AEW President Tony Khan has provided an update on the long-awaited AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships, confirming that the titles exist but their introduction has been delayed. The reason, he explained in a new interview, is a recent string of significant injuries in the women’s division.
Speaking to Iridian Fierro of WGN Radio, Khan stated his desire to hold a tournament to crown the inaugural AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions. However, he lamented the number of injuries coming out of the recent All In: Texas pay-per-view.
“There has been so much injury in the women’s division, and as the person who put together the Women’s Casino Gauntlet, I wish that we had come out of it healthier,” Khan said. “A quarter of the people in the match got knocked out of the match and out of action indefinitely. So we had one match where I lost 25% of the roster in one match.” He specifically named Syuri, Thunder Rosa, and Mina Shirakawa as being injured in the bout.
Khan noted that he has the championship belts made and ready, but he needs a healthy and stable division to support them. The injury situation is also affecting the Ring of Honor brand, as he revealed the reigning ROH Women’s World TV champion, Red Velvet, is also out, and the interim champion crowned in her place, Mina Shirakawa, was one of the wrestlers injured at All In.
“Having multiple situations with some of these injuries is part of why it has not made sense with the state of the roster to do that, but it is something I am interested in doing,” Khan said of the tag titles. “I have the belts. I’ve made the belts. They exist, but I will put them into play when we are able to put the very best full roster forward.”
While the division deals with numerous injuries, the AEW Women’s World Championship picture continues to move forward. On tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite, the reigning champion, “Timeless” Toni Storm, is scheduled to face Billie Starkz in a title eliminator match. Starkz is an ally of the number one contender, Athena, who won the Casino Gauntlet match at All In where the injuries occurred.