Ruby Soho Adds Star Power, But AEW's Women Division Isn't Magically Fixed

The debut of Ruby Soho Sunday at All Out sparked excitement for fans, both for the debut of a talented performer and for All Elite Wrestling's women's division.

Friends and fellow wrestlers expressed their excitement for Soho across social media, and the fans inside the NOW Arena in suburban Chicago erupted as she made her way to the ring, eventually winning the Casino Battle Royale and earning a future shot at the AEW Women's Championship.

While Soho's debut generated excitement and provided the division with a spark, it certainly did not fix what has been a glaring weakness for the company.

What's The Problem?

Since its inception, AEW has had no problem adding talent to its women's roster. Stars such as Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb have jumped ship from other promotions. Kris Statlander, Big Swole and Tay Conti signed on the dotted line, chasing stardom. Young talent such as Leyla Hirsch, Red Velvet, Anna Jay and Jade Cargill are all stars of the future.

The problem is that AEW has amassed all of this talent without putting effort into presenting them as stars.

Only women's champion Dr. Britt Baker has been treated as such. She was given considerable promo time to flesh out her character and create a connection with fans. Her own refusal to fade into the background while recovering from an injury certainly helped. 

Beyond that, and dating back to former champion Hikaru Shida's reign, wrestlers are merely cycled in and out of title matches with no rhyme or reason. They are not developed, nor is the audience given any real reason to get behind them. They are just there, the latest threat to the title.

There is rarely a story to be told, and if there is, it is short-lived or one-dimensional.

A challenger steps up to face the champion, gets smacked down and returns to the rest of the pack. It is a pattern that continues until those in power find someone they want to unseat the champion. Then, with a new titleholder at the forefront, the pattern resumes.

When AEW does attempt a secondary feud, it buries it on AEW Dark or Dark Elevation, two shows with their online audiences, yes, but clearly not as important as Dynamite and Rampage.

This week on Dark, Big Swole and Diamante settled their rivalry in a Three Strikes Match. Imagine what it would have meant for strengthening the depth of the division had there been a single recap video on either of the two main shows hyping the match or, better yet, if that match had earned serious screen time on the flagship.

Instead, the "hype" came in the form of Excalibur nonchalantly mentioning Sunday during the pay-per-view that Swole and Diamante had been feuding, something the audience at large would have had no idea of unless they regularly tuned into AEW's YouTube exclusive show.

And Tony Khan is aware that half of his audience isn't tuning into that show, as evidenced by his words during the media scrum following Full Gear in November 2020.

"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. If we do, typically, if we do in the overall audience 800,000 to a million on a good week, 400 plus in the demo, I think Dark is probably about half that. And I think it's a good audience we've built and a great show, but I probably should have put that on" he said in regards to criticism over the creative behind Nyla Rose vs. Hikaru Shida.

The rest of the buzz was created by the performers themselves, left to pick up the slack. 

The lack of development of the personas, and real exposure for the loaded roster on television, has stunted its growth. At a time when the company is riding a wave of momentum on the wealth of free agents who have shunned WWE and signed with AEW, it is disheartening to see the company struggle so mightily to present a women's division that is both engaging and utilizes the wealth of talent.

The good news is that it can be fixed. Not magically or by creating buzz with another new signee, but merely by paying the women's division a little attention.

The Solution

AEW has its heel champion it can build around. Baker is clearly a star on the level of some of the company's top men's competitors. She is the key to the future success of the division. Beyond her, though, is where the company needs to put in the work.

Give the women the mic. Let them talk. Let Statlander get over her alien gimmick. Let Swole show the world her charisma. Let Jay and Conti explain their friendship. These are all tiny elements that can be recorded backstage prior to a live episode of Dynamite and slid into the show that will do more to help them connect with audiences than simply trotting them out to wrestle just because.

Book them in backstage vignettes more consistently. Give fans a reason to care about why Leyla Hirsch is fighting Penelope Ford on this week's show. Use those vignettes to hype Dark or Dark Elevation and make feud-ending matches like Swole vs. Diamante mean something.

Hell, let the audience know the two of them are feuding in the first place.

Dynamite is generating around a million viewers each week. Use that platform to let the audience know that there is talent on the roster who they may not see every week but should know their characters and motivations.

Focus on feuds that exist for more reason than Wrestler A attacked Wrestler B backstage. "Why did they attack? Who knows, but next week, they settle their differences!"

That's lazy booking that helps no one.

There will be those who say the talent is constantly being developed and that there is only so much room on television for so much talent. There are now three hours of weekly, major television time for AEW. Between Dynamite and Rampage, there is absolutely no reason that more than one women's feud cannot be presented, nor is there an excuse for talent to not be more regularly utilized.

AEW will look to capitalize on Soho's buzzworthy debut Wednesday night on Dynamite when she battles Jamie Hayter, the muscle for Baker, in what is the first step toward her championship opportunity. That is fine. It makes sense that the company would want to try to highlight one of its big signees, and Ruby has absolutely earned the attention after an up-and-down run with WWE.

What that does is also shine a big ol' spotlight on the rest of the roster and how they were suddenly jumped in favor of Soho. Rosa, who had a ton of momentum on her side just six months ago, fades into the background. 

The company has done a solid job of late in pushing The Bunny and her feud with Conti and Jay. More of that, less of the inconsistent appearances with other talents, and the division will prosper.

The key is getting those in power to be fully behind the division. It is apparent that has not always been the case. Until that happens, the same issues will present themselves and frustration among fans of women's wrestling, who expect better out of the hottest company in the sport, will continue to mount.