AEW Rampage: The women gear up for their ALL IN match

Two nights before they face each other in a four way for the AEW Women’s Championship, they had a tag team match. Champion Hikaru Shida teamed up with Britt Baker against The Outcasts’ Toni Storm and Saraya (officially it was just those 2, but Ruby Soho helped her partners on the outside).

We already know The Outcasts can co-exist. Baker and Shida have proven that they too can co-exist. These women have been battling each other in some combination since the beginning of the year. The storyline should’ve ended a long time ago, but here we are. With no women’s Blood & Guts on the horizon, the feud between The Outcasts and Homegrowns has been running on fumes for months.

Within minutes of the match starting, Soho was up to her old tricks and getting involved in the match. The most interesting part of the match wasn’t in the actual match at all. The Homegrowns rarely have Skye Blue or Willow Nightingale ringside during their match, so The Outcasts always run amok. Finally, someone had enough of her shenanigans.

Soho was raining down punches on Baker on the outside when she was picked up by the waist. Soho swung at Kris Statlander, who promptly hoisted her up over her shoulders and marched up the ramp. Soho previously made it clear that she has her sights on the TBS Championship.

The Outcasts were incensed that they would have to wrestle with one less weapon.

It wouldn’t be a tag match without all four wrestlers getting involved. The women were slugging it out. Shida got sprayed in the face by Storm and couldn’t see. She accidentally took out Baker, setting Saraya up for the pin.

After the match, Saraya and Storm had the women’s championship. There seemed to be signs of tension between The Outcasts. The show ended with Saraya holding the title by herself.

https://twitter.com/WrestlingCovers/status/1695270656273748049?s=20

This was a solid match for the go home show before the biggest show in company history. The four way will be the lone women’s match on the ALL IN card (no matter what anyone says, this is not in tribute to the original ALL IN which featured just one women’s match, also a four way; they couldn’t even find a spot for another women’s match on Zero Hour).

It’s possible that Shida is a transitional champion and that Saraya wins the title on Sunday. There has been the argument that AEW didn’t want Saraya to beat Storm for the title in London, so Shida is the placeholder. The feel good story for some would be Saraya winning the AEW Women’s Championship in front of her home crowd.

That would be a crappy thing to do to Shida, who is one of the best women in the division and one of the most popular wrestlers in AEW. Regardless of who wins on Sunday, there has to be continued forward motion in the women’s division and ending The Outcasts vs. Homegrowns storyline is a big step forward.