{"id":130663,"date":"2025-02-10T11:21:47","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T16:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=130663"},"modified":"2025-02-10T11:22:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T16:22:26","slug":"harley-cameron-tbs-championship-aew-grand-slam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/02\/10\/harley-cameron-tbs-championship-aew-grand-slam\/","title":{"rendered":"What If Harley Cameron Won the TBS Championship at AEW Grand Slam?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Harley is Hot <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Fantasy booking is flawed. Yet, as an alternative history fan, I am pondering what could reveal a lot about a wrestling promotion, particularly about current feelings, strengths, and weaknesses.<\/p>\n<p>For AEW 2025, it has had a broadly positive start. With louder (smaller but more suitable) buildings and fans digging various storylines, wrestlers and characters, there\u2019s a lot to be optimistic about.<\/p>\n<p>There are opportunities for interesting and unique outcomes every week. For AEW to get hot again, it\u2019s a gradual process where opportunities need to be seized. For example, fans online and in buildings feel the wrath of one woman.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, I\u2019ve profiled how Harley Cameron\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/10\/31\/maximizing-her-minutes-aews-harley-cameron\/\" target=\"_self\"> background and personality led to her breakout in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Cameron\u2019s a minute maximizer. Capitalising on every opportunity, Cameron made her voice heard with QTV, popped the Rampage audience weekly alongside Saraya and has become one of the best characters in the women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>If Okada is the bitch maker, Cameron is the meme-maker. It feels just that Cameron gets her chance in Australia, in her home country. However, I would be lying to myself and you if I didn\u2019t highlight one concern.<\/p>\n<p>That post-Grand Slam, Harley falls into the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/03\/20\/the-aew-womens-division-a-history-of-revolutions\/\" target=\"_self\">revolving door of AEW\u2019s women\u2019s booking<\/a> and appears sporadically.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, Harley Cameron is hot. Grand Slam will be the biggest match of her career against TBS champion and belt collector, Mercedes Mone. When I evaluated <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/03\/18\/potential-opponents-mercedes-mone-aew\/\" target=\"_self\">Mone\u2019s prospective opponents when she joined AEW<\/a>, Harley Cameron didn\u2019t even make the list.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, on Saturday, there\u2019s potential for both women to make this match a huge moment.<\/p>\n<p>But what if, against the odds, Harley Cameron won?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ffdEpOCFsGs?si=Pc5ectYtw1gUMmU1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Trope Not Travelled <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>AEW is an underdog company, although paradoxically, it has significant financial backing. The company loves telling underdog stories but has an issue sustaining them.<\/p>\n<p>Private Party scored a huge upset victory over The Young Bucks on the first-ever Dynamite. The lack of follow-up didn\u2019t cement their stardom. Five years later, another upset against The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team championship fell short. AEW didn\u2019t use the team or opponents to address <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/11\/26\/one-year-later-4-ways-aew-has-not-changed-since-full-gear-2023\/\" target=\"_self\">systematic, unaddressed problems in the division.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>At Christmas, we had a Miracle on 34<sup>th<\/sup> Street. Kommander got a huge upset victory over Claudio Castagnoli. While Kommander is the ROH TV champion and appears frequently on AEW Collision, it has not resulted in a significant spotlight or character development.<\/p>\n<p>AEW often has a habit of waiting too long to capitalise with championship contenders. FTR was red-hot and collecting belts across continents, but AEW had a selection headache with The Acclaimed, who had everyone donning pink and scissoring.<\/p>\n<p>Rightly, AEW capitalized on The Acclaimed at Grand Slam 2022, but then waited too long to crown FTR. Yet, AEW with FTR, The Acclaimed and Private Party stretched out the championship win.<\/p>\n<p>Delaying gratification is fine to an extent, but it takes away the surprise factor. Also, the pattern becomes noticeable and detrimental to what\u2019s happening in between.<\/p>\n<p>Think of waning interest for some fans with Jon Moxley\u2019s current reign while we await <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/09\/27\/darby-allin-aew-world-championship\/\" target=\"_self\">Darby Allin\u2019s potential ascension<\/a>. I\u2019ve written in another \u201cwhat if\u201d about subverting this expectation <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2024\/12\/19\/jon-moxley-aew-world-championship-at-worlds-end\/\" target=\"_self\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>That surprise upset championship victory that few saw coming is an unexplored trope AEW has yet to try.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>You Couldn\u2019t Take It Away <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Harley Cameron\u2019s reign could go one of three ways. Temporary transitional champion or the underdog overdelivering.<\/p>\n<p>For Mone, the character can highlight in real sports that upset (\u201cflukes\u201d) happen every season. A rematch at Revolution in LA would be a fun rerun.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more insufferable than The CEO with four belts and touting how she\u2019s the longest reigning TBS Champion in AEW history? Additionally, being the only two-time TBS Champion. Plus, crushing Cameron and the fan\u2019s joy would allow some new energy into Mone\u2019s persona and put more heat on the character.<\/p>\n<p>Alternatively, freeing Mone from the TBS Championship would give her time to prepare for a potential run at the AEW Women\u2019s World Championship. If Mone moves on, there are various other possibilities for Cameron.<\/p>\n<p>Another transitional champion opportunity could be for Cameron to put the belt on a newcomer like Megan Baynes. Regardless of the shortness of the reign, you can take the belt off Cameron, but you can\u2019t take the achievement off her shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>Most daringly, there\u2019s a list of women, as long as the talent section on Cameron\u2019s CV, who have beaten the wrath-wielder. Why not have them come knocking for a title opportunity?<\/p>\n<p>Deonna Purrazzo has cause to challenge first. A gradual conveyor belt of rematches where Cameron must grow and develop as a champion could, if booked with time and care, somewhat replicate Orange Cassidy\u2019s first AEW International championship reign.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Playing Out the Wrath <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>AEW has something with Harley Cameron. The few sparks she creates each week light entire fires within the fandom online. Her humour and character are infectious, and folks want to feel the wrath. Eventually, like all things in wrestling, that thrill will fade.<\/p>\n<p>Harley Cameron will not have another opportunity like this. It\u2019s a perfect time and place. I am going to be trying (and hope you will too) to bring this into existence because I\u2019m so invested in the character and performer. And character is what makes wrestling peak, especially in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>If it doesn\u2019t happen, then like AEW\u2019s final PPV of the year, it\u2019s not the world\u2019s end. Cameron will keep maximizing her minutes. There\u2019s no reason she won\u2019t create another opportunity for herself. It just won\u2019t be the same as this one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Header photo \u2013 AEW \u2013 Stay tun<\/em><em>ed to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"1\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a> for more on AEW Dynamite 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.\u00a0 You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@AEW\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harley is Hot Fantasy booking is flawed. Yet, as an alternative history fan, I am pondering what could reveal a lot about a wrestling promotion, particularly about current feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. For AEW 2025, it has had a broadly positive start. With louder (smaller but more suitable) buildings and fans digging various storylines, wrestlers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4960,"featured_media":130683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,3317,13,2192],"tags":[9011,9171,9042,8521,8024],"class_list":["post-130663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-australia","category-international","category-wrestling","tag-aew-grand-slam","tag-aew-grand-slam-australia","tag-harley-cameron","tag-mercedes-mone","tag-tbs-championship"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130663"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130685,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130663\/revisions\/130685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}