Tony Khan is listening to the criticism regarding AEW’s women's division.
At AEW Full Gear 2020, there were two Women's Championship matches for two separate promotions. On The Buy-In, Serena Deeb successfully defended her NWA Women's World Championship against Allysin Kay. Then on the main card, Hikaru Shida successfully defended her AEW Women’s Championship against Nyla Rose.
Speaking during the media scrums following the event on November 7, AEW president Tony Khan opened up regarding the working relationship between he and Billy Corgan of the NWA and criticism of the booking of the women's division, revealing that the build to the Shida/Rose match was hampered by Vickie Guerrero's inability to attend tapings in person for some time.
“Serena Deeb, who is a full-time AEW wrestler and a really important part of our roster, is the NWA Women's World Champion. So, I mean, there was definitely a relationship and there's definitely a good chance you're going to see the NWA title defended here but the AEW Women's title is still our top priority. We have a great Women's Champion in Hikaru Shida. She's defended the title against many top contenders and I think there's still some good matches in front of her. But I thought the match she had tonight was excellent.”
He continued, “I understand what people are saying about the division. I should have probably done better to put some of Nyla's story when she said she wasn't going to wrestle again and Vickie said she was going to wrestle again until they got the title shot. I should have used that on Dynamite more. I watch Dark very closely and work on Dark very closely and book Dark, so I'm obviously watching Dark, but I forget sometimes that there's about half the audience watches Dark for us, typically.
“I probably should have put that on and then, to be honest, the time in the real world, Vickie was not able to come those weeks, not because she was sick, but because it was a conflict that she always had. So I gave her that time off and I probably should have made it clear… There's a lot to putting the shows together.”
Tony would reiterate that the All Elite Wrestling Women's Championship is their top priority but that Billy Corgan has input on all matches regarding the NWA Women's Championship.
Serena Deeb would also comment on the partnership between the National Wrestling Alliance and All Elite Wrestling during the media scrum. You can read her comments at this link.
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