The Disturbing Truth Behind The AEW Women's Division

Serena Deeb
AEW

Almost as soon as Khan had assembled a high-quality core of a roster, the time and effort allocated to the division actually declined. In a particularly grim development, AEW in 2022 has started taken various very cheeky shortcuts to get the obligatory "women's match" on TV, which is indicative of total apathy at best. Serena Deeb's Five Minute Rookie challenge often lasted less than one minute. Delightfully devilish.

In parallel, with plans to crown Jade Cargill as the inaugural TBS Champion in place, Khan booked her to win several pointless squash matches without having to worry about muddying the win/loss rankings and committing to other performers and programmes - or, to be very cynical about it, taking TV time away from the men. It's a fact that, on the whole, the men's division is superior, more over, and more stacked. It is simply easier for AEW to ensure decent numbers with a CM Punk match in the opening spot, but the women's division requires hard work to get right. It's yet another example of the inescapable loop. The women don't draw, so they aren't featured heavily on TV, but they'll never draw without being featured heavily on TV. AEW's women's division is just constantly, constantly buffering.

The optimistic perspective is that there is a great core around which to build, provided Khan is capable of tweaking his booking philosophy.

CONT'D...(5 of 6)

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!