10 Essential AEW Matches For New Fans
3. Britt Baker Vs Thunder Rosa - Dynamte, March 18th 2021
AEW has not done a good job of booking women's wrestling.
It's a criticism that has rightfully dogged the company since its inception and continues to do so because baby steps are only ever those. It's not just that so few matches have reached a level that they could be considered awesome or important or even a combination of the two, but that so few women have been given the television time to justify said matches. Or, damningly, the stories to justify the television time.
Dr Britt Baker D.M.D has been a shining light in this regard, getting over as the division's top heel in 2020 to kick off a long run to her finally dethroning pandemic era champion Hikaru Shida at Double Or Nothing 2021. She was crowned that night, but she was made here.
A bloody climax to one of the only female blood feuds in AEW history, Baker and rival Thunder Rosa beat the sh*t out of each other in an Unsanctioned Lights Out Dynamite main event that served as the perfect (if overdue) first all-female main event in the show's history.
Stark, shocking and real-feeling in all the best predetermined ways, this artfully constructed brawl was ingeniously crafted to build both winner and loser as warriors, which itself serviced Baker's inevitable ascent to the top of the pile a few months later. Rosa's win was cathartic in the moment, but she didn't advance up the rankings due to the nature of the bout. AEW had delivered the match the division desperately needed, and yet still thought about how the money rematch could be even bigger.