10 Biggest Missed Opportunities From AEW So Far

3. The Lack Of Faith In Riho As Champion

Riho is a fantastic wrestler. She’s quick, has a great moveset, is a brilliant seller and is extremely reliable in the ring. The inaugural AEW women’s champion is one of the best storytellers on the roster, able to use her smaller size to portray the underdog and adapt to her opponents’ strengths to craft engaging narratives. She’s one of the best that AEW has to offer. They failed her.

Like with most things on this list, there is time to fix this issue in the long run. Riho could easily be booked how she deserves upon her return, and it’s likely she will get another run with the AEW women’s title down the line. However, for the inaugural reign to be booked as dismally unimportant is something they can’t fix.

This was most prominent in her feud with Emi Sakura (the women that trained her!) being completely ignored on TV, despite years of narrative history and the desire from both women to deliver an emotional story.

Her matches were great, but she was never given an ounce of the devotion that men without titles got every week. When her reign ended, it was in a minor classic with Nyla Rose, but it was tragic that she never got the backing as champion she deserved.