Seven Days in Women’s Wrestling: February 4 to 10, 2024

I think I start every week off by saying it was a big week in wrestling, and this week was no exception. We had the big WrestleMania XL Kickoff, which I recapped here. Tony Khan Had A Big Announcement! Trinity wrapped up her TNA stint.

Let’s see what the big three had for us this week!

Sunday – NXT Vengeance Day

Tonight’s Card: Two of six matches involved women for approximately 24 minutes. Five women saw action in comparison to fourteen men.

Riz , Channing Lorenzo & Tony D’Angelo defeated Jaida Parker, Bronco Nima & Lucien Price in 10:11. This would be the D’Angelo Family and OTM in mixed tag action. I enjoyed this and the ladies had some nice little spots.

Lyra Valkyria defeated Roxanne Perez and Lola Vice in a NXT Women’s Title match in 13:30. After starting, this became a triple threat when Lola Vice cashed in her title shot. It really became a frenzy when Lola cashed in and I dug that.

Other Developments: The Women of Chase U calendar is back on sale. Kiana James and Izzi Dame look at Kelani Jordan as their focus. Thea Hail says she will be Riley Osborne’s Valentine much to the chagrin of Jacy Jayne. Lexis King hits on Thea. You get your weird beard away from her! Ava brags about the success of NXT. Brinley Reece is motivating Malik Blade and Edris Enofe. Roxanne jumps Lola in the back.

Final Score: A good two-part title match plus some mixed action is enough to give this card a good score, but as you see they decided to advance about six other stories while they were at it. NXT can always multi-task with the ladies. A.

Monday – WWE Monday Night Raw

Tonight’s Card: Three of six matches involved women for approximately 25 minutes of in-ring time combined. Eight women saw action compared to fourteen men.

Becky Lynch defeated Shayna Baszler in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match in 12:40. The best match these two have had and maybe one of Shayna’s best main roster matches. Let her do this more often!

Valhalla & Ivar defeated Maxxine Dupri & Akira Tozawa in 2:00. This happened!

The Kabuki Warriors defeated Katana Chance & Kayden Carter in a Women’s Tag Team Title match in 9:48. The ending wasn’t really in doubt, which isn’t a knock at KC & KC but more that nobody seems on the level of the Warriors.

Other Developments: Liv Morgan says her qualifying match next week is about revenge. Rhea Ripley calls out Nia Jax, but Adam Pearce makes their Elimination Chamber match official instead… and then Nia attacks Rhea. Bayley promo video!

Final Score: I’m not complaining about the women spread through three matches and 25 minutes of action plus various other moments. B.

Tuesday – WWE NXT

Tonight’s Card: Two of five matches involved women for approximately fifteen minutes of action. Six women saw action in comparison to eight men.

Roxanne Perez defeated Lola Vice in 9:50. A Tatum Paxley appearance gives Roxanne the win. A good showing for Lola, who is full of confidence.

Meta-Four defeated Fallon Henley & Wren Sinclair in 5:04. A decent little tag match that advances how good the Meta-Four ladies.

Other Developments: Thea Hail and Jacy Jayne celebrate the Chase U calendar, while Jacy wants Hail to play hard to get with her impending date. Kiana James and Izzi Dame take Brinley Reece’s drink. Ava gives Jaida Parker a match with Riz next week.

Final Score: As always, the women’s division of NXT is rolling along. The title picture keeps moving as does numerous stories up and down the card. B.

Wednesday – AEW Dynamite

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

Toni Storm defeated Red Velvet in a Women’s World Title Eliminator match in 7:48. Minus the ad break, I enjoyed this. Toni showed more of her wrestling side as Deonna Purrazzo was on commentary. I do wish somebody would actually win an Eliminator match one day.

Other Developments: Tony Khan Has A Big Announcement. Tony announces that Dynamite is coming to Boston in March for “Big Business.” “BO$$TON” is seen on a wall in the graphic, for those staring at the screen to catch it. A Mercedes Mone hint for sure, but I would’ve liked a more… verbal hint?

Final Score: It’s certainly an episode of Dynamite! One women’s match under ten minutes broken up by a commercial break and nothing else. The announcement, assuming it’s going the way it’s going, is big but will the show change to suit the growth it needs? Because it’s a big C- to be generous right now.

Thursday – ROH on HonorClub

Tonight’s Card: Three out of nine matches included women for approximately twelve minutes of in-ring action. Eight women saw action in comparison to 22 men.

Billie Starkz defeated Araya Thorn in 3:53. Araya has a few TV appearances for the big three as Raychell Rose, including an Impact loss to Mickie James. Mostly a squash, though there is a Nyla Rose interruption to distract Billie. Athena returns after the match to knock Nyla through a table.

Diamente defeated Trish Adora, Kiera Hogan and Leyla Hirsch in a Four Corner Survival Match in 4:47. Yes, this is our third women’s Four Corner Survival Match under five minutes in four weeks. These don’t benefit anybody, especially on a show where there’s another four-man match and a six-man tag.

Taya Valkyrie defeated Killa Kate in 2:55. Just a squash.

Other Developments: The Women’s TV Title tournament starts next week finally, though we don’t have brackets or competitors announced. Assume the 8-10 we seem to be seeing shuffling through this show. Rachael Ellering and Layla Hirsch confirm they’re good. I sure hope they don’t end up facing each other in this tournament and not being okay! Athena sends the Minions to celebrate and finds a way to knock Nyla through a table.

Final Score: The A-story, with Athena, continues to be a beacon of light and Nyla has risen to the story. The B-story, everyone else shuffling around waiting for a tournament, has been brutal. Even with less matches, every episode feels like an attempt to cram as many people into an episode as possible and it hurts the product. C-.

Thursday – TNA Impact

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

Tasha Steelz defeated Xia Brookside in 4:24. Not much time to cook, but they seem to be building to another man.

Trinity & Jordynne Grace defeated Gisele Shaw & Savannah Evans in 6:35. For the second week in a row, Trinity jumps the barriers and appears for two companies. This is the farewell match for Trinity and it was what it needed to be.

Other Developments: None.

Final Score: a fond farewell for Trinity as she returns to WWE and we finish resetting the division. B-.

Thursday – WWE Main Event

Tonight’s Card: One of the two matches presented tonight included women for approximately 5:30. Four women saw action in comparison to two men.

Natalya & Tegan Nox defeated Chelsea Green & Piper Niven in 5:33. On the plus side, we get the Samantha Irvin magical intro. On the minus side, can’t Chelsea and Piper win something?

Final Score: Half the matches and a majority of the competitors. I have no choice but to stan. A.

Friday – AEW Rampage

Tonight’s Card: One of four matches involved women for approximately eleven minutes. Four women saw action in comparison to twelve men.

Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander defeated Ruby Soho & Saraya in 10:48. Lots of story here. Stokely on commentary. Ruby looked at a note on the way out, and left Saraya to lose and decked Harley Cameron on the way out. It has been time for the Outcasts to dissolve, so I’m in for it. Skye Blue appears post-match to stare down the winners, joined shortly after by Julia Hart.

Other Developments: None.

Final Score: The women were in the main event, were given time, and developed two stories within their segment. It’s a pretty big thing for AEW. B.

Friday – TNA Xplosion

Tonight’s Card: Zero of the two matches presented included women.

Final Score: Three episodes of Xplosion, zero women’s matches. F.

Friday – WWE NXT Level Up

Tonight’s Card: One of three matches involved women for approximately five minutes. Two women competed in comparison to four men.

Kelani Jordan defeated Stevie Turner in 4:38. A good four minute special.

Final Score: The usual here. B.

Friday – WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Tonight’s Card: One of four matches tonight included women for approximately seven minutes. Two women competed in comparison to eight men.

Bianca Belair defeated Michin in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match in 7:08. Another match where Michin shined, but you know Bianca is going into the Chamber. I wish Michin would’ve been against anyone else, because I think she’d probably show out in the Chamber.

Other Developments: Bayley gets a big in-ring segment to talk about last week as well as Dakota Kai’s side in all this. Dakota appears to say she had no idea and Bayley shows distrust. It’s all interrupted by the remaining members of Damage CTRL, who Dakota helps fend off with a chair as Bayley’s distrust is still visibly seen. A great followup to last week.

Final Score: Damage CTRL continues to be a hot story getting time and that’s how it should be as the ratings are showing it’s a hit. A good match too. B-.

Saturday – AEW Collision

Tonight’s Card: Two of the seven matches presented included women for approximately fourteen minutes of action. Four women saw action compared to thirteen men.

Deonna Purrazzo defeated Kiera Hogan in 4:33. A good win for Deonna, but I wish Kiera would’ve gotten a little more shine.

Toni Storm defeated Queen Aminata in 8:53. Commentary continues to tell us about the greatness of Queen Aminata, who is actually good but has now lost all seven of her AEW matches in about 45 days of 2024. I didn’t expect her to defeat Toni, but there are numerous other women in the company available to take a pin. Toni promises a new film after the match on Dynamite.

Other Developments: Stat and Willow want Stoke to set them up a match with Skye and Julia and Willow still feels they never got to meet up after Skye left their happy friend group. Julia also stabs a man in the forehead with a spike because she does things like that.

Final Score: I appreciate the two matches, even if they even put to the time one match tends to get. I also appreciate developing another story. I’m giving you a B, Collision.

Week Tallies:

WWE / NXT – Over 8.5 hours of TV time, the company presented eight matches involving women for approximately 60 minutes of in-ring action. 22 different women saw action this week.

AEW / ROH – Over 7 hours of TV time, the company presented seven matches involving women for approximately 45 minutes of in-ring action. 16 different women saw action this week, with Toni Storm and Kiera Hogan wrestling twice.

TNA – Over 2.5 hours of TV time, the company presented two matches involving women for approximately eleven minutes of in-ring action. Six women saw action this week.