Kenny Omega talks AEW Women's Division.
As one of the four Co-Executive Vice Presidents in All Elite Wrestling, Kenny Omega has taken on the role of overseeing the AEW women's division. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Omega discussed his role in bringing Joshi talent to AEW.
"We have talent from all corners of the globe. One of my main focuses from the beginning is, I wanted to show some of the Joshi talents from Japan that haven't had the opportunity to be seen on a global scale. There hasn't been much exposure of Stardom on a worldwide scale, but people know who they are, mainly due to Kairi Sane and Io Shirai. Since their NXT debuts, people have dug a little deeper and gone back to the roots and seen what Stardom is all about. I'm sure they've gained fans through that, but there are other styles of Joshi wrestling and other talent that people haven't seen, that don't wrestle for Stardom. These are the people I want to introduce to the world," he said.
"That's what I'm trying to shoulder and the responsibility I want to take. Not only show the kind of style that someone like Io has shown the NXT Universe, which is fantastic wrestling and great high-flying and everything that makes exciting wrestling. But it's not the be-all, end-all because there are all sorts of flavors of wrestling. I want to be the one, as best as I can, to show the variety in that. 2020 is going to be a very exciting year because we have a lot more names jumping on board, and I hope once we increase our talent pool, people will be excited, and we'll set the stage for hopefully a number of great performances that people can see."
While Omega is obviously high on the division he helps run, fans have quickly pointed out that the women's division is often overlooked on AEW Dynamite. When asked about why the division doesn't get as much time as the men's division, Omega placed some blame on himself while also pointing to a lack of time.
"I want the women to have the largest stage possible on Dynamite and Dark. I'm fighting for it every week for them to have more time," stated Omega. "'Cut mine, I don't care.' When you have such a focus on the (tag team title) tournament, which took up so much time on each episode, it was two to one titles. I have to put blame on myself because I had the angle with [Jon] Moxley as well. At the end of the day, there's only so much time in an episode. It's almost amazing how fast it gets eaten up. We haven't been able to focus on women as much as I'd like. Some of it has been availability. We have girls signed and hopping on board. I hate to say 'wait til 2020,' but I can safely say in 2020 there are going to be interesting and exciting signings that will shake up the division. As soon as we have a women's tag division, that will balance (things) more and give the women more of a stage. Once there's that 'thing' for them to fight for, you're going to see more time devoted per episode for the women."
It is unknown if or when AEW could add women's tag team titles, which Omega hinted at. Brandi Rhodes also hinted at wanting a women's tag team division in a recent interview. You can view her comments by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Wrestling Observer Radio with a h/t to Fightful for the transcription.
