AEW Women’s Division Takeaways: What’s happening with the Nightmare Sisters?

What happened in the AEW Women’s Division on Saturday’s Dynamite?

The latest episode of AEW Dynamite delivered a stacked card with a shocking conclusion that not only raised the bar but also raised a few questions regarding what the future holds. Here are five takeaways from its women’s division.

What now for Diamante and Ivelisse?

Diamante and Ivelisse emerged as the winners of the AEW Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament after defeating Brandi Rhodes and Allie in the finals, but where do they go from here?

Both Diamante and Ivelisse are yet to officially sign with the company, and it’s also unclear whether AEW will continue this women’s tag team trajectory and use this tournament as a launching pad for a future AEW women’s tag team championship.

It’s worth noting that Diamante is already one-half of the Women of Wrestling’s (WOW) tag team champs alongside Fire (Kiera Hogan), plus she and Ivelisse already have a history together as a team, so now would be a great time for AEW to capitalise on this opportunity.

However, given the current shortfall of women tag teams following the tournament (read on for more on this), an AEW women’s tag team division seems unlikely in the near future.

With that said, the newly crowned tournament champs may still have a future in the company as single competitors, but perhaps not as a team given the lack of a women’s tag division.

What’s happening with the Nightmare Sisters?

Since its inception, the team of Brandi Rhodes and Allie as the Nightmare Sisters seemed to be heading in the direction of a feud between the two, as shown through their less than compatible cooperation.

A loss in the tag team cup finals seemed like the perfect opportunity for things to boil over and result in a confrontation, however, their performance against Diamante and Ivelisse hinted at nothing of the sort.

Brandi and Allie didn’t have any of the miscommunication we’re used to seeing and seemed to lose the tournament purely because Diamante and Ivelisse were the better team.

But what leads me to question their future together is what happened at the show’s close – The Dark Order decimating the Nightmare Family, apart from Allie.

For obvious reasons, Brandi stepped in to shield Cody from the looming presence of the Dark Order, which then led its only female member, Anna Jay, to attack Brandi.

With the idea that a Brandi and Allie feud isn’t going to play out, and with Brandi possibly heading into a Nightmare Family V The Dark Order rivalry, it’s difficult to see where Allie fits in.

There’s still time, however, for Allie to get involved, so the Nightmare Sisters could live to fight another day.

Anna Jay and Tay Conti appear to be no more, so where does this leave Conti?

As previously mentioned, Anna Jay’s attack on Brandi has cemented her alignment with the Dark Order, and it looks like she’ll be sticking with them from now on.

This leaves the future of her tag team cup partner, Tay Conti, very unclear.

It was never promised that all tag tournament partners would remain a team, however, it felt as if Jay and Conti’s partnership was a little more permanent than the rest.

Conti’s last appearance on AEW was during her and Jay’s loss to tag tournament winners, Diamante and Ivelisse in the semifinals, and although it’s only been a short while since then, the fact that Conti is also not signed to AEW does beg the question of whether we’ll see her again in the company (personally, I really hope we do #SignTayConti).

Britt Baker returns next week

The latest episode of Dynamite saw the announcement of the return of its resident role model, Britt Baker, to in-ring action in a handicap match against Big Swole next week.

Baker enlisted the help of Penelope Ford to un-even the odds against her longtime rival, to make it Big Swole vs Britt Baker, Penelope Ford and Rebel (otherwise known as Reba).

Given their tag tournament partnership, and their pre-existing alliance prior to AEW, it’s inevitable that we’ll see Lil’ Swole get involved and come to the aid of her partner, which will hopefully lead to more tag team action for the Swole Family.

Focus is back on the AEW Women’s Championship

AEW surprised us all when it announced that the NWA Women’s World Champion, Thunder Rosa, will challenge Hikaru Shida at All Out for the AEW Women’s World Championship.

Rosa said she will “bring the women’s division to the next level” and “put it on the map and get the respect [they] deserve”.

Rosa’s achievements speak for themselves; Inspire Pro Twin Dragon Connection Champion, Lucha Underground Trios Champion, Shine Tag Team Champion, and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling International Princess Champion.

She has wrestled in promotions such as Lucha Underground, WOW and Ring of Honour, and with AEW coming under fire for its treatment of its women’s division as of late, it’s a big deal to see someone of Rosa’s calibre step up to Shida.

This is a promising move from All Elite Wrestling and gives me hope that it’s actively working on bolstering its women’s division by attracting big indy names such as Rosa’s.