{"id":123456,"date":"2024-03-20T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=123456"},"modified":"2024-03-19T08:05:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T12:05:52","slug":"the-aew-womens-division-a-history-of-revolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/03\/20\/the-aew-womens-division-a-history-of-revolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"The AEW Women\u2019s Division: A History of Revolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m an optimist when it comes to AEW<\/strong>. Even when things go wrong, or mistakes happen, the company has shown that it will reflect. Tony Khan<\/strong> and Creative will eventually\u00a0address the dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

Since November of last year, multiple planned changes have clearly attempted to address the turbulent creative of 2023. The Continental Classic<\/a>, the return of the rankings<\/a>,\u00a0and the reinvention of The<\/strong> Elite <\/strong>after a \u201cputrid\u201d year<\/a> have all been attempts to restore the feeling.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still optimistic about the AEW women\u2019s division. At the end of November, I wrote about Toni Storm<\/strong> and Julia Hart<\/strong> becoming women\u2019s champions<\/a> and that AEW could learn from their mistakes.<\/p>\n

Some issues have been addressed, and progress has been noticeable. However, it\u2019s still mostly incremental. This has\u00a0left me cynical that AEW can sustain a woman\u2019s revolution unless it addresses the obvious issue.<\/p>\n

The Dynamite Dilemma <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Significantly, there is still only one woman\u2019s match on\u00a0 AEW <\/strong><\/em>Dynamite<\/em><\/strong> per week. Yes, February 21st<\/sup> featured two women\u2019s matches. Yet collectively, both matches together went less than ten minutes. Madison Rayne\u2019s<\/strong> injury may have affected this, but these matches were the exception rather than the rule.<\/p>\n

One match per Dynamite<\/em> remains the pattern. Picture-in-picture breaks also continue to impact women\u2019s matches.<\/p>\n

Yes, AEW <\/strong><\/em>Rampage<\/em><\/strong> and AEW <\/strong><\/em>Collision<\/em><\/strong> have multiple women\u2019s matches, and yes, more women\u2019s storylines are being featured across all shows. This is further progress compared to last year. However, this limited time on the flagship show suggests a clear message about the importance of the women\u2019s division. Until this changes, that cynicism will stay.<\/p>\n

What Revolution Means and Shows\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

On the one hand, the word revolution suggests empowerment. A revolution occurs when ideas about change develop into action. When WWE<\/strong> used the term \u201cthe women\u2019s revolution,\u201d its marketing emphasized the positive, almost sexy, media-appealing associations of the word. On the other hand, a revolution points out something wrong that needs changing.<\/p>\n

It implies the old regime oppressed, overlooked, and marginalized those who led the revolt.<\/p>\n

Tony Khan has not used the phrase himself, but it\u2019s been used within the AEW fandom for a while now. It\u2019s been in my mind since November. At World\u2019s End, Khan suggested the renewed focus on the women\u2019s division was \u201cvery much by design.\u201d If you remove\u00a0the PR presentation, like the WWE\u2019s Women\u2019s Revolution, it reveals the lack of attention given to the female wrestlers previously.<\/p>\n

Now, it would be unfair to suggest AEW has never cared about its women\u2019s division. Throughout its history, attempts have been made to grow the division, but factors in and out of the company\u2019s control have made it difficult.<\/p>\n

However, compared to the men\u2019s division, the women\u2019s division has not received the planning or attention to correct issues when things have gone wrong. Instead, the same strategy has been repeated, failed, and reused since the beginning.<\/p>\n

Starting with a Boom, Fading to a Whimper <\/strong><\/h3>\n