There’s no doubt that AEW has a strong women’s division. AEW is home to some of the best in the world, including Mercedes Moné, Toni Storm, Athena, and many more. So why is it that AEW falls behind in showcasing its women in comparison to other companies? Many fans point out the lack of tag team championships for the women makes the division look and feel less important. Today, we’ll go over why these titles need to be incorporated, what AEW could learn from other companies, and how to make them appeal to audiences.
An Unequal Playing Field
The main reason why fans want women to have tag titles boils down to one thing: equality. While men in AEW have five championships for the taking, women only have two. This unequal balance of gold has led to women receiving less time to shine on the roster, which fans have vocalized since the early days of the company.
While AEW has made big steps in showcasing the women as equals, there’s still a noticeable gap. Incorporating these championships can fill in that gap. Not only does it give more women on the roster something to do, it also adds intrigue to ongoing storylines and legitimizes factions.
AEW already has a great division, but the number of contracted women compared to the men is shocking. According to The Smackdown Hotel, AEW has 196 contracted roster members, with only 44 being women. This means that only 22% of AEW’s roster is made up of women, where most are not being showcased on a consistent basis. This number is shockingly low when compared to WWE’s female roster, where 40% of talent on Monday Night Raw are women.
By introducing another championship for women to fight for, more women are likely to sign and stick with the company, effectively shortening this gap. Furthermore, tag teams traditionally come in pairs, sometimes even in trios. Therefore, by introducing AEW women’s tag team titles, the company can create an equal playing field for women. At the same time, it serves the audience and lessens the roster gap.
Adding Value
Another reason for adding these titles is that they add value to the company. By adding value, AEW can bring in more revenue, which allows it to do more with these titles. Since AEW has a deep partnership with NJPW and CMLL, it can familiarize international audiences with the titles, bringing in more intrigue and consequently, more money.
STARDOM, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s all-woman sister promotion, can see some amazing benefits from this in particular. STARDOM is a faction-oriented company, where almost every woman belongs to a team. While STARDOM has its own set of trios and tag team titles, giving women there a chance to win some American gold can bring more eyes to the promotion, and vice versa.
In fact, AEW has done this in the past. Earlier this year, both Tay Melo and Athena went on a small tour in Japan, alongside STARDOM talent. Upon returning to the states, fans noted how they have improved tremendously in the ring. By having reliable, consistently great talent, AEW and fans can rest easy knowing its talent can put on a good show.
Exposing the AEW women’s tag team championship to an international audience isn’t the only way the title can add value to the company. By introducing these titles, current fans will be more invested in stables and their storylines. Therefore, making more people want to watch and support the product, which means even more money in AEW’s pocket. Not only is this good for AEW, it’s good for independent wrestlers. It will allow AEW to contract more women to fill out the roster, keeping the division new, fresh, and exciting.
Watch and Learn
Now that we’ve answered why AEW should consider women’s tag team titles, the next big question is how? What can AEW do to keep these titles credible and attractive to audiences? Luckily for Tony Khan, his biggest competitor faced this problem already. When WWE introduced their own set of women’s tag belts, they had an incredibly strong start. By putting all the participants into the Elimination Chamber, fan intrigue increased. The tag titles became a main point of the women’s division, and were defended at WrestleMania not too long afterwards.
However, WWE’s creative direction for the championships quickly fell apart. From thrown together teams to a lack of care from writers, people stopped caring about the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. So, AEW needs to do something different.
Give Them Time
By far the biggest complaint of WWE’s Women’s Tag Team Division is that it hasn’t had time to develop. Even six years later, teams are still thrown together, the championships aren’t defended often, and there’s no real reason why the belts are still around in the first place. AEW needs to give its women time to develop their stories. Having two singles wrestlers come together to form a team isn’t a bad thing, but the manner in which they are put together matters.
Instead of thrusting them together to fill a spot, have the two wrestlers come together for a certain cause. Additionally, AEW needs to tell stories outside of the championships. Not every rivalry needs to be for gold. Let the women attack each other from behind and cut scathing promos, just because they hate each other.
However, not every title match needs to be a part of some epic saga. Simply having a title match on TV or a PPV because a team won a #1 Contender’s match is okay to do. In fact, it’s better this way. This sort of balance makes sure fans aren’t burnt out from one story or arc. Booking a championship reign is a delicate process and needs to be treated as such. Consistent matches on TV and PPV (not just a pre-show) can ensure the titles stay at the forefront of the division.
Conclusion
By introducing Women’s Tag Team Championships to AEW, the gap between male and female wrestlers can be closed, and value can be added to the company, both domestically and internationally. AEW can successfully incorporate these titles by looking at what other companies did, and what worked for them. Most importantly, AEW is obligated to take the time needed to tell new, compelling stories that resonate with fans.
A good way to introduce these titles would be by doing a cross-promotional tournament. A few teams from all around the world could be showcased, putting the newly created titles on an international stage from the get-go. The matches should take place on TV, with the finals being a ladder match on PPV. Just because tag teams and ladder matches go together like peanut butter and jelly. With the recent rise of stables like The Triangle of Madness, maybe AEW women’s tag team titles aren’t too far out of reach.
What do you think about AEW women’s tag team titles? Should they be introduced? Why or why not? Be sure to tell us why!
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Header photo – AEW – Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on AEW 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 Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content is available on their YouTube.
