Women in Wrestling Weekly Roundup – December 10 to 16, 2023

It’s Tuesday, which means I’m wrapping up another week in women’s wrestling. This week, Ring of Honor goes into battle, NXT resets after Deadline and Impact… well, it must be another theme week.

Let’s jump in!

Monday – WWE Monday Night Raw

Stories going into Raw: Rhea Ripley continues her title reign, with Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark all showing interest. Maxxine Dupri is stepping up for a shot at Rhea. The women’s tag division is starting to show life under champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, with Katana Chance & Kayden Carter and Natalya & Tegan Nox showing interest.

Tonight’s Card:

Two of the six matches presented on Raw involved women for an approximate time of 4:30. Six women had matches in comparison to twelve men.

Rhea Ripley defeated Maxxine Dupri in 2:05. Yeah, this one was rough. To her credit, this was Maxxine’s sixth match ever and maybe she shouldn’t have been put in this position yet. Ivy Nile saves Maxxine from a worse fate post-match to set up a battle with Rhea and THAT could be fun.

Katana Chance & Kayden Carter defeated Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae in 2:25. Champs Chelsea and Piper were on commentary. This was another chance to show off the tag team undercard, but it’s hard to show how important they are in under three minutes.

Other Developments:

We get an in-ring segment with Becky Lynch and Nia Jax debating back and forth to set up their future match.

Final Score:

A major step back for the ladies this week. They received less than five minutes of in-ring action – on a THREE HOUR SHOW! – and even the backstage stuff was minimalized. I appreciate the continued build for the tag division as well as Becky-Nia, but this one was rough. It’s a D- for me.

Tuesday – NXT

Stories going into NXT: With her win at Deadline, Blair Davenport takes the spot of number one contender to NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria. Lola Vice has a title shot when she’s ready as well thanks to the Breakout tournament. Cora Jade returned at Deadline, attacking Lyra. Everybody wants Lyra! Izzi Dame showed up at Deadline as well to help Kiana James defeat Roxanne Perez.

Tonight’s Card:

Two of six matches tonight, including one mixed tag match, involved women for approximately 19:30 combined. Six women competed in comparison to twelve men.

Fallon Henley, Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs defeated Lash Legend, Noam Dar & Oro Mensah in 11:02. A second fun mixed match in as many weeks involving Meta-Four. The story here is Tiffany Stratton attacking Fallon Henley, pushing their issues forward.

Blair Davenport & Cora Jade defeated Lyra Valkyria & Nikkita Lyons in 8:28. This one felt a bit off for me. Tatum Paxley appeared to do her stare towards Lyra, then after the match came into the ring and awkwardly held her. We’re going Mickie James here and I’m for it.

Other Developments:

Cora had the opening promo, which set up the main event tag match. Lyra finds a picture of herself and Becky Lynch in her locker, but with Tatum’s face over Becky’s. Listen, sometimes we get like this but we use Rhea Ripley photos. Uh, so I’m told. Tiffany puts down Fallon backstage, saying usually she’s the kind of woman who serves her. Thea Hail shows interest in new Chase U recruit Riley Osborne.

Final Score:

A mixed bag here. I do like that seemingly everyone is running for Lyra and there are several stories stemming off of her, compared to a few weeks ago where it seemed she had nothing happening. The in-ring stuff was fine this week. It’s a C.

Wednesday – AEW Dynamite

Stories going into AEW programming: Timeless Toni Storm continues her reign as Superfan Mariah May prepares for her debut at an unnamed future date. Riho returned last week to attack Toni. Julia Hart holds onto the TBS Title with Abadon most recently showing interest. Kris Statlander backed up Willow Nightingale in a fight with Mercedes Martinez, who had backup of her own in the name of Diamente.

Tonight’s Card:

One of six matches involved women for a total of 8:31. Two women competed in comparison to ten men.

Riho defeated Ruby Soho in 8:31. A good return match for Riho, but it was a bit overshadowed by Toni Storm on commentary. Toni is NAILING this, but her character is going to overshadow things.

Other Developments:

Zero.

Final Score:

Winter is coming, but the excitement as usual for the women’s division was not on Dynamite. As it has, the tournament having four matches takes up most of the show which throws the women into their usual ten minutes or less block. The lack of women’s division development anywhere out of the one match segment hurt. It’s a C- for me.

Thursday – Impact Wrestling

Stories going into Impact: Knockouts Champion Trinity and her upcoming challenger Jordynne Grace successfully coexisted at Final Resolution and can now focus on their match. Deonna Purrazzo and Gisele Shaw did not coexist, with Shaw attacking Deonna (who is now a free agent and not on the Impact roster). MK-Ultra continue their reign as tag champs.

This week, Impact continues its chain of theme episodes of the show as we slowly wait for the TNA rebirth in January. This week is Hidden Gems, with matches that haven’t aired in 2022. For counting purposes, I’m counting these as new matches as we haven’t seen them.

Tonight’s Card:

Two of six matches involved women for approximately 14:30 combined. Six women competed in comparison to ten men.

Killer Kelly & Masha Slamovich defeated Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans in 7:23. This was from June and before MK-Ultra was officially a thing. I’m a fan of all four so I enjoyed this, and it’s a good sign that the tag division Impact should be focused on more.

Deonna Purrazzo defeated Taylor Wilde in 7:00 in an Impact Knockouts World title match. This was from the next day in June. Maybe the best match of this show and an actual gem.

Other Developments:

It’s a clip show, my friends.

Final Score:

I’m ready for Impact to get back to actual shows, but I enjoyed this one. Both women’s matches were given time and highlighted the talent and I can’t complain too much. It’s a B.

Thursday – ROH on HonorClub

Stories going into ROH: Long-reigning champion Athena has long been teaching Billie Starkz to be her Minion. Billie has finally had enough of Athena’s nefarious ways, attacking her and challenging her for the title at the upcoming Final Battle. Maria Kanellis has a group, with Leyla Hirsch and Rachel Ellering teetering on being on her side.

Tonight’s Card:

Three of eleven matches featured women for approximately 11:30 combined. Six women competed in comparison to thirty men.

Leyla Hirsch defeated Katrina Creed in 4:15. Not much to it, but the crowd was feeling Creed (can you take me higher?) which was nice. Maria helped Leyla a bit to advance their very slowly advancing story.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Rachael Ellering in 6:47. It’s good to see Taya, even if she got a pretty dominant win in this rare appearance versus ROH regular Ellering.

Athena defeated Roxanne in 0:32. Quick, dominant win for Athena in the main event spot but this is just for the post-match brawl with Billie Starkz. Athena gets a broken nose during the brawl.

Other Developments:

Maria makes fun of Rachael for losing. Leyla tries to cheer Rachael up. Shrug.

Final Score:

The Athena-Billie build is what matters, but there isn’t much happening under them. The Maria Show is certainly going in circles, which to be fair is how everything on ROH goes. The women’s in-ring time continues to shrink on the HonorClub show while dozens of men get longer multi-man matches. They’ll do better with the Final Battle score, but I’m giving this one a D.

Thursday – WWE Main Event

Tonight’s Card:

One of two matches tonight include women for a total of 5:46. Two women and two men complete.

Natalya defeated Elektra Lopez in 5:46. This is the second week straight on Main Event for Elektra. As you Main Event watchers know, lots of going through the motions and getting moves in here. Not mad at it though.

Final Score:

The usual Main Event. B.

Friday – AEW Rampage

Tonight’s Card:

One of four matches included women for a total of 7:32. Two women competed in comparison to sixteen men.

Anna Jay defeated Red Velvet in 7:32. Two talents that some weeks AEW seems to want to push, but then they disappear for a few weeks. It’s hard to get over with constant start-and-stop pushes. This was a pretty good match!

Other Developments:

Saraya yells at Ruby Soho for losing to Riho on Wednesday. Soho tells her to go try to beat her.

Final Score:

You’ll be shocked to learn that there was not much happening with the women on Rampage. A thrown-together match between two women with zero story, a very brief backstage segment… I’m giving it a C-z

Friday – NXT Level Up

Tonight’s Card:

One of three matches involved women for a total of 4:00. Two women competed in comparison to six men.

Valentina Feroz defeated Amari Miller in 4:30. This was Amari’s first match since January 10 after spending most of the year recovering from injury. She looked good in this match.

Final Score:

Three matches instead of the usual two skews the usual score, especially with the men getting twelve minutes compared to the women’s four minutes. It’s hard to get mad at this show though. B-.

Friday – ROH Final Battle

Tonight’s Card:

Including the Zero Hour kickoff show, four of the fifteen matches presented included women for approximately 34 minutes of the 5+ hour event. Six women competed compared to 41 men. No, that’s not a typo.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Jazmin Allure in 4:30. The opening match of Zero Hour. While new to ROH, Jazmin was a regular for a while on Dark and Dark Elevation in 2020-21. Being on ROH 2023 is a lot like being a Dark regular. A good win for Taya, who is maybe building momentum in the ROH women’s division.

Nyla Rose defeated Vertvixen in 2:39. A good squash for Nyla. They aren’t doing anything with her in AEW – though they definitely should be – so hopefully this is a build towards something in ROH.

Athena defeated Billie Starkz in a ROH Women’s Title match in 28:21. A hell of a capper for Athena’s 2023 and somewhat of an unexpected result. A really good match and our main event of the night. Billie and Athena reunite after the match. With nobody built up under them and back on the same side, it’s a wonder what happens next.

Final Score:

Main event Athena and Billie is going to get this show a decent grade. That said, look at the numbers: six women, 41 men. A lot of people said ROH was the show for the women in the AEW grouping earlier in the year and they do get more time here, but it still pales in comparison. Still, almost thirty minutes in the main event spot for the women. That’s important. B.

Friday – WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Stories going into SmackDown: Damage Ctrl’s Iyo Sky continues reigning over the division as the fivesome cause chaos. Bayley seems to be on the outside of the group with the others clicking. Bianca Belair is making a push for Iyo’s title but has to get through the rest of the group first. Charlotte Flair looks to be on the shelf due to an injury in her match last week against Asuka. After being taken out by them in the lead to Survivor Series, Michin and Zelina Vega have formed a duo.

Tonight’s Card:

One of four matches included women for a total of 6:14. Four women saw action compared to six men.

Asuka & Kairi Sane defeated Michin & Zelina Vega in 6:14. A good match that sets up the return of the Kabuki Warriors to the tag division. Zelina and Melina looked good here.

Other Developments:

The biggest was a backstage promo led by Bayley, which seemed to hit reset a bit on Damage Ctrl as a United force. She introduces herself as a Rumble entrant with plans on winning and taking Rhea’s title, the Kabuki Warriors as the next tag team champions and Dakota Kai as the mastermind.

Final Score:

With Roman returning, it was pretty clear the women were getting pushed from their show opening and/or closing spots. I would’ve liked them spread a little more through the show at least, but I like that there’s a solid plan for Damage Ctrl across several divisions. I just wish there was more from the other women. C.

Saturday – AEW Collision

Tonight’s Card:

Two of the seven matches tonight included women for approximately twelve minutes. Wait, was that TWO MATCHES? On Collision? What happened to Tony Khan??? Anyway, six women saw action compared to ten men.

Abadon defeated Jazmin Allure. A squash for Abadon, who is confronted by Julia Hart. Abadon gets the advantage of her, only to be attacked by Skye Blue. Thunder Rosa, who had been doing Spanish commentary for the show, makes the save and we have some story cooking here.

Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander defeated Mercedes Martinez & Diamente in a street fight in 10:33. This was your nasty brawl with thumbtacks and glass and things I’m not usually into, but I think I enjoyed it. It’s good to see Mercedes and Diamente get a continued showing on Collision and I’d love that to continue and them not disappear back to ROH after this.

Other Developments:

Toni Storm and Mariah May talk backstage, with Toni planning to watch Riho and Saraya face off to find out who her Worlds End opponent is. Mariah is working on getting her wrestlers license and wants Toni to commentate her first match.

Final Score:

I’m as shocked as you, but this is an A- of a show for Collision. Ten women – ten! – for spotlights throughout the show. There was a spotlight tag match and a second match that built up several women. This was… good. Very intrigued to see if this carries over to Dynamite.

Week in Review:

WWE: Over the course of six hours of television for the WWE-branded product, the company presented four matches for the women for approximately 16:30. In comparison, there were eight men’s matches.

NXT: Over the course of 2.5 hours of NXT-branded shows, the company presented three women’s matches for approximately 23:30. In comparison, there were six men’s matches.

Combined WWE/NXT: Over 8.5 hours of TV, seven women’s matches for 40 minutes compared to fourteen men’s matches.

AEW: Over the course of five hours of AEW-branded television, the company presented four women’s matches for a combined 27:30 approximately. In comparison, there were thirteen men’s matches.

ROH: Over the course of approximately seven hours of ROH-branded shows, the company presented six women’s matches for a combined 45:30. In comparison, there were nineteen men’s matches.

Combined AEW/ROH: over 12 hours of television, the women had ten matches for approximately 73 minutes compared to the men’s 32 matches. Jasmin Allure, Taya Valkyrie and Athena all had two matches.

Impact: Over the course of two hours of programming, the company presented two women’s matches from earlier in 2023 for a combined 14:30. In comparison, we saw four men’s matches.