Last summer, AEW filed a trademark for “All Elite Women” that had a lot of people curious. The filing itself was broad, covering everything from music services to a wide range of retail products, and thus didn’t give too much away about what boss Tony Khan and the company might have been planning.
That hasn’t been forgotten seven months later. During his customary media call ahead of AEW Revolution, Khan was reminded of that by Samantha Schipman of Daily DDT, and he confirmed two significant things: Yes, he filed the trademark hoping to make “All Elite Women” a women-focused TV show, and no, he hasn’t given up on that concept.
“It is an idea I had for a show, and something I would love to do is All Elite Women,” Khan said. “And that’s why I filed the trademark because I think it’s a good idea. We have a great women’s roster, and I’d love to utilize them as much as possible.”
He added that any time AEW can create more opportunities to showcase its large roster, it’s a plus, but even more so when it comes to the women’s division. Still, whether it’s viable or not sounds like it would depend largely on whether the promotion’s TV partners were interested.
“That was the idea behind All Elite Women. That’s still an idea I think would be a great thing if it ever gets picked up.”
The quality and variety of women’s wrestling on AEW programming has never really been in question thanks to champions like Riho, Hikaru Shida, Thunder Rosa and Toni Storm. Current world champ Jamie Hayter has been a fantastic homegrown success story, while TBS Champion Jade Cargill has only scratched the surface of her potential to grow into a superstar who crosses over into the wider entertainment world.
But AEW has taken some criticism for how much — or rather, how little — women’s wrestling content is on some of its shows. Revolution, for example, has just one women’s match on its eight-bout card, though it is a championship match and the culmination of a long-running storyline. AEW women tend to get about the same amount of match time as their WWE counterparts on weekly TV, though it doesn’t always feel like they get as much microphone time or non-match exposure.
An All Elite Women show would help solve that disparity, obviously, but it seems like if fans want it to happen, they’re going to have to bug TBS and TNT and let them know they’re demanding it.