Tony Khan Understands Criticism of AEW Women’s Division, Talks Building AEW & NWA Bridge

Tony Khan understands why people have criticisms about AEW’s women’s division and addressed it in the post-AEW Full Gear virtual media scrum. The AEW President spoke with press after the show and was asked about the company’s burgeoning relationship with the NWA, as seen in Serena Deeb’s NWA Women’s World Title match on The Buy-In. Khan addressed that and then talked about what he would have done differently in the build to the Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose match; you can see highlights and the full audio below.

On building the bridge between NWA and AEW’s women’s division: “I think it’s a great question. And Serena Deeb, who is a full-time AEW wrestler and a really important part of our roster, is the NWA Women’s World champion. So I mean, there was definitely a relationship and there’s definitely a good chance you’re going to see the NWA Title defended here. But the AEW Women’s title is still our top priority. And we have great [AEW] Women’s champion in Hikaru Shida. She’s defended the title against many top contenders, and I think there’s still some good matches in front of her. But I thought the match she had tonight was excellent.”

On criticisms about the women’s division: “One thing is, people say — and I understand what people are saying about the division. I probably, I should have probably done better to put some of Nyla’s story when she said she wasn’t going to wrestle again and Vickie said she wasn’t going to wrestle again until they got the title shot. I should have used that on Dynamite more. I watch Dark very closely and work on Dark very closely, and book Dark. So I’m obviously watching Dark, but I forget sometimes that there’s about half the audience watches Dark for us, typically. If we do, typically, if we do in the overall audience 800,000 to a million on a good week, 400 [thousand] -plus in the demo, I think Dark is probably about half that. And I think it’s a good audience we’ve built and a great show, but I probably should have put that on.

“And then to be honest, the time in the real world, Vickie was not able to come those weeks. Not because she was sick, but because it was a conflict that she always had. And so I gave her that time off, and I probably should have made it clear. There’s a lot to putting the shows together.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AEW with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.