Honestly… what the %@$* is going on with AEW.
In case you have been under a rock the past 24 hours, there has been an uproar on twitter and other social media platforms over the state of the AEW’s women’s division. Over a year ago AEW announced its inception in Jacksonville along with stating not only will the women signed with the company, will receive equal pay to their male counterparts but the booking will be equal as well. Fast forward to a year later and we have a the women’s Tag Team tournament regulated to YouTube and the women getting less than four combined minutes on this past Wednesdays episode of AEW Dynamite. Enough seemed to be enough and fans started the hashtag #AEWWomenDeserveMore and that is when things started to escalate further.
Earlier today while responding to fans criticisms and concerns over AEW Heels(which is another can of worms within itself), Brandi sent a tweet reply saying quote: “Its for female wrestling fans. Many female fans don’t like women’s wrestling. You don’t have to be a member.” Obviously there is a lot to unpack with that tweet, first off it is irresponsible for the figurehead of the women’s division to seemingly undermine not just the women in the division but how far women’s wrestling in general has come over the past few years. I couldn’t imagine what the women on the roster must be feeling, seeing that come from the companies CBO but also someone that they share a locker room and ring with as well. I don’t understand what Brandi’s thought process was when she decided to tweet that out but not only was it terrible take but unbecoming of someone who is in the position that she is in.
There has been a lot of criticism and concerns about the Women’s division for awhile now and I have been one of them, I admit. I am the type of person if promise me something I am going to be looking for it and holding you accountable for what you have promised. When questions about what is going with the women’s division we would get the following responses: “We are working on it”, “We have a,b & c happening” or “Look at all the amazing things my wife is doing”. For awhile it seemed as though Kenny Omega was helping structure and spearhead the division. even with quite a few reports attempting to confirm this Kenny on multiple occasions has either not try to take responsibility for the booking of the division or just side step and avoid any questions in genera
The point of this piece is to not bash and or demonize anyone but to hold thoose accountable who made us the fans these promises in the first place. As someone who has worked in customer service for the past 10 plus years, 5 of those years being in management I get it. I understand being defensive of your work and not being receptive to critiques and criticism. But what Brandi, Cody, Tony, Kenny, Matt and Nick need to realize that being in management sucks it really does sometimes, but for your company to grow and be successful you have to listen to the concerns from your fans. The Elite VP’s need to start viewing fans not only as fans but customers as well. I will be the first one to admit that wrestling fans do not know what they want and can be fickle but when legitimate concerns and questions are brought to your attention and your first reaction to have is to be defensive, avoid the topic in general that is a major issue. Regardless if any of you like it you are figureheads of a company and your consumers will at times bring very hard questions to you that need to be answered. If any of you cannot deal with that or it is too much for you then maybe it’s time to start hiring individuals to come onto the team that are more equipped and better at handling inquiries from fans and the media.
At my previous job we had a yearly engagement survey for our staff members and we encourage them to be as honest as possible and they would not hold back. The first couple weeks there was a survey that was posted on twitter, which I filled out. More of that can done or have a small segment at the end portion of BTE where you address fan concerns or what you are working on at that time. I may sound a bit harsh but I am because I want this company to succeed for the wrestlers that I enjoy watching and supporting and also for the people working behind the scenes as well. I know another reason for the combativeness and avoiding answering questions may also be because the answer you would end providing might not be what we want to hear, but in my experience you should share it anyways. Yes it might not be something people do not want to hear but from what I learned you will be more respected being transparent and honest about the situation. I want AEW to be successful and not some flash in a pan if anyone in power happens to read this I hope you were able to take something from this. Also this is all of the free advice I am willing to give out, if you want more feel free to contact me. Thank you.
