Pro Wrestling Contract Season

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

The number of matches you list in your first post adds up to 130 Landers, yet you claim 133 in your second post. Either way 133 matches in 268 weeks is hardly a workhorse is it, visa, injury or booking wise. The best you can say about Shida is that she is there, and good for her, I hope she is getting paid. 

[Lorne Malvo]

The numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you etc etc

[JLM]

I think I like Shida quite a bit. I particularly liked her most recent Yakuza-inspired look reinvention and more aggressive style she had for a bit there before she was forced to disappear. I’m a fan and I’m glad she’s re-signed. That said, I must admit I haven’t crunched the numbers. I have eaten Birdseye Alphabites in the past though, so I have crunched the letters, if that helps my case at all. 

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

It's not all her fault, TK's booking of the women's division in general doesn't help her, or many of them actually. 

I think this would be an interesting topic on it's own to get opinion of what people want or think should happen with the AEW Women. I don't think it's perfect, by any means, and I'm not arguing that. I do think elements are very good. They hire really good talent and give them room to find themselves and be different to all the other women on TV. The commentators do an excellent job of selling the women, their characters, their ability and whatever they are doing. The real top stories involving the stars of the division get good focus and feel important. Toni Storm, for example, doesn't feel a level below anyone as a star. She hasn't for a long, long time. I think they are the real strengths of the division and the booking.

The weaknesses are the number of women's matches on Dynamite rarely being above 1 and on PPV rarely being more than 2. The women still have plenty of opportunity to work on Collision and often are on Dynamite in promos, vignettes or run-ins but after 6 years, I still don't think it feels like enough. Don't get me wrong, I don't want them to do it if they're not going to do it justice and certainly not so they can just pretend to be revolutionary but, I do think there is enough talent that justify more time on their most prestigious shows. 

I'm not convinced any other arguments would be exclusive to the women. TK isn't a perfect booker. He has plenty of flaws that apply to the men's roster too. As a company, they have a healthy attitude to time of for injuries and real-life events but have a dreadful communication issue for helping fans understand why. They still have an issue with letting important things breathe and selling stuff that should be huge across their shows and other angles. Sometimes, they're wonderful at booking things to cross over multiple matches, stories and promos and at others, they silo everything terribly. 

[BomberPat]

I think the idea that the women's division is badly booked is a little dated now, certainly in comparison to other promotions - I see nothing from WWE, either main roster or NXT, that stands up to the best of AEW's women's division, and plenty that seems considerably worse. Mercedes Moné and Toni Storm are arguably the two biggest stars in AEW right now, and - last night being an odd exception - are generally the focal point of quite a bit of the TV show. I think @tiger_rickis right that a lot of the criticisms you can level at AEW's booking of women are actually just criticisms of their booking in general - people disappearing off TV, or just not getting enough focus of them, or running hot and cold, well, the same is true of a lot of the male acts too. 

I do wonder if the TV networks have a say in it, or if there's some ratings/analytic justification for not having more women's matches. Because people - usually, I assume, arguing in bad faith - try and paint it as Tony Khan not liking women's wrestling, but if you look at Ring of Honor, a Tony Khan-booked promotion without all the outside pressures of TV, sponsors, advertisers, etc., and there's quite often two or three women's matches on the card, and the women have main evented PPVs.

 

Edited October 8, 2025 by BomberPat

[mim731]

@BomberPat you might want to move that latter part to the AEW TV thread, or spoiler tag it at least, just for anyone who's not watched yet. 

[Infinity Land]

42 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

The number of matches you list in your first post adds up to 130 Landers, yet you claim 133 in your second post. Either way 133 matches in 268 weeks is hardly a workhorse is it, visa, injury or booking wise. The best you can say about Shida is that she is there, and good for her, I hope she is getting paid. 

The numbers I listed in the first post were from 2020-2025. As I didn't see any point in including 2019 since AEW didn't really get going until October once Dynamite started up.

And yeah, overall I would say getting close to a match every other week in the Women's division when they were running one event a week the majority of the time is pretty good going. 

 

 

[BomberPat]

7 minutes ago, mim731 said:

@BomberPat you might want to move that latter part to the AEW TV thread, or spoiler tag it at least, just for anyone who's not watched yet. 

yikes, forgot what thread I was in! Thanks for that, have moved it now

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

35 minutes ago, Infinity Land said:

The numbers I listed in the first post were from 2020-2025. As I didn't see any point in including 2019 since AEW didn't really get going until October once Dynamite started up.

And yeah, overall I would say getting close to a match every other week in the Women's division when they were running one event a week the majority of the time is pretty good going. 

 

 

You used two different numbers and it's me that's wrong. Wonderful. 

I admit that TK has booked the women a lot better of late, though his booking of Willow Nightingale is genuinely the most negligent booking of anyone in any of the major companies. How she is not the face of the women's division and one of the top 3 most pushed wrestlers in the company is baffling. 

[mim731]

EDIT: Found a BlueSky link and have replaced.

Yeah, that's unexpected.

 

Edited October 8, 2025 by mim731
Extra info/reply

[Supremo]

Shame.

[DavidB6937]

I mean it must be some sweet money because they're clearly not going to do a fucking thing with him.

[Cannibal Man]

d'you think he told Rush to post that Tweet about LFI getting bigger to help him out a bit and get a better price? nice to have a mate like that

[mim731]

Just now, Cannibal Man said:

d'you think he told Rush to post that Tweet about LFI getting bigger to help him out a bit and get a better price? nice to have a mate like that

In fairness to Rush, one thing you can't accuse him of is not supporting his mates, even if they turn out to be wrong'uns. 

[Infinity Land]

3 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

You used two different numbers and it's me that's wrong. Wonderful. 

I admit that TK has booked the women a lot better of late, though his booking of Willow Nightingale is genuinely the most negligent booking of anyone in any of the major companies. How she is not the face of the women's division and one of the top 3 most pushed wrestlers in the company is baffling. 

First post was broken down by year from 2020-2025. Second post states a time frame from 02/10/2019-20/11/2024 for a total number of matches. You asked why the totals are different between the two posts. I explained they cover two different time periods assuming you hadn't noticed. Not calling you wrong. 

 

1 hour ago, mim731 said:

Yeah, that's unexpected.

 

Karrion Kross is left wondering what he needs to do!