AEW Women's Division Discussion

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feb 4, 2021 1:15:21 GMT -5 AwamoriRock said:

A Japanese outlet (https://proresu-today.com/archives/137822) says the tournament is YouTube and that the Japanese side will take place without fans.

Makes sense, The Japanese side being on Youtube also makes sense because it's gonna be in a different venue with a ton of talent AEW Fans still need to be introduced to. It'll definitely get eyes on it. I wonder if they'll be their own thing like the Tag Tourney or like streamed along with DARK 

[holyshida]

Yeah this looks pretty stacked.

The one issue I have with this format is that nobody from the Japan side is winning this so the final will be a bit anticlimactic. The SF from the US side is basically the de facto final.

I'll predict Britt Baker v Yuka in the final.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feb 4, 2021 2:14:44 GMT -5 holyshida said:

Yeah this looks pretty stacked.

The one issue I have with this format is that nobody from the Japan side is winning this so the final will be a bit anticlimactic. The SF from the US side is basically the de facto final.

I'll predict Britt Baker v Yuka in the final.

The Japan winner has to come to the US, so depending on who wins, they could win this thing if they're staying for a bit.

[holyshida]

Feb 4, 2021 2:21:25 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Feb 4, 2021 2:14:44 GMT -5 holyshida said:

Yeah this looks pretty stacked.

The one issue I have with this format is that nobody from the Japan side is winning this so the final will be a bit anticlimactic. The SF from the US side is basically the de facto final.

I'll predict Britt Baker v Yuka in the final.

The Japan winner has to come to the US, so depending on who wins, they could win this thing if they're staying for a bit.

I think the winner of this tournament is probably going to also win the title from Shida (I think this happens at double or nothing). I can't see anyone on that Japan side winning the title from Shida. Britt Riho or Thunder Rosa are the frontrunners and the big money matches for Shida. Tay Conti could be a dark horse as well, she's really bringing her A game right now.

[Duke Cameron]

I’d be a bit disappointed if someone from the Japanese side didn’t win the title.

[Deleted]

Feb 3, 2021 23:24:16 GMT -5 chrom said:

Feb 3, 2021 23:21:19 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

That's a neat idea actually to have an AEW women's tag team go after the Knockouts tag belts, with their reasoning being that AEW has no Women's Tag Titles.

Apparently they got called out last week on Impact to come challenge them.

I've been watching Impact and have no recollection of this, lol. I thought the only non-Bullet Club crossover so far was the Private Party thing.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 4, 2021 0:06:05 GMT -5 AwamoriRock said:

So just a rundown (some is my opinion so take it with a grain of salt) regarding the joshi side. I can give match recommendations if anybody wants to check them out, but thought it'd be simpler just to do a blurb on them in case people are unfamiliar with some:

Aja Kong--obviously a living legend. She's not all that mobile anymore, but still puts on good matches that work around it. An interesting wrinkle is that nobody really pins her unless they're an ace or top star, I can only really remember her being pinned a few times in the last few years, so I'd imagine if she gets eliminated it'd be a rollup kinda thing. She had a pretty violent match with Shida before she moved to the US, and has history with everyone in the tournament.

Mei Suruga--Emi Sakura's prized pupil and the current star of Gatoh Move. She's a very crafty and speedy wrestler with a bratty personality. If she wrestles Emi in the tournament expect a teacher/student clinic.

Ryo Mizunami-she wrestled once in AEW but it was a tag match where she couldn't show off a lot. She's a very hard hitting power wrestler and very charismatic. Sadly I don't think Tony will pony up for the rights to her Pitbull entrance theme. She has a lot of history with Shida.

Maki Itoh--even if you don't follow TJPW or DDT you likely have heard her name due to her cult following and Twitter presence. You shouldn't expect some workrate beast (although I think she had the best match of her career vs Miyu Yamashita recently), the hype around Itoh is largely due to her impeccable character work and charisma. She's an excellent storyteller in the ring.

VENY--I can't sing her praises enough, she's world class at a very young age. She is Japan's first openly transgender wrestler, and while a joshi star, regularly wrestles men as well. She goes by the name ASUKA in Japan but adopted the name VENY for international appearances to avoid confusion with, well, the other Asuka. She can really do it all, high flying, power, technician stuff, etc. I expect WWE/AEW/Stardom to court her in the next few years.

Rin Kadokura--Rin is somewhat of the secondary ace of Marvelous, where Nyla Rose wrestled for a while. Her nickname "cool needlefish" is one of the funniest in wrestling (fans apparently said she resembles a needlefish). She's a very good all around wrestler with a bit of a "chip on her shoulder" demeanor.

Yuka Sakazaki--don't need to say much as she's been featured a bit in AEW, but an interesting note is that she recently lost her TJPW championship. While she obviously has TJPW commitments as a big star there, it's possible her booking is more flexible in terms of match results.

Emi Sakura--Again I don't think I need to go into much about her, but she's an awesome veteran responsible for the training of many stars. I think she is likely part of the organizers for the tournament. She has done a lot of promotion for AEW in Japan, organizing live watches for Dynamite etc.

Thanks for the heads-up, knew we could count on your joshi expertise, and totally didn't know about VENY's new name, though that's a prudent choice on her part.

It's hard to pick who we'll get, a lot of them have a real chance. Like, I'd love for Maki to get to come to the US and unite the Dangerous Hair Friends with Archer, but Emi makes a lot of sense, too, as does Yuka. I do feel like this tournament isn't going to be the last we see of a lot of these folks, given how Omega's obviously someone who goes to bat for the joshi a ton.

[Deleted]

This is also where I was expecting Taya and a lesser extent Tessa to show up here.

I guess Taya is WWE bound.

[honsou]

Itoh has the highest ceiling in the entire tournament. Her charisma is off the charts and even though she isn't the best in the ring she plays an amazing babyface in peril. Her match against Miyu Yamashita at DDT Coming to America is a great example of this

[Deleted]

Give the entire thing to Baker.

She’s earned it. She’s the total package.

[thatloser]

The Joshi's I know in this they are all among my favourites but for some reason I'm slightly disappointed there is no LuLu Pencil

[Mozenrath]

Feb 4, 2021 3:10:02 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This is also where I was expecting Taya and a lesser extent Tessa to show up here.

I guess Taya is WWE bound.

I would imagine she likely may be. She has friends in AEW like Luchasaurus, but I think she would probably excel in WWE, and given she'd also get to potentially be away from her husband less that way, it makes sense.

Tessa's a case where I feel like she could end up in AEW, but in addition to me really disliking that idea because... well, it's Tessa, I also think that WWE would just probably be a better place for her given her attitude. If she's going to behave herself somewhere, it's probably there due to her not wanting to blow that, especially if they might also give Daga a look. That being said, I also get that Cody Rhodes' godfather is Magnum TA, her stepdad, so this is also a family matter, maybe they'd roll the dice on her. Still, blech.

[AwamoriRock]

Feb 4, 2021 5:37:15 GMT -5 thatloser said:

The Joshi's I know in this they are all among my favourites but for some reason I'm slightly disappointed there is no LuLu Pencil

I think Lulu will one day have a matchup with Orange Cassidy.

It might not be Lulu, but at least Emi and Mei had fun when they were announced for the tourney!

Also there's no guarantee this is the Japan bracket but if it is literally anybody can win.

[JoDaNa1281]

Feb 4, 2021 2:56:35 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Feb 3, 2021 23:24:16 GMT -5 chrom said:

Apparently they got called out last week on Impact to come challenge them.

I've been watching Impact and have no recollection of this, lol. I thought the only non-Bullet Club crossover so far was the Private Party thing.

They did call them out on twitter specifically, as well as bashing AEW's women's tag tournament, but I also don't remember them doing it on Impact.

[Bad Moon]

I'm not crazy about the big showcase of the women's division once again being (partly) relegated to Youtube but this tournament still looks exciting. Super happy about Emi, Riho and Yuka being back and I'm excited to get to know about the new ones. I know barely anything about joshi wrestling but I've heard the name Maki Itoh praised to high heaven, and it's good to see Aja Kong is apparently still kicking ass.
Kinda bummed that Abadon didn't make the cut on the American side though.

[markymark]

Feb 3, 2021 23:18:51 GMT -5 toodarkmark said:

Feb 3, 2021 23:00:18 GMT -5 markymark said:

TKs tournaments have been mostly straight forwards and simple, hence im going with Britt vs Rosa II for the semis.

Heyy just read it and when I said "It's not my favorite idea", I meant Riho in the final, not your pick for Britt-Rosa II which I think is a great idea. Hope you didn't think that's what I meant Marky Mark.

I apologize If I sounded rude(that was never my intention) I was only explaining why my prediction is Britt vs Rosa II for the semis. I dont mind if Riho makes it to the finals, they could do a rematch vs Emi and actually booking it properly unlike in late 2019 when the only build was on twitter. 

[markymark]

Feb 4, 2021 3:10:02 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This is also where I was expecting Taya and a lesser extent Tessa to show up here.

I guess Taya is WWE bound.

Taya said in her last interview that she is still taking her time to come with a decision.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feb 4, 2021 8:12:42 GMT -5 markymark said:

Feb 4, 2021 3:10:02 GMT -5 @uppitynerd said:

This is also where I was expecting Taya and a lesser extent Tessa to show up here.

I guess Taya is WWE bound.

Taya said in her last interview that she is still taking her time to come with a decision.

She could realistically make waves in either company, though she might realistically make a bigger splash in the AEW Women's Division given how bulky the NXT Women's roster is, unless she is a rare skip to the main. 

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Shida just posted on Twitter that she's in Japan right now so that could explain the tournament being held in lieu of her being on television.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Feb 4, 2021 8:23:08 GMT -5 "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik said:

Shida just posted on Twitter that she's in Japan right now so that could explain the tournament being held in lieu of her being on television.

She had a movie to shoot and has been helping with producing the Tournament apparently

On top of that she is rehabbig an ankle injury