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AEW needs to give more time to its women's division

Pro Wrestling

AEW needs to give more time to its women’s division

AEW is phenomenal, but it needs to be better for the women on the roster.

Last night, AEW Dynamite gave more television time to two swinging dicks repeating themselves ad nauseam than it did to women doing literally anything.

As a woman who loves wrestling, this is not the first time I’ve taken issue with AEW. It is by far my favorite wrestling company, don’t get me wrong. When Luchasaurus returned, I cheered like a lunatic. When Darby Allin accepted Moxley’s challenge, I cheered louder. It’s a phenomenal company putting on an excellent show. It just has one fatal flaw.

Television Time

I love a good heel. I really do, but I did not love watching MJF and Chris Jericho repeat themselves over and over for nearly ten minutes last night. Their promos are great and this was no exception, but did it really need to be that long? They absolutely could have gotten that point across in half the time.

Then we spent about twenty minutes with no matches, but a backstage brawl with Santana, Ortiz, and the Young Bucks. The only entertaining part of that nonsense was a surprise Orange Cassidy. (That’s always a big winner for me.)

I literally turned off the main event because we took too long to get to it.

Dynamite was front-loaded with great matches in the first hour, then absolutely died.

AEW needs to give more time to its women's division

Could I see more of Nyla v. Dani? Please?!

Why am I counting minutes and harping on timing?

Because every week, we get a single goddamned women’s match. One. Match. The last few weeks, we’ve seen 15-minute time limits on them. That made me angry enough. Then, last night, the women’s match between Nyla Rose and Dani Jordyn lasted, I swear this is true, less than four minutes.

You cannot tell me that they didn’t have time for a longer women’s match, or even a second one. The time was there, AEW just didn’t care to use it on women.

Then, I assume to say they gave women more than five freaking minutes, we got a short little promo with Awesome Kong, Brandi Rhodes, and Allie. I was so excited to hear one of the few wrestlers from the women’s division speak, it was a shame she got interrupted. And that brings me to the next issue.

Storylines

You may want to ask me right now, “Nicole, what storylines? What storylines have the women had?” Freaking exactly.

I’ve got nothing. The wrestlers in AEW’s women’s division have had exactly no storylines. The exception is maybe Brandi, who started AEW Dynamite by getting kicked in the face at ringside. Cool.

AEW needs to give more time to its women's division

Brandi, or me putting a hex on whoever is making these decisions? (It’s Brandi, but I can dream.)

Now, we’re finally seeing something happen with Brandi and Awesome Kong. Are they taking over the division with witchcraft? I’m into that. I’m not mad. Go get it! I love to see it!

But let’s get to it already. It’s been weeks of buildup and literally nothing has really happened. We get some promos, a little buzz from Full Gear, but that’s it. They’re stretching one sentence to three paragraphs, kinda like the MJF/Jericho promo, and I’m getting tired of waiting for the action.

The men have rivalries that make sense. They posture. They argue. They fight.

The women don’t. It’s as simple as that.

The Title Belt

I can’t with this.

It looks ridiculous. It’s a joke.

Just read my buddy JJ’s article on this.

I’m so tired.

Small Roster

Yes, the AEW women’s division roster is tiny. I get that.

So make it bigger.

Invest in talent and train them up and let’s see them fight. AEW may already be doing that! I don’t know. And that’s the point. I had never heard of Dani Jordyn until last night. I wish I could have seen her work more. Show me the women you have, and let’s watch them as they improve. They don’t need to be perfect, but I at least want them to be present.

I realize that a small roster means that there won’t be a large variety of matches. That clearly doesn’t matter. I watched Pac and Hangman Page fight last night for what feels like the seventh damn time. AEW isn’t concerned about repeating matches as far as I can tell.

AEW needs to give more time to its women's division

Aubrey Edwards telling Jericho what’s what.

Better Than It May Seem

With all of this being said, there are a lot of things AEW is doing right.

Aubrey Edwards is an undeniable badass and I love watching her work. Her getting in Jericho’s face and standing her ground? There may not be anything better.

They treat the women in the ring with respect and dignity, and include different types of women as opposed to just one mold. Including Nyla Rose in the first Women’s Championship match was absolutely incredible and it was the highlight of the first Dynamite episode for me. (Also, trans women are women and I cannot believe I have to argue with people about this.)

I love watching AEW. It really is a great show and it shocks me every week, but like I tweeted during the second episode of Dynamite, one women’s match per week is simply not going to cut it.

Do better, AEW, because you are better than this.

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