I know I complained about this last week in this very column, but I really would have thought ahead of Revolution that AEW would have done something to remedy the lack of top women’s talent, especially the AEW Women’s World Champion, on “Dynamite.” Remedy, as in, get them on the darn show at some point, rather than have a silly press conference segment that had no business taking up time.

While I’m all for giving people time off, and I’m assuming that’s what was happening here, I don’t really think that’s a good thing in the days leading up to a pay-per-view, especially AEW’s first big event in a few months. Thekla, Kris Statlander, and “Timeless” Toni Storm were all missing from tonight’s show ahead of their matches at Revolution on Saturday.

TBS Champion Willow Nightingale defended her title against Peresphone tonight and had her fellow AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champion Harley Cameron alongside her in a backstage segment. Marina Shafir accompanied the Death Riders to the ring during their show-opening match as well, but it just wasn’t enough to build to the pay-per-view. It felt like just enough for AEW to say, “Hey, at least there were women on the show tonight!”

Sure, Nightingale’s match against Peresphone ruled, and she set up two different matches for herself for both of her championships at Revolution, but the big matches already set for the show were barely acknowledged. Shafir should have had a ringside brawl with Storm since she was out there already. It might not have fit the vibe of the match, which was more for Jon Moxley and Konosuke Takeshita to be on opposing teams ahead of their Continental Championship match, but when has that ever stopped the “Timeless” one from doing whatever she wants?

If I didn’t follow AEW on social media, I don’t think I would have any idea that Thekla is defending her AEW Women’s World Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match with Statlander. That entire rematch has been set up on “AEW Collision” on Saturdays, which is fine, I guess, but a video package or a recap about it all would have been nice to see tonight.

While I thought “Dynamite” was pretty solid overall, I thought this was a pretty big issue. The AEW Men’s World Championship got an entire press conference-turned-brawl segment, while the women’s title was barely acknowledged. As we move forward into AEW’s big pay-per-views of 2026, especially Double or Nothing, All In, and All Out, I hope this doesn’t become a trend.

Written by Daisy Ruth