Seven Days in Women’s Wrestling: January 14-20, 2024

It’s been another seven days in the wrestling world. We’re on the road to the Rumble, trying to find the road to the Ring of Honor Women’s TV Title, and back in the world of TNA.

Let’s see what the women were up to last week!

Monday – WWE Monday Night Raw

Tonight’s Card: Two of the seven matches presented included women for approximately nine minutes of in-ring time. Eight women saw action in comparison to fourteen men.

Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell defeated Chelsea Green & Piper Niven in 3:30. This happened! Not much to it, but glad to see Candice & Indi not only getting a match but actually win it. I don’t like Chelsea & Piper continuing to lose.

Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark defeated Tegan Nox & Natalya in 5:23. Another women’s tag division undercard match. I like Shayna & Zoey getting a win.

Other Developments:

Rhea Ripley and Becky Lynch talk in ring, with Becky saying she has personal doubts she can beat Rhea. This is setting up the big one and it worked.

Final Score: We should be doing more with the women than cramming eight of them into two matches, nine minutes total of a three hour show. The Rhea/Becky advancement is stellar, but the others on the show just feel like they’re spinning in places in the tag division. It’s good they HAVE a tag division, but it’s suffering from wins and losses being traded. Either way, we can do better. It’s a C-.

Tuesday: WWE NXT

Tonight’s Card: Three of seven matches involved women for approximately 27 minutes of in-ring time. 21 different women saw in-ring action compared to 12 men. Note: Cagematch counts the battle royal and the four-way as two separate matches and who am I to argue with Cagematch?

Lyra Valkyria & Tatum Paxley defeated Elektra Lopez & Lola Vice in 4:03. We’re mostly riding the waves of Tatum’s Lyra obsession here, with Tatum replicating Lyra’s gear and look. All I’m saying is don’t judge me if I look like Rhea Ripley one day. Elektra causes Lola to get pinned, which surely won’t end well.

Fallon Henley, Kelani Jordan, Kiana James and Roxanne Perez are the final four of the #1 Contenders Battle Royal in 17:35. The final four move into a Fatal 4-Way to determine the #1 Contender. Tatum, Lola and Elektra were in the match as well as Adriana Rizzo, Arianna Grace, Blair Davenport, Brinley Reece, Gigi Dolin, Izzi Dame, Jaida Parker, Jakara Jackson, Karmen Petrovic, Lash Legend, Stevie Turner, Thea Hail and Wren Sinclair. Very much a battle royal, but one that shows off how deep the NXT women’s roster is and fostered numerous stories outside of the title picture. Of note, Lola turns on Elektra and eliminates her. And then the final four move into…

Roxanne Perez defeats Kelani Jordan, Fallon Henley and Kiana James in a #1 Contender’s Fatal 4-Way Match in 5:07. None of them were a bad choice but Roxi is a safe, good choice. I could almost see Tatum accidentally costing Lyra the title.

Other Developments: Arianna Grace gives an absolutely great speech backstage while the rest of the women wander off. She’s going to do something really funny and special on the main roster one day. The women of Chase U have done something mysterious to help save the school. Zelina Vega appears to support the LWO in their Dusty Classic match. We see Cora Jade suffering a torn ACL, which puts her out for about a year.

Final Score: You know it’s an A, but not just because they featured that many women in a two hour program. There are multiple stories flowing through the title program with numerous other stories with the women outside of it. When NXT gives the women time, it’s the best thing they do.

Wednesday – AEW Dynamite

Tonight’s Card: One of six matches involved women for approximately seven minutes. Two women saw action compared to eighteen men.

Deonna Purrazzo defeated Anna Jay in 6:41. Yes, we did lose a chunk of the match to commercial breaks as usual. What we saw was good and Deonna gets advancement while Anna cycles back into not advancing. Toni was on commentary and her usual hilarious self. She throws a shoe at Deonna after the match.

Other Developments: We don’t see the women outside of these eight minutes or so.

Final Score: For the 101st week in a row, we get one women’s match on Dynamite and this time it’s on the shorter side. There’s not even an all-encompassing tournament to blame it on now. The one women’s thing we do get has a big commercial break in the middle of it, as if it was a long match. Begging y’all to do better. D.

Thursday – ROH on HonorClub

Tonight’s Card: Three of nine matches tonight included women for approximately 13:30 of in-ring action. Twelve women saw action compared to sixteen men.

Nyla Rose defeated Erica Leigh in 2:41. A squash for the Native Beast but she needs a lot of those in the build to Athena.

Billie Starkz, Kiera Hogan, Queen Aminata and Lady Frost defeated Robyn Renegade, Leyla Hirsch, Rachael Ellering and Taya Valkyrie in 9:14. A lot of the women with hopes of reaching the Women’s TV Title here, though we have no idea when this title might start happening. Queen Aminata continues her roll through ROH while also not being able to win in AEW. They got time, so I’m not mad. Abadon also appears post-match to show their interest.

Diamente defeated Dream Girl Ellie in 1:27. A squash.

Other Developments:

Nyla Rose cut a hell of a backstage promo, showing more of that awesome personality that for some reason Tony hasn’t tried to make money on before now.

Final Score: There’s still room for more, but a lot of women had time tonight and others had squashes that will make them look good (if they aren’t losing tag matches in two weeks). We need some sort of info on how the TV Title is going to come into the picture outside of “it’s coming one day, here are ten women who would want it!” Still, a B.

Thursday – TNA Impact

Tonight’s Card: It’s the first TNA-branded Impact in years, and tonight one of five matches involved women for approximately five minutes. Two women competed in comparison to fourteen men.

Xia Brookside defeated Tasha Steelz in 5:07. A good match but one I don’t want to see either lose.

Other Developments: We get a video on the incoming Ash by Elegance. We also get recent Ultimate X winner Gisele Shaw being interrupted in promo by Gail Kim. Trinity confronts Jordynne Grace backstage and sets up a title rematch next week.

Final Grade: I’m excited for the building next week and future stories, but we needed some further in-ring stuff this week. Build that tag division! C.

Thursday – WWE Main Event

Tonight’s Card: Zero of two matches involved women, with four men competing and zero women.

Final Score: F.

Friday – AEW Rampage

Tonight’s Card: One of four matches involved women for approximately nine minutes of in-ring action. Two women competed in comparison to six men.

Kris Statlander defeated Queen Aminata in 8:47. Stokely is here to the chagrin of Kris. A good match and while I appreciate the shine Queen is getting, it’s giving “Skye Blue 2023” of being on the shows constantly but without the storyline of growth. Queen is just 0-4 within a month, excluding being 3-0 on ROH because that doesn’t get mentioned on AEW.

Other Developments: Ruby Soho chokes a smiling Harley Cameron to the delight of Saraya while Harley blames Anna Jay on the Harley/Angelo Parker kiss. Stokely is blamed for Willow Nightingale’s flight being canceled during a Kris interview.

Final Score: I appreciate the effort on the Outcasts story even if it is… not good. I also appreciate the in-ring time. I’m not bad at it. B.

Friday – WWE NXT Level Up

Tonight’s Card: One of three matches involved women for approximately two minutes. Two women saw action compared to six men.

Jacy Jayne defeated Carlee Bright in 2:09. A former cheerleader, this was Carlee’s eleventh match ever and first on TV. It was also her first under the name, previously going as Kennedy Cummins.

Final Score: A disappointing amount of time for the women this week, but we did have the entire rest of the division competing on the A-show this week. D but I get why.

Friday – WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Tonight’s Card: One of five matches involved women for approximately three minutes. Four women saw action compared to fourteen men.

Kayden Carter and Katana Chance defeated Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre in a WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles match in 2:57. All three minutes were full of action, but I would’ve liked to see a rare appearance by your tag champs get more than three minutes. Alba and Isla also deserve better. Damage CTRL were on commentary, setting up their upcoming title shot.

Other Developments: That’s all, folks.

Final Score: Roman’s here, so time is extra limited. It’s not an excuse and the women – and the belts! – deserve more than three minutes. D.

Saturday – AEW Collision

Tonight’s Card: One of six matches tonight involved women for approximately 9:30 of in-ring time. Two women competed compared to twelve men.

Thunder Rosa defeated Queen Aminata in 9:20. Another good match and a win and showing that Rosa needed in her return. Queen continues her run of being Tony’s current woman to use on every show.

Other Developments: Timeless Toni Storm announces that she is going to meet, greet, complete, beat, and then eat Deonna Purrazzo. Let me go update my Tinder profile.

Final Score: There is of course room for more than one women’s match on this two hour broadcast, but there’s a little building happening here and at least they almost had ten minutes. C.

Week Numbers:

WWE (including NXT) presented seven women’s matches across its 8.5 hours of television. Approximately 41 minutes of in-ring action saw 35 different women see action. Roxanne Perez, Kelani Parker, Kiana James, Fallon Henley Tatum Paxley, Lola Vice and Elektra Lopez all competed twice this week (four of which earn that by the battle royal and four-way being distinguished as two connected matches).

AEW (including ROH) presented six women’s matches across its seven hours of television. Approximately 39 minutes of in-ring action saw 16 different women see action. Queen Aminata competed three times this week.

TNA presented one women’s match across its two hours of television. Approximately five minutes of in-ring time saw two different women see action.