After another successful pay-per-view event, All Elite Wrestling held a post-show media scrum following Double or Nothing. Many wrestlers answered reporters’ questions about their night alongside the president of AEW, Tony Khan, and the President of New Japan Pro Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi.
During the media scrum, Khan praised AEW’s overall talent and sparked intrigue by expressing his desire to expand AEW’s influence in pro wrestling. However, the question remains: Should AEW prioritize women’s or mixed tag team championships? And how many titles will become too many?
Media Scrum
Following Double or Nothing during the media scrum, after elaborating on the final three matches, Khan says it “felt like a triple main event” due to the powerful women’s championship match between Willow Nightingale and Mercedes Moné. Rick from Las Vegas Radio asked Khan if he had “any thoughts on adding a trio or tag division.”
Khan answered,
“Well, yeah, absolutely. We talked about that and have talked about a lot of potential additions in terms of championships. I think right now we have some strong rivalries emerging amongst the world championship, the TBS championship, and also with ROH. You can’t deny that ROH has great champions now.” he continued that he also thinks, “Something different that we could do here that I’ve had an interest in would be mixed tag team championships, and I think we have a lot of people aligned. You (Rick) said ‘yes’ and nodded really quickly when I said that because I think a lot of people would be interested in that, too, and that’s different than what other major promotions have. I think that would set AEW apart, so I’m also interested in mix tag team championships.”
Khan’s desire to grow the business and expand AEW into uncharted paths in professional wrestling is clear. However, the potential introduction of mixed tag titles raises questions about the women’s division.
AEW still needs to get a set of women’s tag team championships. The decision on which titles would come first could significantly impact the showcase of the other championships, particularly the women’s division.
Why Mixed Tag Team Titles?
Let’s first look into the past to discover why Tony Khan would consider bringing mixed tag titles to All Elite Wrestling. In AEW, the wrestling dynamics often blur the lines between genders. This is shown in factions where men and women coexist and participate in one another’s storylines.
For example, we have the House of Black with Julia Hart and The Outcasts with the brother and sister duo of Saraya and Zak Knight. We’ve also seen stables like this, such as The Dark Order with Anna Jay and Tay Melo, who later joined The Inner Circle, and the Best Friends with Kris Statlander, among others.
During the media scrum, Tony Khan mentioned how these titles would set AEW apart from other major wrestling companies, as there is no other major pro wrestling promotion with mixed tag team titles in the United States.
AAA does have a set of mixed tag team championships, although they are a company based in Mexico. This is an exciting idea and would spike the audience’s interest, but how can AEW introduce mixed tag titles when they don’t even have a set of women’s tag team championships yet?
It is still being determined which titles would come first if they are both to be released. However, suppose the Mixed Tag team Championships are released first. In that case, it can come across as Tony Khan being more concerned about making history in the wrestling industry rather than helping boost the women’s division.
Pros of Mixed Tag Titles
Introducing a set of Mixed Tag Team Championships would bring a whole new wave of possibilities. It is an idea that will interest the viewers, considering mixed tag divisions aren’t included in many promotions. However, these same viewers can tell when not enough time or energy is put into the storylines.
If this is the case, the championship can become a “mid-card title” if they are not given enough TV time to tell a captivating story. If the release of these championships is historic, they need to follow up with intense stories and matches that the audience has never seen.
Introducing mixed tag titles would open many opportunities for the wrestlers and the company. With a mixed tag team division not being standard in the industry, this is an opportunity that can be taken to use the creative freedom they have to produce something that has never been seen before.
They could introduce new types of match stipulations and feed off of the intergender aspect of the match. This opportunity can be used for women to showcase their strengths and how they can compete with and against men, bringing more equality among the genders in the business.
More championships open more opportunities for the wrestlers, allowing more challengers to be showcased if they aren’t already in a storyline. This also allows the company to create new storylines and showcase new talent. While women’s wrestling is becoming increasingly popular, men are still shown for most of the show.
Currently, the men have a more extensive roster, with this new division, more spots on television would open for the women.
Cons of Mixed Tag Titles
While creating a mixed tag team division would bring many new opportunities for wrestlers and creatively for the show, like any other idea, cons may arise if not executed properly.
One thing about wrestling fans is that they will let you know when they don’t like something. Time and energy would need to be put into these storylines for the championships to remain relevant among the audience.
Storytelling in tag team wrestling is essential. The wrestlers must not just tell a story with their opponent but with their tag team partner. For a tag team or stable to seem legitimate to the audience, they must combine their singles and tag team storylines.
AEW has been good with this previously; for example, The Inner Circle, where they had tag team storylines and singles storylines but would come out for each other’s matches and involve themselves in the story.
Creating this division is a unique idea, and it would be historic for professional wrestling, but is Tony Khan getting ahead of himself? AEW still needs to get women’s tag team titles. Are they benefitting the women’s division if they don’t have their titles?
During the media scrum, Khan said they discussed women’s tag titles but gave no further updates. If the mixed tag team championships are released first, this can raise questions about whether Khan is concerned about making firsts or building the women’s division.
While the mixed tag team titles would benefit the women, they still share the screen with the men. The women’s tag team titles would solely feature the women. This gives them the individual television time to show their wrestling skills and enhance their character.
It could be debated if the release of the mixed tag titles would hold back the women’s division if they arrived before the women’s tag team championship.
Too Many Championships?
In AEW, there are currently nine championships. If Women’s and Mixed Tag team Championships are created, that will bring the number to eleven. This raises the question: When are there too many championships? Is there such a thing?
With limited television time, it will be difficult for each championship to be adequately showcased with an intriguing storyline. If each championship were to get close to the same amount of showtime, then there wouldn’t be enough time for the rivalries that don’t involve titles.
There needs to be some balance so each championship can stay relevant, possibly by combining or letting go of some championships. Given the similarities, it would be a good idea to combine the Continental Championship with the International Championship. A story could be made out of it and it can be a winner-take-all match, combining the championship to one title.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube.
