AEW Booms and Duds: WTF was Jake Roberts doing?!

Boom: Nyla Rose continues to impress, and a definitive path forward for the women’s division

First, this was another great video produced by AEW. These types of videos should have aired six months ago, but maybe they needed to find their footing first to produce these stellar videos.

With the return of the Women’s Champion, Nyla Rose, to AEW last night, we were all reminded of the budding star that is “The Native Beast.” She toyed with her opponent like a bored predator does to its prey, eventually decimating her with a senton from the top rope, not one but two vicious powerbombs, and a Beast Bomb that would make Batista exuberant.

During the match as she toyed with her opponent, she would look into the camera and remind fans that this is HER division, only reinforcing her beautiful line of being a “one-time champion because nobody out there can stack up to me.”

I would rather have one extended reign than 10 reigns of one month each, similar to what some wrestlers in WWE experience, so I wholeheartedly nodded in approval when I first heard Rose speak those words.

It’s difficult to see just who can “stack up” to her, but that was another beauty of the video: it set up distinct matches/feuds for the Champion.

Will it be Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., who has seen quite the rise as a heel the past four months, particularly during the no crowd/limited crowd shows of the past two months? Rose is a heel, but even against pure babyface champion Riho received a lot of cheers when she became champion, so a bonafide heel in Baker could prove a wonderful foil for Rose.

I also give props to AEW for not avoiding face/face and heel/heel matches. They work given a good story. I could see a great story developing between those two.

There’s also one of my favorites (and seemingly, a lot of AEW fans) in Hikaru Shida. One of the more experienced and talented wrestlers on the roster, I’m sure she and Rose would have one of the better matches on whatever card they’re scheduled. Shida is also a wrestler booked as a serious threat to anyone (they’re going to replay her breaking Baker’s nose for years), so her winning the title with all of her fan support would not be a shock.

The last wrestler mentioned in the video took me by surprise as I was expecting to see Big Swole, Shanna, or Kris Statlander (the latter two having histories with Rose). Instead, we see Penelope Ford, who I’ve said has “breakout” written all over her.

Ford may also be able to really show her mettle against someone like Rose who can take just enough punishment from the quickness and athleticism of Ford only to respond with her own athleticism and strength to ground the speedy Ford.

I’m glad Rose is back and that we have identifiable challengers for her championship. I’m intrigued to see who is the first challenger out of the three for Rose and hope to see the beginning of a feud next week.

If I had to bet, I would say Shida since I think Baker falls into the category of “doesn’t need the title” as a heel. Further, unlike Ford who is booked as a heel, Shida as a pure face would definitely garner the support of fans.