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A new Revolution?

4 female WWE Superstars who would benefit most from joining AEW

Despite the vast amount of justifiable criticism we can all throw at the WWE post 2010, one positive thing they have managed bring to the wrestling world in recent years is the advancement of women's wrestling.

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Ever since the origins of the women's revolution down on NXT, Vince McMahon has been uncharacteristically proactive in making sure his was the company to push female stars into the limelight.

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There was a time when other promotions like TNA were able to boast about their own female divisions, but the idea that women could main event PPVs and be bigger stars than the men never really seemed plausible until it happened in WWE.

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2019 saw the ultimate culmination of all the previous hard work with Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Ronda Rousey appearing in the main event of WrestleMania - a spot only reserved for the select few.

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Fans of wrestling have been more than willing to come along for the ride. You only need to look at the outrage around the female talent being excluded from the Saudi Arabia shows to realise this.

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It's unlikely fans would have cared that much about Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres not appearing at Super ShowDown, but when you start to leave off the likes of Charlotte and Becky it creates quite the noticeable gap.

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AEW have the wherewithal and respect for Professional Wrestling to understand that a female division is crucial if they want to break into the top tier of wrestling companies. The two matches we saw at Double or Nothing confirmed this to be true.

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But what will become of the AEW women's division in the long term? Perhaps in much the same way as guys like Jon Moxley and Sean Spears are realising, many of the WWE female roster will be eyeing AEW as an opportunity to break away from the pack and make a name for themselves in ways Vince McMahon would never allow.

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Here are 4 female WWE stars who AEW would benefit most from signing:

#1 Ember Moon

Bad Moon rising?
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If things do not start to happen for her soon, there's a very strong possibility that Ember Moon could end up as yet another victim of the NXT-to-Main Roster promotion curse.

What was once an all-rounded, genuinely enigmatic source of charisma is now struggling to keep her head above water on the biggest stage - and through no fault of her own.

Any avid follower of NXT will know Ember's talents as a wrestler as well as her ability to get the audience on her side. Without being the loudest or most instantly noticeable of superstars, Ember does most of her talking inside the ring and takes fans on quite the journey in the process.

You could argue that Moon shone brightest on NXT at the worst possible time, what with Asuka's title reign and accompanying undefeated streak stealing all the headlines.

With the Empress of Tomorrow essentially making the NXT women's division look like the rookies they were, Ember Moon was pushed as the only real threat to the streak and probably should have ended it before Asuka's promotion to RAW.

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Women's wrestling in WWE may now be a well established part of their output, and it is partly for this reason that AEW do need to concentrate on building their own roster to match it.

Ember Moon could be a crucial part of this for all the reasons mentioned above. What is more, she comes across as somebody who is invested in her own creativity, even if that means missing out on the biggest prizes. Surely working under Brandi Rhodes as opposed to Stephanie McMahon would suit this kind of superstar far more.

Free from the shackles of WWE's rigid approach to their content, Ember Moon's already established uniqueness would only surge higher and higher on a platform such as AEW.

#2 Nikki Cross

Back to the future
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After becoming one of the most notorious and well-respected female wrestlers in the British independent scene as Nikki Storm, Nikki Cross's fortunes looked to be steamrolling their way to the very top as soon as she joined NXT.

Being teamed up with SAnitY was a stroke of genius on creative's part - a kind of Sister Abigail type character we never got to see materialise in the Wyatt Family.

Like Carmella before her, she was unfortunately left to fend for herself on Wednesday nights after seeing her stablemates promoted without her. It's safe to say that SAnitY's push didn't quite work out as planned on SmackDown Live, but Nikki was seemingly doing all the right things down in developmental in their absence.

Her matches with Ruby Riott and Asuka during that period of dominance for the Empress of Tomorrow highlighted her as somebody to watch closely, and reaffirmed what a lot of her oldest and dearest fans were saying about her all along.

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Fast forward to today, and Cross does have a reasonably prominent role on the main roster, but not quite the spot most of us would have picked for her. Teaming her up with Alexa Bliss was a bold move and it's still a little early to predict how that will work out. But you do already get the sense that Vince McMahon hasn't got the first idea what to do with Cross long term.

Joining the AEW family would give the former SAnitY member a chance to be Nikki Storm again, this time with an even bigger following than before. She would not have to rely on being what Vince thinks he wants her to be, and instead can put on the classic wrestling matches we all know she is capable of.

#3 Natalya

New beginnings?
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This is probably the least likely move possible in terms of female WWE departures to AEW. Natalya has been with the WWE since her early years and has pretty much done it all for the McMahon-led promotion.

But this is perhaps the perfect reason why Natalya would be best suited to joining with the new kids on the block. Like her fellow Canadian Chris Jericho, she is somebody whose time at the very top of the WWE main event scene is likely to be coming to an end very soon - if it hasn't already done so.

Try as she might, it is nearly impossible for Natalya to shake off the associations she has with the pre-women's evolution years and will never fully be considered as part of the aforementioned evolution we've all come to love.

Moving to AEW would be a mutually beneficial step. Natalya would be given a new platform where she would instantly find herself at the very top once again, and AEW would be receiving a recognised female name that could legitimately hold their women's division title for lengthy periods of time.

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This is all without mentioning what a boost it would be for the women already representing AEW themselves. Having the teachings and direction of a Natalya Neidhart would instantly start yielding rewards from a company-wide perspective.

And it's not like Natalya would not be welcomed either. Her uncle Bret has already made his feelings known about AEW, appearing for them at Double or Nothing earlier this year and introducing the AEW World Championship title belt.

The only drawback to this move from Natalya's perspective would probably be the money and face time she would lose by not appearing in Total Divas anymore. But surely this is a small price to pay if it means one more shot at the big time?

#4 Sasha Banks

Boss time.
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Sasha Banks and AEW are quickly becoming the 'will they, won't they' story of Professional Wrestling at present. Any fan who has followed WWE news of late will be well aware of Sasha's frustrations with Vince McMahon and co. and it seems only a matter of time before she acts on those frustrations by joining his new main rival.

It's now almost depressingly mundane to talk about superstars whose promise down on NXT did not translate into genuine, real-life success on the main roster, but in many ways Sasha Banks is yet another example of this.

True, she hasn't exactly had the roughest of rides so far. She will always be considered part of that pioneering class of graduates who brought the Women's Evolution to the main roster, and her part in the infamous Four Horsewomen is itself very respectful.

But with all things considered, it seems we've only really gotten about 60% of what we were expecting from Sasha and it is starting to get a little tiresome.

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After her revolutionary feud with Bayley for the NXT Women's Championship it seemed a no-brainer that Banks would soon be a Women's Champion on RAW or SmackDown. And yes, while she did eventually reach that position, the moment was ultimately ruined by the sheer lack of conviction by Vince's creative team in making her a star.

After the haphazard 'hot-potato' style championship feud with Charlotte Flair, Sasha pretty much sank into obscurity for a long time. She did eventually claw her way back to the top, first taking on Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble in what is probably considered Rousey's greatest match of her wrestling career, and then becoming the first holder of the Women's tag team titles alongside Bayley.

But for some unknown reason, even this title reign could not last longer than two PPVs, losing the belts to the IIconics at the first time of asking.

It is this latest episode in the unfortunate story of Sasha Banks that seems to have hit hardest and made a move to AEW all the more likely.

If AEW can become that home of under-utilised WWE superstars, then Sasha Banks ought to be considered top of the list.

2 more stars coming from AEW to WWE? More details right here

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Edited by
Arvind Sriram
 
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