Jamie Hayter’s expected title shot should lead to her babyface turn
For months, All Elite Wrestling fans have clamored to see Jamie Hayter receive a more prominent push in the women’s division. If the Oct. 26 episode of AEW: Dynamite is any indication, those folks might get their wish.
Hayter took on real ace of the promotion Riho in the latter’s first match on Dynamite since Dec. 8 of last year, where she also faces Hayter in singles competition. Much like they did last winter, Hayter and Riho tore it up in the ring, but this time, Hayter scored the pinfall win over the inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion after hitting her Ripcord Lariat.
Now, it appears that Hayter is next in like to challenge current interim AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm, with the matchup likely planned for Full Gear. That should be a great match, and hopefully, it will lead to the other thing fans want to see happen with Hayter.
Assuming she gets it, Jamie Hayter’s pursuit of the AEW Women’s World Title should result in her finally turning babyface.
Similar to Maxwell Jacob Friedman, the cheers for Hayter are becoming harder to ignore. Despite this and the obvious dissention between her and Britt Baker, AEW has kept her on the heel side of things as the dentist’s heater. The most recent tease came after Baker prevented Hayter from winning the world title at All Out, but a couple of “will she turn” moments ended with the status quo remaining intact.
With Hayter presumably facing Storm, though, this is the chance to restart that push toward making her a protagonist. Obviously, it doesn’t need to happen before the match — Hayter is an ideal heel opponent for Storm — but a few instances where Baker passive aggressively shows some resentment toward Hayter getting a title shot in the weeks beforehand should be enough to get the point across.
From there, AEW could go several ways: it could book Hayter to win the title and have Baker turn on her, have Hayter lose to Storm due to mistimed interference by Baker that leads to Hayter finally growing tired of Baker’s nonsense, or Hayter could lose clean and turn on Baker after she makes one snide comment too many about it.
No matter which direction it chooses, it’s time to do something with Hayter that isn’t a repeat of what fans have already seen. Thus far, Tony Khan’s patience as a booker has been a virtue for his young company, but that dogmatic dedication to keeping his plans in place has caused him to miss some opportunities to cash in on a wrestlers’ rising popularity.
Next. The challenge of booking The Elite post All Out backstage fight. dark
With Hayter, he has pulled a swerve on Hayter’s turn, and if he does so again, there might not be another chance to get the fans excited about the possibility of one.