All Elite Wrestling’s Women’s Division is beginning to take shape, but AEW still need to add a few more pieces to their roster in order to have a full division once their shows start up. And it sounds like they’ve identified Barbi Hayden as one of their targets.
Britt Baker, Nyla Rose, Kylie Rae, and Penelope Ford are four women signed to AEW as the initial members of the nascent promotion’s women’s division, and Brandi Rhodes also told Diva Dirt’s Kristen Ashly that she plans on wrestling.
With a working agreement in place with TJPW – one that will allow Aja Kong and Yuka Sakazaki to wrestle at Double or Nothing on May 25 – AEW has options when it comes to showcasing women outside of their own promotion.
That said, they’ll need to sign more than just four women to their initial roster, and while they are wisely taking a cautious strategy to ensure they are able to feature everyone appropriately, it’s great to hear news of another target.
Just got off my interview with the SUPER sweet @wow_abilene (Barbi Hayden)!
— Kristen Ashly (@KristenAshly) February 14, 2019
When I asked if she had any updates on meetings with other promotions, she told me that she had a meeting with Brandi from #AEW, and that things were left open-ended due to her current contract.
.@wow_abilene also said she had OTHER meetings (because she's that awesome), and one is holding serious promise. Moves could be made super quickly.
— Kristen Ashly (@KristenAshly) February 14, 2019
I couldn't be more excited for Ms. Maverick. What an absolute sweetheart!
(As long as she's not egging her grandpa's house haha)
Diva Dirt’s Editor-In-Chief Kristen Ashly has been hard at work interviewing several wrestlers who appear for Women of Wrestling, and one of them, Barbi Hayden, stated that she recently had a meeting with Brandi Rhodes.
Hayden, who goes by the name “Abilene Maverick” in WOW, seems to have plenty of interest from promotions around the world. That isn’t surprising, because Hayden’s work in WOW and NWA speaks for itself; fans can’t forget that she is a former NWA World Women’s Champion.
As Ashly tweets, things could move quickly for Hayden, and the interest from AEW is especially noteworthy. While it appears that she may have to wait things out while under contract with WOW, AEW looks like a fantastic opportunity. They seem to be serious about creating a diverse, inclusive promotion, Brandi has done all the right things in building the women’s division so far, and AEW’s contracts could even be the best available for many women in this industry.
This is a situation to monitor closely, and I know Ashly will have more information available on Diva Dirt today.
And if you want to watch Hayden’s in-ring and character work to see what she can bring to the table for a promotion like AEW, you can catch Women of Wrestling at 9 p.m. ET every Friday on AXS TV.