7 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite (9 Mar)

2. This Botched Title Feud

It's a real shame, what's happening in the Women's World Title scene at the moment, as Thunder Rosa coming through to her San Antonio, Texas hometown and finally taking the belt, vanquishing Britt Baker in a match that'll actually go on her record, should feel like a much bigger deal than it currently does.

This is the fault of the bookers, not the performers. A couple of stodgy moments aside, Rosa and Leyla Hirsch fought well in their title eliminator, with the former NWA Women's Champion surviving Hirsch's targeted limb work to win via Fire Thunder Driver. Afterwards, Baker cut a good promo unravelling her latest conspiracy theory as well.

But the construction is flimsy. The build to Revolution was based entirely on the idea that these two had a good match in the past and should be able to have another again, despite involvement from Mercedes Martinez and Baker's various seconds. Now, after a bummer pay-per-view match that felt like the ideal place to pull the trigger, Rosa's win is being stretched, artificially, to next week.

Rosa taking the gold in her hometown one year on from the famous Unsanctioned Lights Out match should be great optics. This isn't in question. Unfortunately, the journey to get to that destination has no heft, with the crowd's increasingly muted reactions showing that.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.