9 Ups & 3 Downs For AEW Collision (22 July)
1. Short Shrift For The Women
In terms of the work from the talents involved, Taya Valkyrie vs. Sky Blue was fine for what it needed to be; a solid win for Taya over an ever-popular babyface, which now pushes Valkyrie up the food chain and towards Britt Baker.
Why this bout finds itself on the Downs section, though, is due to the familiar problems in how AEW unfortunately often utilises its women's division.
On a two-hour broadcast, Valkyrie vs. Blue received eight minutes, with nearly half of that time spent in a picture-in-picture commercial. Sure, La Wera Wera was afforded a couple of minutes post-match to lay down her challenge to D.M.D., but this was yet another example of AEW presenting its female talent as an afterthought.
If the ladies of AEW only receive one match on a TV broadcast, with half of that bout taking place during an ad break, what sort of message does that sent to your audience about how important - or not - your women's division is?
AEW must do better in this regard, but this is nothing new. Regardless of the constant complaints about this issue, said complaints sadly seem to continue to fall on deaf ears.