Seven Days in Women’s Wrestling – May 19 to 25, 2024

It was another big week in the wrestling world. It’s the final build towards the in-ring return of Mercedes Mone and WWE has a Queen to crown. Let’s see what the women were up to, from Raw to Xplosion.

Monday – WWE Monday Night Raw

Matches: 2 women / 4 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 29:30 min women / 50:00 men

Representation: 10 women / 10 men

Queen of the Ring Semifinal: Lyra Valkyria d. Iyo Sky (19:16)

Women’s Tag Title #1 Contendership Fatal 4-Way: Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark d. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter, Dakota Kai & Kairi Sane and Ivy Nile & Maxxine Dupri (9:11)

With Queen of the Ring looming on Saturday, it’s time to narrow things down to two finalists. Lyra Valkyria gets that spot after a fantastic twenty-minute match with Iyo Sky. It was a good showcase of Lyra to the new Raw audience that might not know her from NXT, and Iyo is of course fantastic.

Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan have an in-ring face-to-face to set up their match Saturday in Jeddah. I think Liv held her own pretty well on the mic here. The Liv Morgan Revenge Tour continues. It’s begging for a Taylor Eras Tour-style shirt, really.

A future shot at the Women’s Tag Titles is on the line as well, with Zoey and Shayna earning the shot. They are never a bad choice, and they’ll work well with Bianca and Jade. This was also a pretty fun match, especially the end. Prior to the match, Sonya Deville returns backstage and meets the winners.

It’s a good final Raw to set up King and Queen of the Ring. The title match and Queen final is set plus we’ve set up a tag title match at a future date. Both women’s matches receive a lot of time. B.

Tuesday – WWE NXT

Matches: 3 women / 3 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 27:00 min women / 26:30 men

Representation: 8 women / 9 men

North American Title Qualifying Match: Fallon Henley d. Thea Hail (10:29)

North American Title Qualifying Match: Jaida Parker d. Brinley Reece (4:54)

Karmen Petrovic & Natalya d. Lola Vice & Shayna Baszler (11:11)

While the other shows are on the road to Jeddah, NXT is on the road to Battleground in Vegas (and not originally in Savannah where I was going, because Shawn Michaels personally hates me I assume). We’re building several big things for the NXT women in Vegas.

One of those is the ladder match to determine the first Women’s North American Champion. Two more women qualify tonight, with Fallon Henley and Jaida Parker joining Sol Ruca and Lash Legend in the qualifying lane.

Roxanne Perez is ready to defend the Women’s Title against whomever is announced for her at Battleground. We see GM/Mayor Ava talking to Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce on the phone, telling us that she will announce the opponent next week. Rumors are flying!

Karmen & Natalya and Lola & Shayna have been rotating around each other for a while and have a good main event tag match tonight. It breaks down after into absolute chaos, with Lola kicking Shayna, Ava announcing that the two will face each other at Battleground and Shayna making it a NXT Underground match. I’m pumped.

We also hear an alarm clock and see Wendy Choo waking up.

We have at least three big women’s matches set so far for Battleground, and that’s pretty impressive but not out of the norm for NXT. NXT, week after week, makes the women’s division feel like the most important women’s division in the “big three.” The future of the WWE women’s division is shining. A.

Wednesday – AEW Dynamite

Matches: 1 women / 6 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 9:00 min women / 46:00 men

Representation: 4 women / 15 men

Toni Storm & Mariah May d. Harley Cameron & Saraya (9:11)

It’s Wednesday and you know what that means. We’ve had a little mini-story with Toni & Mariah and the Outcasts, as Harley has been the woman chosen on the AEW roulette wheel to get the featured spotlight for a few weeks outside of the champions. It ends with Mariah and Toni applying the double lip-lock to their opponents as well as their finishers, which is one way to end things. Serena Deeb attacks Toni post-match to throw a little more fire on their Double or Nothing match. I would love us to reach the point where we don’t just assume the one women’s match will be 8-10 minutes.

The TBS TItle is on the line Sunday as well, but the only hype we get for that here is a little video package. And that’s all we get for the women’s division in general on this episode.

There are still reminders that women exist on Dynamite, but sometimes if you don’t catch the twelve minutes of their match or video packages you wouldn’t know. And yes, let me cut and paste – there is room for more than one women’s match on a two hour show. C-.

Wednesday – WWE Speed

Matches: 0 women / 1 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 0:00 min women / 2:00 men

Representation: 0 women / 2 men

The tournament to determine Ricochet’s challenger continues as we lead to a special Friday edition, which is where title matches happen. No Women yet. F.

Thursday – ROH on HonorClub

Matches: 1 women / 6 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 1:30 min women / 42:00 men

Representation: 2 women / 22 men

Nyla Rose d. Riea Von Slasher (1:33)

Oof. What is this nonsense, ROH? We get one match, a squash match that lasts under two minutes. I love Nyla. I love Nyla squashing people. I just need a few additional sides to go with that appetizer, especially when you can squeeze 22 men onto the same show.

Let’s play “identify that name” as we often do on ROH. Riea Von Slasher. This is Riea’s first “big three” match but she has been competing since 2004. She’s been bouncing around the indies, including losing eight straight matches to Tessa Blanchard.

Now, where are the other women on ROH this week? Well, Athena and her Minions briefly appear to say they’re ready for the challenge of Queen Aminata and Red Velvet. We get a short video on Marina Shafir. And that’s it.

Bad week for the representation this week on a show that usually does better. Especially since ROH tends to be where we get more women’s wrestling with AEW settling on three matches across their programming, this is a disappointing week. D.

Thursday – TNA Impact

Matches: 2 women / 4 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 9:00 min women / 41:00 men

Representation: 4 women / 14 men

Knockouts World Title: Jordynne Grace d. Marti Belle (4:22)

Tasha Steelz d. Jody Threat (4:46)

We continue with having random opponents for Jordynne Grace as we build up to Ash by Elegance’s title shot, complete with Ash sending a mannequin with her dress to ringside. Marti Belle, half of the Hex, has a decent five minute match with Jordynne but can’t topple her. Marti’s partner Allysin Kay jumps Jordynne after the match, beating her with the mannequin and apparently messing up her ear.

Tasha and Jody is what it is. TNA’s biggest trope for the women is having them team, then fight each other and here we are again. Elsewhere, PCO is trying to win the heart of Steph De Lander and I get it.

We’re kind of running in place with Impact, as we have been most of the year on the women’s side. Really it doesn’t seem like much has clicked since Trinity left (and probably Scott D’Amore). C.

Thursday – WWE Main Event

Matches: 1 women / 1 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 6:00 min women / 5:30 men

Representation: 2 women / 4 men

Kiana James d. Natalya (5:55)

Kiana gets her second win in a row on Main Event, following up last week’s win over Ivy Nile with a win over the veteran Natalya this week in the typically suitable women’s Main Event match. B.

Friday – AEW Rampage

Matches: 1 women / 3 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 9:30 min women / 17:30 men

Representation: 4 women / 6 men

Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander d. Alex Windsor & Anna Jay (9:24)

It’s the final Rampage before Double or Nothing, and the women take the main event slot of the show. Alex is making her “big three” debut, which makes the main event spot even more impressive, but has had matches in NJPW, SHIMMER and plenty of other places. I found this to be an enjoyable match.

Post-match, Mercedes Mone makes an appearance to brawl with Willow. Really would’ve liked to see this advertised as a lot of people see Rampage as the C-show, but I’m glad something important actually happened on it.

Deonna Purrazzo issues a challenge to Thunder Rosa for a match at Double or Nothing on the Buy-In. Well, it’s better than something thrown together. A B for the week.

Friday – NXT Level Up

Matches: 1 women / 1 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 5:30 min women / 7:00 men

Representation: 2 women / 2 men

Jazmyn Nyx d. Lainey Reid (5:37)

The usual for Level Up here. This is Lainey’s sixth match ever, her only other TV match being on this show in a loss to Jaida Parker. B.

Friday – TNA Xplosion

Matches: 1 women / 0 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 7:00 min women / 0:00 men

Representation: 4 women / 0 men

Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich d. Shazza McKenzie & Jada Stone (7:00)

The women get the Xplosion spot this week, and it’s a special one for Shazza. Shazza – who was featured in the same Pro Wrestling Illustrated I was in last issue! (never letting that go) – has noted for years how much she wanted to appear in TNA, and it happened on this episode. A.

Friday – WWE Friday Night SmackDown

Matches: 2 women / 2 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 16:30 min women / 23:00 men

Representation: 4 women / 8 men

Queen of the Ring Semifinal: Nia Jax d. Bianca Belair (11:37)

Bayley d. Chelsea Green (4:55)

It’s the night before King and Queen of the Ring, and we have a big-deal SmackDown as we’re in Jeddah for this episode as well. The atmosphere is bigger than usual, much like the SmackDown before Backlash. We have two big women’s matches tonight.

First, we determine who faces Lyra Valkyria in the finals of the Queen of the Ring tournament. The story of the match is Bianca having a hurt knee, which gives Nia a chance to take advantage and get the win. She heads to tomorrow’s show with the winner getting a title shot at SummerSlam. Post-match backstage, Tiffany Stratton, Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae all appear to mock Bianca.

Speaking of champions, the brand’s champ Bayley is here to a lot of love. Her opponent Chelsea also has gained a good following in Saudi. We don’t see much of this, but this was mostly to set up Piper attacking Bayley and setting up the next contender for Bayley.

Blair Davenport gets a video package in the show as well. Tonight felt important, which is not always the way SmackDown feels. The international setting helped but so did the importance of what was happening. B.

Friday – WWE Speed

Matches: 0 women / 1 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 0:00 min women / 3:00 men

Representation: 0 women / 2 men

Friday Speed Championship special! The only woman on this show is Samantha Irvin. F.

Saturday – AEW Collision

Matches: 1 women / 5 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 7:30 min women / 40:30 men

Representation: 2 women / 26 men

Mariah May d. Leyla Hirsch (7:13)

My favorite complaint about Collision is just how uneven the numbers typically are for the performers, and here we are again with two women and 26 men wrestling in a two-hour show. This is not a new thing for Collision.

With Mariah’s friend Toni Storm and Serena Deeb having backstage words for each other, Mariah impresses in-ring with a win over Leyla Hirsch. Mariah might be the biggest woman in all of AEW within a year or two.

TBS Champion Willow Nightingale appears in-ring for a final promo before Double or Nothing. She’s getting good at these!

It’s hard to say the women’s side feels important on this show where they can barely get a match but we have room for 26 men to have a match. D.

Saturday – WWE King and Queen of the Ring (and Countdown to)

Matches: 3 women / 3 men

Approx. In-Ring Time: 34:00 min women / 60:00 men

Representation: 8 women / 7 men

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair d. Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae (8:03)

Women’s World Title: Liv Morgan d. Becky Lynch (15:23)

Queen of the Ring: Nia Jax d. Lyra Valkyria (9:38)

I’m not sure I ever thought the women would have as many matches on a Saudi show, and I’m certainly not sure I ever expected a show to have more women on it than men. The time difference is still there and of course so are the bodysuits.

The match in the title of the show, Queen of the Ring, sees Nia Jax defeat bird lady Lyra Valykria. I thought this was a good showing for Lyra, but it isn’t going to hurt her for losing to Nia. Nia is a quality choice, has been good since her return, and she will be fun as a challenger to Bayley.

The biggest story might be Liv Morgan winning the title against Becky Lynch due to an errant (?) chair throw by Dominik Mysterio. The match was fine before the Dom Dom moment, with Liv holding her own and Becky being her usual good self. The Dom wrinkles to the story continue to flesh out the Rhea Ripley/Liv story, with Liv continuing to take everything Rhea loves. Well, I don’t think she’s actually taking Dom, but the play is there.

Indi and Candice continue their 2024 run of being pre show tag team title challengers, taking the L but looking good against Jade and Bianca. Overall, a solid B for the women.

Final Tallies:

WWE – 8 matches over approximately 86:00 in-ring action, 22 different women saw action (Bianca Belair, Nia Jax, Lyra Valkyria all wrestled twice)

NXT – 4 matches over approximately 32:30 in-ring action, 10 different women saw action (Shayna Baszler wrestled twice across WWE and NXT)

AEW – 3 matches over approximately 26:30 in-ring action, 9 different women saw action (Mariah May wrestled twice)

ROH – 1 match over approximately 1:30 in-ring action, 2 different women saw action

TNA – 3 matches over approximately 16:00 in-ring action, 8 different women saw action