wrestling / News

Maria Kanellis Talks AEW Women’s Division And Possibilities Of An All-Women Show

January 16, 2023 | Posted by Jack Gregory
Maria Kanellis ROH The Experience Image Credit: ROH

In a recent talk with WrestlingNews, Maria Kanellis of AEW/ROH and WWA offered her perspective and expertise in working with women’s wrestling divisions to explain her viewpoint on the option of an all-women’s show for AEW (per Fightful). She stated she thinks the issue currently isn’t one of talent but of capacity for the promotion. You can read a few highlights from Kanellis and watch the complete interview below.

On the factors to evaluate when discussing an all-female show: “Is there a possibility because of the amount of talent they have in AEW to have an all-women’s show? Of course. They are more than capable of doing so. I also think, you have to look at it from the perspective of bandwidth. How much can you put out there right now on the AEW side when you’re trying to take care of all of AEW’s brand, plus Ring of Honor? A smart person isn’t going to necessarily add more things unless they already know what every company and brand situation is going to be a month or six months from now. I know we don’t like to look at things from a business perspective as wrestling fans, but there is that side. Is that the best use of time right now or now that we’re getting several women’s matches on pay-per-view that are highly rated, is it better to build that until you get to a place where, now you know what your profit is going to be?”

On how AEW has developed their female talent over time: “It was building the women’s division and the notoriety of all the women in the division. From Jade (Cargill) to Britt (Baker), even. Britt had been on the Indies, but not to the stardom level of the Young Bucks [Matt & Nick Jackson}. Not many have accomplished that on the Indies anyway. You’re building these new talents, and that’s what any company wants to do, they want to have homegrown talent that they have built to stars, as well as stars that come from other places, just like territories in a much bigger scale. Maybe you have to look at and say, ‘that was building.’ For three years, they built homegrown stars while bringing in other talent and now they are to a place where everybody, as a fan, can go, ‘I see it now. I get it.’ It’s like a puzzle was revealed. Maybe Tony (Khan) is more of a genius in that sense in his patience of building it.”

article topics :

AEW, Maria Kanellis, Jack Gregory