We are back for another instalment of AEW Dark and Dynamite. Both shows were a vast improvement on last week’s offering and featured some of the best women’s wrestling the company have put on so far. Dark was back to it’s Tuesday night slot on YouTube and had another impressive debut as Kris Statlander teamed with Big Swole to face Britt Baker and AEW Women’s Champion, Riho. Dynamite placed the focus the next challenger for Riho’s title as number 1 in the ranking, Britt Baker went head to head with number 2 ranked, Shida.
Who were the winners and losers of these two shows? Let’s find out.
AEW: Dark 19/11/19
AEW Dark continues to showcase the women, albeit in random ass tag matches but at least it gives them the platform on which to build the division upon. This week we served up a treat as four of the division’s best faced off in tag team action.
Winner: Kris Statlander
This was Statlander’s AEW debut and she proved just why she is one of the hottest names on indies right now. Statlander exuded confidence and charisma from the get-go and looked far more educated, in-ring wise than her three-year career would have you believe.
She had strong showings with both Baker and Riho and looked right at home within the AEW ring. There is no word as of yet regarding any contract talks but AEW would be wise to snap her up and strap the rocket to her ASAP.
Loser: Riho
Let me be clear that Riho herself isn’t the loser, but rather the fact that the AEW women’s champion was on Dark. I guarantee you’ll never ever see the AEW World Champion on this show! Dark is not the place where you show off the division’s top two stars, especially in Riho’s case, after the Full Gear PPV match with such emotional proportions, further proving that AEW don’t know what they are doing with the women’s division.
AEW: Dynamite 11/20/19
On Dynamite, we saw a match that featured top-tier talent with genuine stakes attached to it. Going into the match Britt Baker was at the top of the AEW Rankings with a 3-1 record with Shida, a close second with a 2-1 record. The outcome of this match would have serious effect on the top of the women’s ranking system.
Winner: Shida
Not only did she win the match to go top of the ranking system, but Shida once again proved just how goddam good she is. She overpowered and outclassed Britt Baker in this match en route to become next in line to challenge Riho for the title. Shida is extremely popular with the crowd, way more over than the majority of the roster and one of the only performers that AEW has used properly by showcasing her charisma, in-ring talent and crowd-pleasing offence. Now they need to go one step further and make her the next AEW Women’s Champion.
Loser: Britt Baker
I don’t know what is but something just isn’t clicking with Britt Baker, which is a shame because she has improved. However, with the new wave of talent such as Big Swole, Shanna and hopefully Kris Statlander coming into the division, Britt is going to have her work cut out if she going to keep up.
Final Thoughts:
A much better showing than last week and we finally got a match on Dynamite that meant something in Shida vs Baker. However, the division still feels lost. Riho just isn’t working as champion and hasn’t been seen on the main show for two weeks now, while Baker hasn’t really caught on as the face of the division either. Hopefully, with Shida now topping the ranking she goes on to face and defeat Riho and give the division the boost it desperately needs.
What did you think of AEW this week and would you like to see Shida as the new AEW Women’s Champion? Let us know below and as always stay tuned to Diva Dirt for all of your AEW news and updates.
