10 Shocking Acts Of Violence In AEW
9. Britt Baker & Thunder Rosa Change The Landscape
WWE had led the way in Women's wrestling to an extent over the past decade, with women headlining PLEs and WrestleMania, and receiving parity in big name match types like Hell In A Cell and Elimination Chamber. And outside of 2024, Tony Khan has booked the women's division as more of an obligation rather than an asset.
Which makes this bloodbath of a match a real outlier during the first few years of All Elite Wrestling.
Britt Baker was handpicked to be the fulcrum of the division early on, but it wasn't until her heel turn in 2020 that she blossomed as a character. When then NWA Women's Champion Thunder Rosa rocked up in the late summer of 2020, the two were put on a collision course that culminated on a shocking night in March 2021.
In a non-sanctioned Lights Out match, they became the first women to main event an episode of AEW Dynamite, and they sure as hell gave it everything they had. The violent and brutal match up received critical acclaim for making a mockery of the idea that women couldn't wrestle a violent match-up. The iconic shot of Britt Baker, her face a crimson mask, lives long in the memory - and solidified her as the pillar of the women's division.
It's easy to forget that Thunder Rosa, in fact, won the match up, given their respective trajectories in the aftermath.