I love AEW as a whole. I think it is so much to watch and they made me truly start to enjoy wrestling again. However, it is no secret that the way women are booked in AEW has been criticized. Yes, they have placed women in the main event, advanced storylines, and had historic bouts (Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa come to mind immediately). However, on average, there is usually only one women’s match showcased on Dynamite and one women’s match showcased on Rampage. According to AEW’s roster posted on their website, there are 25 women signed to the company. This doesn’t include the multiple women that wrestle for them without an official contract. AEW does show more women’s matches on Dark and Dark: Elevation, but the viewership between the two is vast.
My solution is to turn Dark or Dark: Elevation into an all-women’s weekly show. A TV airing would be fantastic, but I believe keeping it on YouTube may attract a large audience. I am in no way saying that women should be taken off of Dynamite or Rampage either. I think they should still be prominently featured and aggressively promote the women’s program each week. There are so many women being underutilized in AEW, just because of time constraints. A two-hour weekly show would allow more of the women’s roster some time to have matches and create long-term stories. Dark and Dark: Elevation might also be utilized to promote talent by enhancing their overall record and looking at fresh talent that could be signed in the future, in my opinion.
In addition to just having the show, match highlights and promos should be shown on Dynamite and Rampage to advertise the women’s show and get people invested in various storylines happening on the show. Dynamite and Rampage might also be used for women’s championship bouts or huge fights between rivals. Names like Britt Baker D.M.D., Jade Cargill, Thunder Rosa, and so many others could easily convince fans to tune in each week to see them featured prominently when they aren’t always on TV every week.
More time for women also means there could be more room for AEW to sign free agents such as Athena. Maybe women working for them that are not under contract yet such as Skye Blue. Women’s Tag Team Championship, which fans like me have been clamoring for since the company’s inception. The possibilities are endless with an extra two hours of women’s wrestling per week. I don’t think anybody would complain about giving women such as Ruby Soho, Toni Storm, Penelope Ford, the Bunny, and many other deserving women more time to show off their incredible wrestling abilities.
I don’t think AEW needs two almost similar programs, Elevation on Mondays and AEW Dark on Tuesdays. Women are featured more on these programs than on weekly TV shows, yet males still outweigh women. The men’s roster is massive, yet they appear to be used much more successfully than the ladies on every AEW event. Replacing one of these shows with an all-women’s show could also bring more people to watch Dark or Elevation since they know they won’t be seeing two extremely similar shows back-to-back.
I want to reiterate that I do love AEW, and I look forward to watching their shows every single week. I just simply know that they can do better when it comes to their women’s division. Also, I hope they take steps to improve the way they utilize the incredible women on their roster
Comments