AEW Full Gear 2023 must feature multiple women’s matches on main card

AEW continues to fall short with the booking of its women’s division and AEW Full Gear 2023 must feature multiple women’s contests behind the paywall.

AEW Full Gear 2023 is a few days away. Six matches are currently slated for the show, with many more to come as AEW PPVs typically have 10+ matches. With five shows remaining between November 8 and the show date of November 18, AEW must find a way to infuse some excitement into the women’s division and that includes booking multiple women’s matches on this show.

At the time of this piece, Hikaru Shida versus Toni Storm is the only match slotted for the event. Shida is a fan favorite, and the most important woman on the entire AEW roster. Storm continues to prove the importance of maximizing your minutes as she found a way to get over (again) with fans despite the sparse time allotted to the division. These two women have the potential to put on the type of match that will steal the show, as they are two of the very best at what they do.

But this shouldn’t be the only women’s match on the card. Kris Statlander is quickly approaching 200 days as TBS Champion, but nothing of note has happened within that run since she defeated Jade Cargill. That’s not to the fault of Statlander, as she’s pushed for more time and has been vocal that the women’s division entirely needs more opportunity. She should have a big title defense scheduled for the PPV, but she doesn’t have any top contenders that immediately jump off the page. Julia Hart’s story is continuing to grow, and there’s no telling if AEW will get back to slotting her against Statlander again in the future.

The complaints about the booking of the AEW women’s division continue to grow. Double or Nothing is the only AEW PPV in 2023 to feature more than one women’s match on the main card. Some will argue that it featured three, as Cargill defeated Taya Valkyrie before falling to Statlander. Toni Storm also won her second AEW Women’s World Title reign on that show, defeating the injured Jamie Hayter in three minutes. Three women’s matches and less than 15 minutes of wrestling. On a Pay-Per-View main card.  That is unacceptable, but it is the norm for the AEW women’s division.

If Tony Khan is going to make some sort of effort to show that he’s working to improve women’s wrestling in his promotion, then Full Gear must include more than one women’s match on the main card. He has Statlander and ATHENA in his employ, two beloved and excellent champions, along with robust rosters that can easily fit in as top contenders. There’s plenty of time to build a feud in the shows that remain between now and then, plus a great video package goes a long way in telling that story. The opportunity is there.