It’s Tuesday, so we must be taking another look back at the week in women’s wrestling and pretending I posted this on Monday. This week we crash into War Games and have a surprise big name on Ring of Honor.
A few notes: I’m abandoning the numerical scale for now. I’m not happy with how it’s working out, so I’m going to work towards evolving it. I’m learning that you really can’t score a show horribly because there were no matches yet the show was largely centered and bookended by women’s storyline. I am returning to giving a more general grade without a math formula, but I’ll still give you plenty of reason why. There will always be too many words in this column.
I’m also going to be wrapping the “the story so far” wrapups into their shows as much as possible. Since AEW’s divisions hop more across their three shows, it’ll be in Dynamite as that’s their first show every week. Level Up and Main Event are not really shows that have any storyline concerns, so they will be as bare minimum as the shows.
Monday - WWE Monday Night Raw
Stories going into Raw: Rhea Ripley continues her dominant title run as well as being the lead of the Judgment Day’s stories. Zoey Stark, fresh off a battle royal win, is her upcoming Survivor Series challenger. Becky Lynch has unfinished business with Xia Li but is also joining forces with members of the SmackDown women’s division for WarGames. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven are continuing their reign as Women’s Tag Champs but several teams including Natalya & Tegan Nox are on their tails. Nikki Cross is still staring into space.
This Week’s Matches - We get three matches this week out of six total for approximately 33 minutes combined. Twelve women competed on the show compared to six men. The matches included:
Nia Jax defeats Raquel Rodriguez in 9:03. The “hoss fight” that has been building for a bit, this one was hurt by a mid-match commercial break. I enjoyed it and really, I enjoy watching Raquel wreck people.
Becky Lynch defeats Xia Li in 13:38. This was easily the best match Xia has had, but that’s not hard against 2023 Becky Lynch. I would’ve liked to see this on a PPV and feel we could’ve built that way. Xia looked good, though this maybe would have been better next week and not the night before she gets a shot at the NXT Women’s Title. After the match, we get a brawl between Becky’s team and Damage Ctrl.
Tegan Nox & Natalya defeat Kayden Carter & Katana Chance, Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell and Maxxine Dupri & Ivy Nile in a #1 Contender’s Match in 11:45. Champs Chelsea and Piper are ringside. Natalya and Tegan were the likely win here as they’ve been featured lately, but I would love the others - especially Kayden & Katana - to get some actual momentum going at some point. It wasn’t a bad match, Maxxine continues to impress and I am not complaining about eight women getting this spot.
Other Developments:
We get the aforementioned surprise Damage Ctrl, Charlotte, Bianca and Shotzi appearance as we’re really continuing to ramp up the WarGames story which has carried SmackDown for a few weeks. Zoey and Shayna Baszler visit the Judgment Day’s locker room and talk with Rhea, who says she respects Zoey. Rhea also does her usual intertwining with the boys as tension grows between her and Damien Priest over the leadership position of Judgment Day.
The Final Score:
This episode had a lot of hype and rightfully so on Twitter for being so female-forward, especially following a SmackDown that was the same. By night’s end, over 25 women were featured (and that’s not including ring announcers and backstage correspondents) and nothing felt forced. Two stories that had been going for a while had matches while the women’s tag division had its biggest boost in a while. Oh, and most of the SmackDown women’s division was here too to build WarGames. I’m giving this a solid A. No complaints.
Tuesday - WWE NXT
Stories going into NXT: Lyra Valkyria has been celebrating her NXT Women’s Title match while facing the menacing challenge of Xia Li, accepting her challenge for this week. Qualifying matches for Deadline’s Iron Survivor match have had a mix of surprising winners, including Tiffany Stratton and Lash Legend. Jacy Jayne seems to know more than any of us viewing do about the mysterious news plaguing Chase U and its leader Andre Chase.
This Week’s Matches: Two of the
six matches included women for approximately fourteen minutes of in-ring action. Four women had matches compared to ten men. Matches included:
Blair Davenport defeats Thea Hail in an Iron Survivor qualifying match in 4:08.
This was certainly a match, mostly one to be a backdrop to the Chase U saga. Thea is upset by the Chase U drama while Jacy is less concerned.
Lyra Valkyria defeats Xia Li in a NXT Women’s Title match in 9:40. This match had a false start earlier in the show with Xia attacking during Lyra’s entrance, but backstage Lyra demanded the match would still be happening. This was also a good showing for Xia, who has gotten more televised in-ring time this week than probably the rest of her 2023 combined. Even with the pre-match attack, the result was never in doubt but that’s okay.
Other Developments:
It was largely an in-ring development this week. We did get an Arianna Grace video with her telling the fans to “please… shower… WITH SOAP” which I have tweeted approximately 834 times thus far. I think she’s my new favorite. We had a little Meta-Four development as Otis continues to show his interest in Lash Legend.
The Final Score:
While still not the women’s showcase show it was a month ago, NXT continues fitting the women in. The Iron Survivor qualifiers for both genders kind of hurt having room for other more interesting stories. It is good to see Lyra finally defend her belt and I’m hoping we get some interest building in her reign going forward. I’m giving it a C.
Wednesday - AEW Dynamite
Stories going into AEW programming: As Full Gear passes, we reset the division a bit as Kris Statlander loses the TBS Title to Julia Hart and Shida loses the Women’s World Title to Timeless Toni Storm. On the TBS Title side, Stat has had a complicated friendship with Skye Blue, who has a poisoned eye thanks to Julia’s mist, and Willow Nightingale. Timeless Toni has met Mariah May, superfan. Ruby Soho has Angelo Parker chasing after her because why not. There’s also a devil. The Devil, my notes show. It could be a woman.
This Week’s Match: As usual, one match goes to the women on Dynamite featuring three women for 8:32. In comparison, there were four other matches with twelve other men. The odds aren’t great for this to improve anytime soon due to the Continental Classic (or in general because AEW). The match in question:
Skye Blue defeated Anna Jay and Ruby Soho in 8:32. The results were never really in question considering one talent is on the shows regularly winning and was in her hometown compared to the others who aren’t. This match was largely more to push the Soho/Parker deal which would be less disappointing if there were other women’s matches on the show.
Other Developments:
The lead-in for the match was Timeless Toni accepting her new title, awards show style, on stage. As usual, she nailed it. Unfortunately her acceptance was quickly interrupted by Skye’s entrance.
The Final Score:
This was a Dynamite like most other Dynamites where the men’s stuff is kind and oh, there’s also a women’s segment. I appreciate the attempt at a story for Ruby, as cringey as it has been so far, but I wish it wasn’t a distraction to the eight minutes of in-ring time the ladies get. A “C” grade as usual.
Thursday - Impact Wrestling
Stories going into Impact: Trinity is continuing her reign as champion, defeating her friend Sonny Kiss last week. Jordynne Grace won a “Call Your Shot” match and chose Trinity’s title at the next PPV. MK-Ultra are continuing their dominant run as tag team champions.
It’s Thanksgiving and Impact is phoning it in with a clip show. There is one new match but it only involves women in a management role. We do see a 2017 match involving Allie and Laurel Von Ness. We see Gail Kim and others through other clips as well.
The Final Score:
With only one new match that doesn’t involve women, there’s not much to score here. We do see moments with some of the Knockouts of the past, but Impact gets an “Incomplete” for not doing anything this week.
Thursday - ROH on Honor Club
Stories going into ROH: Athena continues her dominant reign as the company’s champion. Billie Starkz has stepped up and finally picked up an edge as Athena’s Minion-in-Training. There are no clear challengers going into the ROH Final Battle show in December. Maria Kanellis-Bennett has shown interest, kinda, in managing a few of the show’s women.
A side-story going into this show: a day before airing, the company announced only on social media that Ronda Rousey was showing up to wrestle in a match on the show. The match was taped a week earlier but outside of 24 hours of social media promotion, the company did not promote this including on Dynamite, where you can find ROH champs at any time. You know, the first appearance of a multi-time champion, UFC legend and notable celebrity.
This Week’s Matches: Only two of the seven matches this week included women for a combined 21 minutes. Eight women competed versus eighteen men. The matches included:
Willow Nightingale defeated Diamente, Kiera Hogan and Trish Adora in a Four Corner Survival Match in 5:01. Quite the foursome of talent here and it continues to befuddle me that Willow keeps getting bounced to ROH while Trish can’t seem to escape it. This is a good match though and I recommend it!
Ronda Rousey & Marina Shafir defeated Athena & Billie Starkz in 16:00. I really loved this match and it is worth seeking out. Ronda can go with the right motivation and opponents and Athena and Billie are certainly that. This was one of Ronda’s best matches of the recent years and there isn’t a bad Athena match. This being stuck largely unadvertised behind the ROH paywall is crazy to me. Of note, they did not pay the licensing fee to use “Bad Reputation” on the broadcast but it did play in-arena. This was also set up on-air with Marina making a call after Athena & Billie issued an open challenge.
Other Developments:
None.
The Final Score:
While the show feels a bit aimless (welcome to ROH on HonorClub), it did give us two quality women’s matches. We had the main event tag match which was great and felt important, despite not being advertised, as well as four women going at it in a good four-way. While debating between an A and a B, I’m leaning to B just because this was the kind of show and main event that should have been advertised as a whole selling point of HonorClub - which literally has one new show each week - instead of getting 24 hours notice on social media.
Thursday - WWE Main Event
The women did not see action on Main Event, which is a bummer but also a blessing as the whole division was on Raw instead. We see plenty of clips of what’s going on with the women velveteen WarGames and Becky/Xia.
The Final Score:
This gets incomplete as well. With no action, at least there were lots of highlights. The four of us who watch Main Event will be here again next week.
Friday - NXT Level Up
Level Up also went the clip show route this week, likely because two episodes of NXT were taped. Two of the four matches shown were of the ladies, as we saw Ivy Nile defeat Lola Vice from April and Wendy Choo top Kelani Jordan in May. I miss Wendy. No other developments, as is usual for Level Up.
The Final Score:
For a clip show, it gets a solid B. Four matches shown and two were women.
Friday - WWE Friday Night SmackDown
Stories going into SmackDown: Women’s Champion Iyo Sky and her cohorts Bayley and Dakota Kai have recently expanded Damage Ctrl, adding Asuka and Kairi Sane. Decisions are being made without the influence of Bayley, who has been the figurehead of the group since its inception. The four active members (Dakota is injured) are heading into WarGames against Charlotte, Bianca Belair, Shotzi and Rae’s Becky Lynch. Zelina Vega continues to be torn in the recent drama in the LWO. With Judgment Day as tag champions, there is always a chance Rhea Ripley will appear.
This Week’s Match: One of four matches involved women, with four women competing in 11:44. However, that match closed the show and was set up by developments throughout the show which we’ll discuss here.
The show starts with the face team of women in the ring excited for WarGames. Bayley appears to taunt them, reminding Becky and Charlotte of their issues and setting up a tag team main event. Then, throughout the show, we see the team trying to get on the same page (including a really great Shotzi/Charlotte backstage segment). All of this leads into:
Bayley and Asuka defeated Becky Lynch and Charlotte in 11:44. A good tag match - look at the competitors - that ends in further dissection for Charlotte and Becky. The seeds of doubt are further planted and it’s just great storytelling.
Other Developments:
Rhea appears with Judgment Day but doesn’t do much storyline-wise.
The Final Score:
A solid “A” for SmackDown. Opening segment, main event match and a story involving multiple women woven throughout the show between the two sides. SmackDown has been a home run for a few weeks for women’s division development and this week is no exception.
Saturday - AEW Collision
This Week’s Match:
Going head-to-head with Survivor Series and with the Continental Classic going, there weren’t high expectations for the women’s side. That’s good, because one of seven matches involved women for 5:09. Two women competed versus seventeen men. Yeah, that’s about right for Collision. That match:
TBS Champion Julia Hart successfully defended her title in a House Rules match against Lady Frost in 5:09. First, I am very on record as a Frost fan… but why is she getting a title shot when she hasn’t appeared on AEW TV in months and rarely even gets wins in ROH? The House Rule chosen by Julia tonight is no count out. It isn’t a bad match, just a random one.
Other Developments:
There are no other mentions of the women’s division on this episode.
The Final Score:
I’m usually disappointed by Collision’s two hours and one women’s match, but more so this week when they only get five minutes. Some would use the excuse of Rampage airing directly before it and also having a women’s match, but there can still be room for more than five minutes of women in a two hour program. Not to the discredit of the two women who competed, but this one gets a “D.”
Saturday - AEW Rampage
This Week’s Match:
We get one match this week - the usual - as two women compete for a total of 9:41. In comparison, there were three men’s matches with eight men competing. The match:
Kris Statlander defeated Diamente in 9:41. Kris gets a rebound win after losing her title at Full Gear. It’s good to see Diamente escape ROH and she looks good here. Her partner Mercedes Martinez appears to help attack Kris after the match with Willow making the save.
Other Developments:
None
The Final Score: I’m giving this a B-. The women get a little time, Kris and Willow continue their friendship and we get two women usually stuck on ROH appearing and setting up a future match. Not bad for Rampage.
Saturday - WWE Survivor Series: WarGames
It’s one of the big five events here, with this being the 37th edition of the show. The show has two advertised WarGames main events including one with women and a women’s title match heavily advertised as well.
This Week’s Matches:
Two of the five matches on the show involve women for a combined 43 minutes. Ten women compete versus fourteen men. Matches include:
Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Shotzi and Bianca Belair defeat Bayley, Iyo Sky, Kairi Sane and Asuka in a WarGames match in 33:36. Social media mileage was mixed on this match but I loved it of course. I think it started a bit slow but it really got into a great groove. The crowd was also into it and not chanting for CM Punk, which was nice. Lots of lazy spots here including Iyo’s trash can dive. This was a good showcase for Shotzi who especially excels in matches where she can do wild things. Becky and Charlotte ruinite fully while things continue to be questionable for Damage Ctrl. Bayley saves all her partners from pins but none of them save her in the end. It was reported by SRS that this was the most-watched non-Mania opening match on Peacock this year.
Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley successfully defends against Zoey Stark in 9:15. I also enjoyed this but I has heavy biases towards both women. There were a few rough spots, but it was a good showcase for Rhea and Zoey looked good in defeat.
Other Developments:
Chelsea Green and Piper Niven attend a party that serves Ruffles.
The Final Score:
It’s an A for me. The women shined in the first 40 minutes of the show, setting the pace in my match of the night. Rhea and Zoey also had a good match. A good showing for an event that once squeezed the entire women’s division into five minute elimination matches.
The Week’s Scoreboard:
Across 11.5 hours of television including NXT programming, WWE presented approximately 102 minutes of women’s in-ring action across eight matches (and an additional replay of two matches on Level Up). 26 different women wrestled on WWE TV this week, with Becky Lynch doing it three times. Xia Li, Bayley, and Charlotte all wrestled twice.
Across 7 hours of television including ROH programming, AEW presented five matches with approximately 41 minutes of action. Fourteen different women had televised matches this week with Diamente having two of them.
Impact presented two hours of television this week which was a clip show. No new women’s matches were shown, but one older mixed tag match including two former Impact talents was aired.