It's six and a half years since All Elite Wrestling was founded and hit the ground running. What Tony Khan has done with his company in this short amount of time has been beyond beneficial for wrestling fans everywhere. For a couple of decades, it seemed as if the only professional wrestling promotion to watch was WWE, but Khan and his staff have helped change that landscape.
Part of what has changed the structure of AEW has been the significantly improved women's division. The addition of former WWE superstars Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone have contributed greatly to the success the company has been seeing through the past year or so. In the process of adding them to the equation, it has also elevated the rest of the women on their roster. So much so, that it is time for AEW to start looking to add some new ventures for its women's roster. Here are three things that AEW needs to do for their women's roster.
It's time for a women's AEW Continental Classic
After a successful two year run with the AEW Continental Classic, it's time to add a women's tournament. What would really help it thrive is the option to include wrestlers from partner promotions like Ring of Honor or Stardom in the tournament as well. With a growing and improving AEW women's roster, it wouldn't be hard at all to put together and provides opportunities for them all to showcase their abilities.
AEW's own talent has expressed interest in doing this as well. Willow Nightengale, being one of the most prominent names to express her excitement for the idea.
"I think it would be very cool [to have a Women's Continental Classic tournament]. When I saw it last year, and obviously I just spoke before about how much I enjoyed it, I was like, 'Oh, we gotta do this.' That would be so cool. But even if we had, like, our own thing, I think if we did our own kind of cool tournament," said Nightingale.
The end result could either be an AEW Women's Continental Championship, a future championship opportunity for the AEW Women's Championship, or even a trophy of some sort. Whichever the case may be, all are great reasons for AEW to consider adding a Women's Continental Classic.
AEW Should Consider Women's Tag Titles
With so many women that need showcased every week, introducing AEW Women's Tag Team Championships would be a great way to help with that dilemma. Each week, there are so many women that are left off the Dynamite and Collsion that deserve to be on it -- or, if they are, head for a bathroom break and you may miss it. There will always be those fans that will advocate against it -- "Look at WWE's women's tag team division." The difference is WWE highlights their women's division more with the addition of more tag team matches and opportunities for the titles. AEW could do the same.
In the past, Storm & Nightingale worked very well together. As well did Kris Statlander and Shida. Think of all of the possibilities with Skye Blue & Julia Hart, Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford, and many other possible combinations. Not to mention, the recently formed Anna Jay & Harley Cameron. The addition of women's tag team titles would be a fun new venture for the women's division in AEW.
The Time Has Come For An AEW All-Women's PLE
For a lot of the same reasons for an AEW Women's Continental Classic, the same goes for an all-women PLE. This may be a little further in the future, but to be completely transparent, AEW has the personnel to pull it off this weekend if they chose to. Unlike WWE's Evolution, AEW has the ability to include superstars from all over the world. AEW's roster is deeper than ever before and they have more than enough talent to put together a solid match card.
The addition of Mone to the roster might have been exactly what was needed to get the ball rolling on this idea. She's always been a more vocal leader in the women's locker room and doesn't shy away from expressing her thoughts on the past, present, and future of women's wrestling. In an appearance on the Battleground podcast with Tim Battle and Eli, Moné was asked to express her thoughts on an AEW all-women's PLE and why she believes it would work.
"Because we have the best women’s wrestlers. We have a roster full of talent and a long list of women that could make an all-women’s pay-per-view possible. I think it’s just a matter of giving the chance and opportunity. If Tony [Khan] sees that, I don’t see why we couldn’t have a women’s revolution here in AEW. It’s already happening; the women have been killing it every single week. I think an all-women’s pay-per-view here would be incredible,” Moné stated.
The groundwork has been laid for AEW to take the next step with their women's division. Their talent have been bringing it up, their fans have been mentioning it -- the ball is in Khan's court. There's plenty of opportunities to showcase how much the women's roster has grown in the company and he has a ton of advantages that he could execute that WWE can't. Only time will tell when they're ready to take the next step.