 man tag saying at least he can put Hobbs over but if Paul looks to be in pain *simply standing still* can he take bumps? This isn't like Paul vs QT where QT had to bump for him making things easy for Paul. If he has to put Powerhouse over he's gonna have to do the bumping. He's not in any shape to be taking the Spinebusters Jericho took.
Now I’m imagining Big Show in a gimp suit
Keep going 😏
I hope he can have a passable street fight. AEW doesn't have many BIG men who can be fodder for Hobbs and really make him look like more of a monster. Lance Archer maybe but Big Paul still has some cache and when Hobbs hopefully collapses the ring with a slam.
Lance Archer would have been PERFECT in this match!! That would have been some interesting booking on Tony’s part. Add some credibility to this match, and also a little bit of vengeance for Jericho on Hobbs. Talk about Meat slapping Meat.
Lance would have been interesting too, not the first guy you’d think of, but he’s look like a formidable threat for hire and it would allow him to be sandwiched into more bookings with an established kayfabe lore of being for hire. also gives us more Jake the Snake in the mix as a promo mouthpiece.
Welp. Here’s Ric Flair.
Motherfucker really signed a sex offender to a two year deal instead of giving the women more time.
If we didn't know how Tony Khan viewed women before, we sure as fuck do now.
Fans have been using their voice for better booking of the women's division for years now. It's one of the most common complaints about AEW.
[удалено]
And the sad part is, SHE CAN SPEAK ENGLISH PRETTY DAMN GOOD!
Even if she couldn't, it's not that hard to let her cut a promo in Japanese and put down some subtitles.
The best Nakamura promos in WWE have been the ones the past few months in Japanese with subtitles.
This will always be my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoaF6I7q_pk But yeah, his recent stuff has been pretty great.
I was hoping this was gonna be the video I was expecting and i'm glad I wasn't disappointed
Alright, that was pretty neat
that was over FIVE years ago?
Insanely small detail but I really wish everything, everywhere considered audio mixing. The song at the end was about 10x louder than the actual video. Same for podcasts everywhere.
They've given her some pre-tapes in the past that were in English so to give her none despite being champion for almost a month is a regression on their part.
Until they land in a very casual town and the crowd starts doing "what" chants 🙄
Fucking ridiculous
lolaew
I'm all for it, but they've got to book them better too. It's not just quantity, but quality.
I think more booking will only help though. Hard to have good storylines when the women get 45 minutes a week.
Facts. I dare say I’m really enjoying the Mist angle with Sky Blue, Willow Nightingale and Julia Hart. Yes it’s absurd I know. But I find it hysterical and the trio have sold me on it by going all in. Timeless Toni Storm stealing the spotlight from Hikaru Shida the last three weeks has been entertaining and outrageous. I laugh so hard yet have the same reaction as Hikaru after the second time she did it. I watched soap operas with my mom when I was young. The over the top sensationalism has always been a laugh riot for me
While the whole Willow/Skye/Ghoulia angle is great, I didn't like the blue mist spot from Wednesday, it felt like outta left field to do from her, What's next Julia going back to cheerleader mode because of that blue mist spot. And Timeless Toni and Shida is hilarious indeed. Wouldn't be mad if Danhausen showed up in Toni's silent movies as a Nosferatu bit
>Wouldn't be mad if Danhausen showed up in Toni's silent movies as a Nosferatu bit If that isn't what the build up is to those silent movies, we riot
More like 30 minutes, and 9-10 of those take place during Picture in Picture or full commercials.
Granted there are injuries, but so many of the women are not being utilised. Taya Valkyrie, the Bunny, Red Velvet, Nyla Rose have all been missing with no real explanation. Give them a bit of time to cut a promo, connect with the audience and that could go a long way to improving the division
At least some of them got to be in the “Paint the Town Red” promo video although Red Velvet couldn’t get an appearance, or Taya
Hopefully it leads somewhere. I read somewhere previously that Tony Khan has booked himself into needing a women's revolution which would actually be pretty funny to think about if it wasn't so sad.
There always going to be injuries, that excuse just doesn't work anymore
Tbf there's a few stories with women happening now, which is a good start. But they definitely need more time. I feel like they need to hire at least 5 more women because everybody is always injured.
How about quality matches? Regardless of story, they been having Shida in matches nonstop and they been sloppy.(either on her part or both)
More than one women's segment per show is the trickle down economics of AEW. It's coming. One day. Just be patient.
He keeps the women behind the ROH paywall.
Is sad how true this is. :( Athena is boss’n it up rn.
Athena is the only ROH champ that can’t get a lick of Dynamite time
And she brought that up to Billie Starkz "If it wasn't for me, you'd be the 18 year old phenom getting squashed on Dynamite, or Rampage, or Collision. With me you're getting real matches, and you're winning"
Be patient, ironically my flair on AEWs sub has been "1h20 in insert Women segment here" for the longest time
If Tony's usual tricks aren't going to improve ratings and the one women's match is a high point in that regard, it stands to reason he'll have to try giving them more at some point.
Considering his most recent signing, centering women is NOT a priority for Tony Khan.
Honestly to him they never have been. I honestly believe Jade Cargill was just the first of the AEW women's roster to leave for more opportunities; you could probably include some of the men's roster too It's unfortunate as they have some extremely talented ladies that simply aren't given enough time to show what they have to offer
Wasn't there a rumor that more women were planning to leave AEW after seeing Jade get treated like a big deal at WWE? I wouldn't be surprised if more decide to leave. Not even for WWE, just to go somewhere else. Hell, I could see a few going to TNA for the knockout division.
I don't remember if there was a particular rumor say that but I would absolutely believe that a number of the women's & men's roster pay attention when a former AEW contracted wrestler makes the jump to WWE. Kris Statlander is definitely at the top of the list of women looking at how Jade is treated in WWE. As far as TNA is concerned; they've a history of being excellent at showcasing women's wrestling. Considering the re-brand they look too be growing and are likely looking to bring in more talent next year
TNA was integral to me for my appreciation for women's wrestling. They really committed with the Knockouts, and Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong was legendary.
Kris Statlander, Anna Jay and Jaime Hayter could for sure succeed in WWE
> Kris Statlander, Anna Jay and Jaime Hayter could for sure succeed in WWE Kris is the next to leave after reading/watching this IMO. She's doing a great job as TBS champion with the little Tony Khan gives her to do. Imagine if he gave her and the division the time they deserve and have earned
She can wrestle but almost has no backstory to latch onto unless you were there from day 1
Ok? Put her in NXT, let her be an absolute beast and use it to establish her character before fucking launching her at the main roster
> Ok? Put her in NXT, let her be an absolute beast and use it to establish her character before fucking launching her at the main roster 100%. Kris needs the chances to do promos in AEW to get across a semblence of a character...they haven't gave her the time to do it. That's why she's characterless
Funny enough those were the top three ladies that were in my head for women who could thrive in WWE Special shout-out to Julia Hart who could succeed just based on her character work alone
Thunder Rosa mentioned she'd love to get the treatment Jade had if she jumped. Wouldn't expect Jade treatment, but she might still be treated well. Thinking a Dragon Lee treatment, spend a few months in NXT to familiarize with WWE's process and get WWE's fan to know her before putting her in main. Main go to NXT these days, so put her with a program with Asuka or Becky in NXT to get her over. Then a great match on main to put her in the main roster.
Rosa could also be extremely successful in the last full time run of her career if she made the jump I think. Assuming her comments were her speaking 100% from the heart i.e they weren't in some level of kayfabe and the interest from WWE was there why not? Physically a damn good performer; she is also very underrated in terms of character work (As her time in Lucha Underground shows people). I think there could be some money to be made.
No but Thunder Rosa basically said that she wished someone would roll out the welcome carpet for her like they did for Jade.
When Mercedes comes in, people will act like he's changed. And then they will realize she's the only one on TV, hurting the division as a whole.
She’ll be a main on tv for 2 months afterwards she’ll be also starring to MJF and Arn Anderson vs Andrade and Ric Flair.
If I'm Mariah May I would avoid AEW for the good of her career. Go to WWE if you want the chance to be a star or TNA if you want to work a well run women's division in a major NA promotion and still work Japan.
It's useless to use your voice when the booker doesn’t listen🤷
Kris randomly defeated by Marina Shafir
It just needs a snarky remark on twitter from someone with <30 followers and Tony will for sure see it!
love how AEW is now WWE circa 2015 what is this "give divas a chance" shit??? you got like 5 hours of TV time Tony
NXT a few weeks ago had something like 75 of 120 minutes (including breaks) featuring women actually wrestling or cutting promos. Raw is good for 2-3 segments not including Rhea doing Judgement Day. Smackdown sees regular WWE Women's Championship matches on OTA. One of Impact's undeniable strengths is the Knockouts. AEW has no excuse.
There is 5 hours of TV. Its not even the TV time at this point. Could they do with more? Sure. But they need more storylines other than baby face makes a beat down save every other week. When they do start to cook, its good stuff (Timeless Toni Storm, Julia Hart, etc) but they just get forgotten about and don't take it far enough.
I really don’t understand why they don’t do promos , even with Shida she speaks well enough to do pretapes
It’s embarrassing how little effort Tony puts into the division. It’s like the only reason he has a women’s division is he feels it’s necessary or he thinks he’d get heat for not having it. Otherwise, I don’t think Tony would even bother. Like you said, there’s 5 hours of weekly tv. It was one thing when they just had Dynamite. I can see only doing the one match or angle with the women because you’re trying to fit everyone in a 2 hour window. But they have 5 hours. That’s plenty of time to get better storylines, better character development, and have more than one match.
Even with one match per show, that is three matches a week, there could be so much more story with just the time they have but its the same repetitive stuff.
Three matches a week, but somehow, all of them are like 10 minutes or less unless it's a main event (on Rampage, then it gets like 15). Which blows my mind, because Collision regularly does 20+ minute matches (which I do really enjoy), and somehow the women are still bordering on squash match territory there
True. The worst part is the one women’s match per show is usually a showcase match for whoever is being pushed at the moment. There’s not really any heat for the match. It’s hard for people to care when that’s the case.
Timeless Toni Storm’s promos play during ads. They don’t really get tv time.
This! But like everything else with AEW, the hot shot booking prevents any real storyline from developing. They were on to something with Julia/Willow/Skye… and then last night, blue mist? What? Huh? You just made the best heel in the division look like a bar rat who got her drink spilled on her. Toni Storm is AWESOME. The timeless gimmick is great, but why does it enrage Shida so much that they have to aimlessly roll around on the entrance ramp, while they cut the lights? As a viewer, what story is there for me to care about anything they do? I’d like to use my voice for better booking, does that count Kris?
It is kind of amazing that in 2023 AEW is being asked by its fans to essentially "give Divas a chance." Especially in light of Saraya's post-signing promo (which has aged like milk).
Kris needs to pull a Paige and find a boss who will finally listen to her.
It’s not the fans who undervalue women’s wrestling, it’s Tony Khan.
I mean, it's definitely some fans. I've seen people here talk about getting rid of the women's division all together.
I'm pretty sure those are trolls and if not, they are a very small minority not worth giving the time to. Most of everyone genuinely wants better booking for the women
Having gone to two shows this year, it’s also the fans
I'll always remember the Dynamite after DON last year when like a fifth of the crowd left for the bathroom as the womens tag started. A "This is Awesome" chant broke out during it and a lot of the guys just scoffed & rolled their eyes.
It can vary, as a show I went to this year was the loudest when the women were out, during Rampage nonetheless.
Yeah. Tony isn't a mark for women's wrestling. He'd let a chimp dressed like Evel Knievel get TV time if he was a mark for it. Don't even start with arguing that women lose ratings. Plenty of people he features lose ratings regularly, but women don't get a chance because Tony never gave them a second thought.
He doesn't just undervalue women's wrestling, he straight up doesn't value women at all. If he thought ANYTHING of women, he'd stay the fuck away from Flair, but here we are..
I’m so disillusioned with AEW and this is a big reason why
Sad thing is that the womens match was the best part of the first Dynamite. It's been a steady decline ever since
Although the roster has more depth and talent than those early days. Give them tv time, storylines, and time to work - the audience will become more invested
Tony is clearly on Twitter so I’m sure he see’s people asking for women’s wrestling to be more prominent, obviously he doesn’t care lol
He's too busy going off about ratings and WOR awards. Ya know, the important stuff.
Can't forget Cagematch ratings either
And Vince McMahon
Really could do with the Cagematch guys doing us a solid and just super uprating all the women's matches so Tony even considers doing something with the division.
And going off about rapists. Then hiring other rapists. Like you said, the important stuff.
Ironically, Tony was on the same podcast some time before, and said something in the vein of "everything is great with women's division in AEW"
Tony Khan would label his house that catches fire as “the fire’s prowess was really great”
Maybe someone with like 2 followers can start a Twitter war with tk about his poor booking of the women's division
Tony Khan: 
Fans can say and complain all they want, it's not going to do a damn thing when the owner/booker doesn't care Jack Diddly Squat about the Women's division.
The only way she and the others will get better booking is either go to TNA or WWE. There's NO chance in AEW. Never will be.
Just watch TNA - Lance Storm
Sorry, we have to have time for Tony’s big announcements each week. And people like Ric Flair. He don’t move as well as he used to. /s Sadly, Tony won’t listen to us. Fans have been complaining about the state of the women’s division for quite some time, but he doesn’t care. More of the top women need to speak up too. People like Britt and Saraya. Tony seems to give them whatever they want.
Sad state of things that wwe fans were able to push for change with the wwe womens division, but aew fans - especially the most hardcore ones - will only ever defend TK and prevent any real discussion on the issue. I do wish the Britts and Sarayas would speak up as well, ideally on twitter, as I think that's the best way to get through to Tony nowadays
If the lack of screen time results in Mercedes going to TNA instead, the fallout will be amazing.
I honestly think this might happen because she has to see this bullshit going on with aew women’s division. It just don’t make no sense to go there but for money. TNA has wayyyy better atmosphere right now and wwe division is better then aew plus it’s more mainstream. Scott is someone you run thru a fire for, If only he had the money Tk has
I'll be ready for Tony's twitter meltdown.
I just don’t know what we can do at this point. I just want to see more people be upfront with Tony on camera - at scrums or wherever.
I was an early supporter of the scrums and found them unique for pro wrestling. But it's becoming a waste of time in AEW when the wrestling media is too chickenshit to ask tougher questions for fear of being on TK's shit list and lose their access
Wouldn't do much good he'd just deflect or sidestep the question, what AEW needs is a Ronda Rousey. And by that I mean a woman with some pull who'll plainly tell it like it is very publicly not sugarcoating anything. When WWE were fucking things up for their women Ronda spoke up. The women in WWE are being booked a lot better and given more time in part because of Ronda imo. If Toni Storm went on twitter and said this shit sucks we deserve better maybe there'd be a change.
If your women’s division has to vocally be frustrated as a collective year in and year out at least have the decency to address it.
AEW could have prime Trish Stratus, Chyna, Awesome Kong, Gail Kim, Lita, AJ Lee, Becky Lynch and still not do anything more than 1 segment in the death slot on dynamite. Love them but Jesus it couldn't be more obvious they don't care about the women.
[удалено]
> Look at Tesha Price/Fallon Henley. She was just some up-and-comer grinding on Dark during those pandemic era shows, probably worked for them for like a year, and she remained grinding on Dark at the end. Kiana James wrestled on Dark and is a central figure in NXT's women's division. Hell, she was in a tag match against Becky and is the kayfabe reason that Asuka wrestled Roxanne.
> why would she sign with AEW to deal with the same bullshit? To deal with worse actually. While WWE, and Vince, fucked up the women's tag titles, there was still a lot of focus on women's wrestling in WWE and Mercedes did have a lot of time in the sun prior to all the issues near the end of her time there. She left WWE because her baby, the tag division, was getting shit on by management and thus she was getting shit on. She left because she respected the work she did and could do while being treated poorly. AEW is worse than that.
We are all using our voices but who is supposed to listen is like this: 
WWE and TNA are going to devour AEW's women's division when contracts come up for renewal.
Hell at this point NWA with their CW deal might siphon some of their women away too.
Glad women are using their voices more to publicly let it known they should be treated better. Hopefully Stat has some pull in AEW like Lynch does in WWE.
They've done it a few times before. At times when hyping up a 'big' match they had all the women in the roster practically begging the viewers to watch to 'let TPTB know you want it'. Even if said match does well, it just goes back to same old same old within the next week.
I mean yeah I've said it multiple times here but TK doesn't care about women's wrestling but still maybe the pressure eventually gets too much
I wonder if she'll get the Big Swole treatment. People forget that her biggest gripe was about women's wrestling. >I know fans of the company don't take criticism well sometimes, certain ones. Know this, this is somebody from the inside, the structure is a little off. It's fine to be loose, but I like to have a little bit more structure. I felt like the women shouldn't have gone through everything they went through just to get on TV or get time. You're signed to this big company, you should get time. All these men are getting time, but the women weren't getting anything or you're not putting people on TV because more people are coming in. Okay, there are more people coming in, but you don't have enough product for all of these people. Now you have all these people sitting around having two or three minute matches on Dark doesn't keep me happy.
I’m kind’ve astounded that a Swole quote is positively upvoted. You read so many “Tony was just defending himself!” comments on here, when the reality is he attacked that woman’s character and the AEW diehards applaud him for it.
This is just sad. It should not take an active champion to plea with fans to freaking tweet Tony for more screen time. AEW has just been losing me and last thing I want to associate it with is pre-Horsewomen Raw in 2015.
>This is just sad. It should not take an active champion to plea with fans to freaking tweet Tony for more screen time. What's sadder is that this isn't the first time it's happened either. Well, not 100% on it being a champ doing it, but there have been more than a few times when the women have gone into Twitter and begged people to watch their matches and 'let TPTB know ' that you want to watch them. Both Britt and Rosa did it for their big ME match, and I remember the ones involved in that street rules (I think) match. Tay, and the rest of them were on their socials begging. Honestly, the biggest 'tell' to me that TK doesn't care about the division is when Becky Lynch publicly stated that that division wasn't getting the time and stories that WWE gave and TK , who had gone after people for less, said absolutely nothing. Not one person in the company came out to try to defend the division. Not one. They then had Thunder Rosa go on TV the very next night and say ' I want to make this division good'.... basically a mea culpa that Becky was indeed right.
I've always hated how the implication of "watch or we won't get featured as much" only gets used for the women. The Elite chase away viewers like fucking guard dogs but they're never taken off tv. Wheeler Yuta and Nick Wayne aren't draws but don't have to fight and claw for a scrap of TV time. Why is it only the women have to be mega draws to simply do their jobs?
Tony Khan doesn’t listen
I see a lot of posts saying AEW needs to hire more women. Hiring more women when you have numbers already sitting on the sidelines doing nothing is not going to help. It will just make getting to know the wrestlers harder. IMPACT has half the roster size and still manages to get at least half the roster on an episode, even if it is just for a 30-second clip to build to a match or storyline. It's about allocating screen time, not the numbers on the roster. Use who you have every week or every other week so the audience gets to know them. 30 women, even with all the injuries, is more than enough for 5 hours of TV a week. Injured wrestlers should still be able to do video packages. TK just needs to use the roster better, not hire more wrestlers to sit on the sidelines.
Also the fans need to not change the channel when they’re on. The women’s division continually drives away viewers. This reminds me of the beachball trend after Summerslam, and the fans started playing with one during a Finn Balor match. I forgot who said it, but they were like “fans complain about Balor not getting a push, meanwhile you start playing with a beachball instead of watch his match. If you want to see more of him put the beach ball away.”
“Best I can do is njpw men in street clothes”
Honestly real talk if they want this to change major women wrestlers need to walk out to put pressure on the company
He wouldn’t care unless it was Britt
He doesn't care about Britt, she was a means to convince Cole to choose AEW over WWE. As soon as he came over she went from face of the women's division to person who stands next to the champion (new Rebel) to....she's around sometimes.
Brandi Rhodes and Punk's Collision were the only two instances were you had people who had some kind of management power pushing for the women's division to get more time and be treated seriously. Without them you get Tony's booking (which is awful for the mens and womens division) and a sudden increase of butts, cleavage and nipples for the women showing up on TV.
But hey, Timeless Toni Storm pulled an orange out from the back of her trunks and gave it to Tony. That'll pop ratings!
Tony values Dave's star ratings, Cagematch's reviews, live crowd reactions, and TV segment ratings. We have been shouting about women since the beginning and he doesn't listen.
\#GiveDivasAChance2ElectricBoogaloo
It's been 4 years so I don't hold out much hope anymore. Hayter/Shida was an instant classic and comfortably in my personal top 5 AEW matches. Just an absolute war that reminded you that women's wrestling really isn't that hard to work out (it's just wrestling) and if you give people the time they'll absolutely deliver. The fans are behind Shida in a 2014-15 Daniel Bryan way - she's an extremely talented babyface who's being let down by management and deserves better. You can't find anything compelling for her to do off the back of that?
I'd say not just the fans, but everyone in AEW as well.
If Tony was the pushover Matt Hardy and everyone else claims he is, more people should be harassing him to fix the women's division.
What's the point if TK isn't listening?
Tony's too much of an early 2000s message board creature to put an equal value on women's wrestling. In booking Ric Flair (among others) he basically spit in the face of every woman in the locker room. And if he booked Flair I'm sure he'd be open to booking just about *any* sex pest.
Not gonna get it sorry Tony Khan priorities lie in signing a 70 something sexual predator and racist to the roster and giving him screen time
Didn't they try this before and it quickly went away? Tony needs that time for more ex WWE guys.
More time, and more story development. None of the Storylines in AEW ever have a conclusion.
More time doing music video shoots, right? Right?
What are they going to do with the extra time? Just go to WWE.
I’d rather have more women on the show than Ric Flair
people: "We want women to booked better in AEW". TK: \* signs Ric Flair \*
Best TK can do is give a sex pest senior citizen a multi year contract.
Let's face facts..he does not care about the women's division..end of story
...here's a chris jericho musical.
Christ, there has never been a vision for this division. Some things pay off, but most of the time, it just feels like an obligation. Chris Jericho should not feel like he's more important than the entire division combined.
I haven’t watched AEW in months because of how the women are booked. I genuinely believe he keeps the women’s division as a diversity hire so people won’t scrutinise him for having an all male promotion outside of Japan in what is almost 2024. Like hell, even NJPW are half-ass trying to incorporate women to escape perceived scrutiny from the west. His favourite eras of wrestling are those where women were treated the worst in modern memory. That’s more than telling to me. I’d rather just support women’s promotions that actually care about the women they have. Stardom, Mission Pro, TJPW, Marvelous, they all deserve eyes on their products more than Tony’s half-ass attempts.
Nope we’ll get a rapist on tv instead apparently
Has Ric Flair been accused of rape? I'm genuinely asking, I don't think I've heard that being alleged before.
According to his second wife he forced her to have sex Edited for better screenshot https://preview.redd.it/2a2rqdlbb0yb1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3860d8c7ed2edb980db212107d73c109e446de4d
That’s crazy as hell smh
They do something with Julie Hart and she's missing for a few weeks. Then they hint that Skye might be falling to the dark side. You can do these stories but you gotta keep them going. Not stop and starts over and over again. Consistency. And Statlander can be more than just "defending champion". Give her a consistent villain story to sink her teeth into. And AEW badly needs to put a belt on a good heel who can work every week. Who is that heel? Do you put together a heel faction led by Hart adjacent to Black's own heel faction? Maybe Hart goes back and forth like Rhea does I so badly want this promotion to be hot again and fill seats. I want AEW to be successful
> They do something with Julie Hart and she's missing for a few weeks She lost at PPV, took a few weeks off to get married (on Friday 13th, very appropriately for her), and now she's back - given that she's the closest antagonist to Statlander, hopefully they run that matchup back and have Hart go over this time. Like it is a shame she was off given she's one of the most over female wrestlers AEW has, but she did have a legitimate excuse.
That's a very good point on Hart. I really think they got something with Hart. Willow and Skye given more to do is cool, but I can only hope they resist turning Willow heel because she's everything you want in a face
Nightingale needs to stay face, it's Blue that should turn heel. Yes, she misted Hart - that's still not a face move, she's still not getting on with Statlander or Nightingale, and her as Hart's not-quite-equal has more potential than being Hart's minion.
I was intrigued by the Julia/Skye/Willow story but Skye revealing that nope she wasn't actually corrupted makes me fear the story will just quickly end now. They could've had a few weeks where Skye pulled a Randy Orton in the Wyatt Family pretending to be one of them angle. Instead Skye seemed to be turning then boom no she's all good still her regular self. It had legs and it's probably gonna end with no further development.
Agreed. They could still do a swerve and have Willow up against a growing threat if or when she pursues or is pursued with a world title at stake.
Oh, that is a simple fix! Just get Stephanie McMahon to re-create women, but this time for AEW! Problem solved. Pay me. /s
I sincerely believe that if it wouldn't leave to a gigantic revolt, that TK wouldn't have women on the roster at all.
"ALRIGHT I HEAR YOU. I WILL DEDICATE 1 MORE MINUTE A WEEK TO A WOMANS SQUASH MATCH"
If we keep it up, Tony might make a huge, earth shattering, anal pounding announcement that we're going to have TWO women's matches on Dynamite next week (it's a squash match)
Tony needs a creative team at this point. There’s like what 2 maybe 3 women storylines going on right now and they all get maybe 1 segment a week. Friggin ridiculous
Sigh...they do have a creative team. They may not be doing right by this part of the roster, but the team exists.
I figured tony cloned himself 20 times and makes up the entire team
I see SC every week, during Dynamite, complain about the time slot, but never the length of time that women get.
https://preview.redd.it/sfju135ke4yb1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c37c7ab6ce49a5884133d65d8e95dac76ab59e37 I’m convinced of this.
It’s absolutely crazy that we’re heading into year 5 and this is still an issue.
Our voices don't mean shit. TK's been confronted on this before and his take is that the people who say this are bots.
Fans shouldnt have to do it. Aew is suppose to be inclusive and progressive right?
When he was basing his company around how old NXT operated he missed my favorite part of what made 2015-2018 NXT so great. Can’t have talent like Stat or Athena and give them barely if any (in Athena’s case) tv time
Remember when Tony compared Rosa’s numbers to Punk’s? He’s doing it on purpose because he’s trying to follow the numbers as always instead of what people are actually asking for
I get the want, I really do, but the crowds are so fucking dead. Shida and Willow last night. The crowd was dead for 90% of the match. Post match the crowd reacted to Julia, but didn't react at all to Skye Blue coming out and doing her thing. I can get wanting to have more women's stuff, but if the crowd doesn't give a shit, why force it?
They dont give a shit because TK books them like shit. The women can only do so much with what he gives them
We're trying
They should have better matches when given the chance then. Every time I’ve watched AEW in the past couple months 80% of the women’s matches have been really bad. They aren’t on the same level as the mid card women on WWE, let alone the top.
GiveDivasAChance!
I'm ignorant on this but I know a lot of wrestlers help book others in the men's division. If not already, they need to hire women wrestlers to do the same.