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Post by HMARK Center on Aug 6, 2020 5:58:41 GMT -5
On the issues AEW hasn't had control over, it's certainly pretty notable how many of their women have been impacted by the pandemic, whether due to health issues or travel restrictions, including a decent slice of their upper card women and quality part-timers who could be relied on to put on solid matches or be good one-off challengers for the title (off the top of my head: Riho, Priestly, Shanna, Hayter, Yuka, Sakura). This undoubtedly undid a lot of possible booking/story ideas, then got combined with injuries to Baker and Statlander and extended absences for Swole and Nyla to make for a rough time for them. They signed Anna Jay and Abadon presumably to try and make up some of the difference, but if I had to guess they probably want a story to start for each of them before pushing either towards Shida; both of them being back on programming this week hopefully bodes well on that front. I'll also give them this: despite the reduced roster, they actually do have multiple storylines for people who aren't just challenging the champion going on in the division, mainly the Swole/Baker feud, the Allie/Brandi tension, and making a point of promoting Nyla getting a manager, which potentially dovetails into storylines of Vickie looking for other talent to sign. Doing this while Shida acts as the "open challenge" workhorse champion is at least a decent holding pattern until the roster numbers get back up, and admittedly it's not easy to dedicate a ton of ring time to it when you still have so many people missing and when the biggest story of those three, Swole/Britt, involves one participant who's injured right now and another who could have to step back at a moment's notice due to her immune system issues. Lot of tough luck, here, to be sure, since I think you're basically left with Shida, Penelope, Nyla, Brandi, and Allie as the full-time available women who don't need to be built up too much before getting them into storylines and who can go without restrictions in the ring. All of that said I do think questions need to be asked, and where it sticks out the most is how successful Impact's been in recent months with bringing in some quality women to their roster, including notable names like Purrazzo and Kimber Lee as well as up and comers like Tasha Steelz. Even ROH was starting to get their women's roster into a better place before the pandemic hit, and their division couldn't have gotten much lower than where it was around the end of 2019. If promotions with fewer resources than AEW can pull that off, why can't they? As mentioned previously, nobody's doubting that AEW faces a tough challenge in trying to compete with WWE for upper echelon female talent, but if the other companies can bring some names in, then what's the holdup with AEW? It's possible that some women just aren't looking to sign for whatever reason; I imagine some will go with a smaller promotion where they feel there's more a guarantee they'll get featured in a top spot, thus building up their asking price next time they're in the market for a new contract and might have the bigger companies knocking, for example, something plenty of guys do, as well. But it's still curious how it's panned out this way when AEW is one of the few companies currently running regular shows and hiring while being capable of spending more money than the smaller promotions. I'm interested in hearing if there's something driving that, whether it's bad luck, down to individual business choices, or if there's some kind of perception built up about signing there at this stage. Basically, I doubt there's ill intent on AEW's part, and there's been a lot of rotten luck for them given world circumstances, too, but the numbers are the numbers and it still stands out. Again, I think at least some of this comes down to the individual talent; like, I have a hard time imagining that there isn't a contract waiting for Priscilla Kelly, yet she remains unsigned. But again, when Impact's able to rebuild their women's division pretty quickly during the pandemic it does raise an eyebrow. Sort of wonder if Kylie Rae choosing to sign with Impact after leaving AEW is in any way related. Just, if there are things we're just not privy to that make some women's talent gun-shy (whatever it might be). I doubt it's anything too serious (though, hey, none of us know anything for sure), but after doing a little bit of reading it appears that Impact's current method of signing talent has basically been to make negotiations as short as possible by making pretty talent-friendly deals right off the bat, since they know they can't compete with WWE or AEW on overall resources; that could be a potential answer on that front. Plus, Impact's roster turnover during the pandemic and in the wake of things like Speaking Out has definitely left a few more high profile spots available, which makes them appealing to someone looking to land somewhere and be assured of a featured role. I do hope they have someone lined up soon for Shida to face at All Out ASAP, though, with a worthwhile build. Again, I get the crappy side of the current situation: they don't want to burn Shida/Nyla II already, they just had Penelope challenge, and out of the other full-time women who are currently available they want to get to Swole/Baker at the PPV (Britt said that's when she'd be back, right?) and All Out also likely sees something concerning the Brandi/Allie storyline. That's all positive in terms of having multiple ongoing feuds/storylines for the division, but that still leaves you without a hook for a title match at the show, and the clock's ticking on that.
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Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]
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Post by Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] on Aug 6, 2020 6:03:34 GMT -5
I feel like at this point they've pretty much entirely settled into going, "Eh, just have Britt do something funny, that's all the division needs." And yeah, Britt's great, but it really does just feel like her two minutes or so an episode are the only substance the division gets. You get matches and other segments and stuff but only Britt really feels like she's being treated like she matters. If nothing else it really shouldn't be that hard to find room to get at least two women's matches on the show a week. You can easily fit it in by cutting five minutes here, five minutes there from the other stuff. Plus if you got more women on Dynamite you could also fit more star power on Dark with whoever you're not using at the time. I do agree they need to step it up. They need at least one substancial 8-10 minute women's match a show and they should make that a priority. Then continue to expand it. Shida when she was carrying got great ratings and still does. Diamante/Ivelisse got good ratings two weeks ago and it had no build to it. The fans want to see the girls wrestle, it's not like they've been a death spot. It's just a matter of finding the time. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say the big debate segment is what stopped a longer women's match this week since they had been pushing challengers for Shida like with Diamante earning a match, there was a lot of build segments this week between PNP destroying the van and Sammy attacking Matthew Hardy. So I hope it can kinda regulate itself this week. Do Shida/Swole vs Nyla/Diamante or something, have Britt distract Swole out of the match and maybe Diamante gets Shida after Nyla heavy lifts, set up some plot points. Just anything like that would work, and AEW's really good at blending the storylines together, I hope to see more of that soon. They know weeks like this aren't gonna fly anymore I think.
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dpg
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Post by dpg on Aug 6, 2020 7:33:52 GMT -5
Sort of wonder if Kylie Rae choosing to sign with Impact after leaving AEW is in any way related. Just, if there are things we're just not privy to that make some women's talent gun-shy (whatever it might be). I doubt it's anything too serious (though, hey, none of us know anything for sure), but after doing a little bit of reading it appears that Impact's current method of signing talent has basically been to make negotiations as short as possible by making pretty talent-friendly deals right off the bat, since they know they can't compete with WWE or AEW on overall resources; that could be a potential answer on that front. Plus, Impact's roster turnover during the pandemic and in the wake of things like Speaking Out has definitely left a few more high profile spots available, which makes them appealing to someone looking to land somewhere and be assured of a featured role. I do hope they have someone lined up soon for Shida to face at All Out ASAP, though, with a worthwhile build. Again, I get the crappy side of the current situation: they don't want to burn Shida/Nyla II already, they just had Penelope challenge, and out of the other full-time women who are currently available they want to get to Swole/Baker at the PPV (Britt said that's when she'd be back, right?) and All Out also likely sees something concerning the Brandi/Allie storyline. That's all positive in terms of having multiple ongoing feuds/storylines for the division, but that still leaves you without a hook for a title match at the show, and the clock's ticking on that. Impact had a varied, well booked and heavily featured KO division for a long time before the virus. It's problem was it was far too small. They've bulked it out considerably over the past few months, but they had something solid to build on to begin with.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Aug 6, 2020 7:58:24 GMT -5
Sort of wonder if Kylie Rae choosing to sign with Impact after leaving AEW is in any way related. Just, if there are things we're just not privy to that make some women's talent gun-shy (whatever it might be). I doubt it's anything too serious (though, hey, none of us know anything for sure), but after doing a little bit of reading it appears that Impact's current method of signing talent has basically been to make negotiations as short as possible by making pretty talent-friendly deals right off the bat, since they know they can't compete with WWE or AEW on overall resources; that could be a potential answer on that front. Plus, Impact's roster turnover during the pandemic and in the wake of things like Speaking Out has definitely left a few more high profile spots available, which makes them appealing to someone looking to land somewhere and be assured of a featured role. I do hope they have someone lined up soon for Shida to face at All Out ASAP, though, with a worthwhile build. Again, I get the crappy side of the current situation: they don't want to burn Shida/Nyla II already, they just had Penelope challenge, and out of the other full-time women who are currently available they want to get to Swole/Baker at the PPV (Britt said that's when she'd be back, right?) and All Out also likely sees something concerning the Brandi/Allie storyline. That's all positive in terms of having multiple ongoing feuds/storylines for the division, but that still leaves you without a hook for a title match at the show, and the clock's ticking on that. Kylie also admits that that she left on good terms and it was more of a mental thing. From what ive gathered she was going to be a big part of the precession for Dynamite and the thought of that brought a lot of anxiety out. But Impact has allowed guys and girls a lot of creative freedom that helps. For the ladies of AEW, that had also been Kenny's pet project right? I think the decision to rely on joshis hurt too
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markymark
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Post by markymark on Aug 6, 2020 9:30:24 GMT -5
Shida said any girl that wanted to step up could, and there I guess haven't been many takers with the tag cup going on? I do agree Shida should be out there defending the belt if she said anyone who wants it should take it, but it's not too late to save it. It almost seems as if they've completely forgotten about Shida's open challenge which is both hilarious and sad. The situation speaks volumes to AEW's priorities. Its not their fault Diamante sucked(disappointing because she is a solid performer), besides Codys open challenge didnt exactly had a great start, it only picked up steam since the Sonny Kiss match.
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Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Aug 6, 2020 9:35:57 GMT -5
They def need to do better
Injuries and pandemic has not helped but they are clearly 3rd behind WWE and Impact. It's a glaring hole and has been since the beginning
They have been able to do good with Nyla, Riho, Shida, Brit etc and should be able do the same with other talent
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markymark
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Post by markymark on Aug 6, 2020 9:51:59 GMT -5
AEW shouldve signed Tay already and get more TayJay stuff on Dynamite, or they couldve given Vickie and Nyla the mic(it was funny when they were laughing at Rebel being picked to face Swole).
Someone mentioning doing something with Penelope, I feel she wouldve appeared more on Dynamite(valet) if it wasnt for Jimmy being exposed as a pos.
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Dub H
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Post by Dub H on Aug 6, 2020 10:09:52 GMT -5
I definitely think they are taking a temporary L about the division while they refocus and see who works well in the tournament.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Aug 6, 2020 10:11:00 GMT -5
AEW shouldve signed Tay already and get more TayJay stuff on Dynamite, or they couldve given Vickie and Nyla the mic(it was funny when they were laughing at Rebel being picked to face Swole). Someone mentioning doing something with Penelope, I feel she wouldve appeared more on Dynamite(valet) if it wasnt for Jimmy being exposed as a pos. Was Tay part of the Covid cuts or before? May have just been a case of needing to wait out the 90 days. But yes AEW needs to scout the us for women again, i think they have started to but admittedly i think they have used Dark to look at more candidates for future when they should be looking for people that can help now. They do have some decent talent but the roster is small. But even without covid they were gambling on a lot of international talent
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2020 10:16:50 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one.
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Dub H
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Post by Dub H on Aug 6, 2020 10:20:42 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one. That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try.
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Post by polarbearpete on Aug 6, 2020 10:29:50 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one. That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try. They really haven’t tried that hard. If so, they would carve out more time for the women each week, and develop those they have despite the injuries to others.
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Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Aug 6, 2020 10:33:46 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one. That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try. Yeah, this is why I focus my criticisms more on spending than on effort. There's a lot of creativity that's being used to stretch a two-person feud out to three months, but God forbid they bring in an indy wrestler with a price tag who could be a potential hire to have a ten minute match as part of that build. Or, y'know, build other feuds on Dynamite in the meantime.
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Dub H
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Post by Dub H on Aug 6, 2020 10:46:14 GMT -5
That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try. They really haven’t tried that hard. If so, they would carve out more time for the women each week, and develop those they have despite the injuries to others. Thing is they did and they failed at it.I think right now they are looking to use the deadly draw as a testing grounds for what they can build further.If after it nothing improves then i will agree.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2020 10:51:57 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one. That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try. It's not that they're not trying, it's... they're not trying hard enough. When you only have one match most shows and every week the featured woman is the same woman, it gets stale. Even if the whole plan on using joshi talent isn't viable right now, the company does have plenty of performers they could use, except most of them are relegated to Dark. Hell, the Dark Order has a female wrestler, and Anna Jay does jack squat. You can use the "they're not TV ready" excuse all you want, but it doesn't make your division look competent if it's the same beats each week; the match doesn't get promoted, there's a Britt Baker segment, the match is very short and the announcers talk over it to discuss other things, and so on. Just do something different besides that!
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Aug 6, 2020 10:56:14 GMT -5
Someone like Deonna Purrazzo could’ve been a real helping hand right about now. That’s someone I’m still very surprised got away from them given that she was based in Florida (having been in the NXT system for a couple of years), is legit talented and is largely TV-ready already. It’s hard to think of what Impact offered her that convinced her to go there that AEW didn’t (other than them already having a fairly strong division), unless they never tried that hard for her to begin with.
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markymark
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Post by markymark on Aug 6, 2020 11:05:54 GMT -5
That is simply not true,they always tried.They had many missfires but they are right now hiring the best talent they can find for the woman, had big focus on Shida,Nyla and Kris over dynamites.Even NightmAre Collective as bad as it was,it had effort behind it. Hell britt is still a constant focus in every show You can say many bad things about it but not that they didn`t try. It's not that they're not trying, it's... they're not trying hard enough. When you only have one match most shows and every week the featured woman is the same woman, it gets stale. Even if the whole plan on using joshi talent isn't viable right now, the company does have plenty of performers they could use, except most of them are relegated to Dark. Hell, the Dark Order has a female wrestler, and Anna Jay does jack squat. You can use the "they're not TV ready" excuse all you want, but it doesn't make your division look competent if it's the same beats each week; the match doesn't get promoted, there's a Britt Baker segment, the match is very short and the announcers talk over it to discuss other things, and so on. Just do something different besides that! They might do something with her once AEW signs Tay and they do the story of Anna Jay trying to recruit her to DO imo.
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Post by xxshoyuweeniexx on Aug 6, 2020 11:46:24 GMT -5
Someone like Deonna Purrazzo could’ve been a real helping hand right about now. That’s someone I’m still very surprised got away from them given that she was based in Florida (having been in the NXT system for a couple of years), is legit talented and is largely TV-ready already. It’s hard to think of what Impact offered her that convinced her to go there that AEW didn’t (other than them already having a fairly strong division), unless they never tried that hard for her to begin with. I feel like they want two or three American women as their base, the the joshis to help them come along as well as their greener projects. They might not have wanted Deonna enough since they felt they were safe. The problem with this is now you can’t depend on the joshis to develop your women, now you’ve got to sink or swim with what you have, not just hide it away on YouTube.
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Celgress
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Post by Celgress on Aug 6, 2020 11:54:43 GMT -5
It almost seems as if they've completely forgotten about Shida's open challenge which is both hilarious and sad. The situation speaks volumes to AEW's priorities. Its not their fault Diamante sucked(disappointing because she is a solid performer), besides Codys open challenge didnt exactly had a great start, it only picked up steam since the Sonny Kiss match. I disagree, I feel Cody's open challenge was entertaining and given the focus needed to develop from the beginning. Shida's open challenge by way of comparison ended before it even started. I think it is a question of effort honestly. AEW doesn't seem to care about the Women's Title unlike the TNT Tile aka Super Cody's vanity project, which is far from shocking when one considers Cody's position behind the scenes.
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Celgress
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Post by Celgress on Aug 6, 2020 12:02:42 GMT -5
IMO the women are just not a priority for them and haven't ever been and really only have a womens division because they know they would catch shit for not having one. Sometimes, I think this as well.
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