Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter are two of AEW's best but their booking remains problematic.
Women's wrestling is thriving in a way it never has previously on a national scale, thanks to an increase in television time and better athletes than the sport has seen before.
Championship matches, high-profile gimmick bouts and pay-per-view main events are well-deserved opportunities that help create a fanbase around a segment of the industry that had been marginalized for generations.
Despite a considerable uptick in exposure and popularity, though, the women's divisions in WWE and All Elite Wrestling still lack the shine they should have.
There are three key areas both Triple H and Tony Khan should focus on to ensure their female rosters reach their full potential and women's wrestling thrives at the highest level.
What happened to the segments explaining Alexa Bliss' return to normalcy?
What caused Nikki Cross to revert back to the version of herself we saw during her days with Sanity in NXT? Was it mounting losses? A schism with Doudrop? A lack of faith from fans in her superhero gimmick?
Why is Shotzi teaming with Raquel Rodriguez when the latter was just partnering up with Aliyah and winning tag team gold?
Those are just three questions that have yet to be answered by WWE's creative forces, not to mention the numerous queries for AEW and head booker Tony Khan.
Unfortunately, for all of the emphasis placed on elevated storytelling with QR codes, White Rabbits, deleted Elites and the implementation of Ring of Honor as a secondary brand, the women's division remains significantly underserved creatively.
Stories start and stop without any real rhyme or reason. Performers are introduced, then disappear for months before popping back up randomly without cause.
Candice LeRae arrived on Raw to much fanfare, only to have her role diminished just as it appeared she would be a key cog in a rivalry with Bayley and Damage CTRL.
Sure, there is only so much television time to go around and both WWE and AEW appear to favor the idea of cycling talent in and out to avoid staleness, but would it hurt to keep those performers in the spotlight via video packages or a short vignette?
It curbs the randomness of them popping up and helps tie up loose storytelling ends that have plagued the women's divisions in both promotions for too long.
What came of Jamie Hayter's mounting frustration with Britt Baker and why did she suddenly abandon it to strengthen her partnership with the self-centered heel? If you guessed "The story was dropped to accommodate the influx of babyface competitors," you win.
The random booking and absence of attention to detail also makes it more difficult to implement actual stories, a weakness of one promotion in particular.
One of the biggest issues currently plaguing the AEW women's division specifically is a lack of actual storylines.
Some may point to vague teases of dissension between Baker and Hayter as an overarching story, but that has been started and stopped so many times that the idea of it being an actual program that can carry things for the division is laughable.
Sure, the creative team is finally piecing together a story for Baker and Saraya, but therein lies part of the problem: an overreliance on the former AEW women's world champion.
Yes, the 31-year-old is the star of the division and has been since she first signed with AEW in 2019, but it often feels there is no story to speak of if it does not involve The Good Doctor.
There have been flashes of potential, most notably the feuds featuring Hikaru Shida against Serena Deeb, and Kris Statlander's short-lived battles with Penelope Ford, but too often it has felt like AEW throws a bunch of women together in random matches in the name of building top contenders or being the latest foil for Baker and Co.
Once Khan can focus some of his booking energy on that division, or hand over the creative reins to someone who can, then we will start to see the roster's wealth of talented women achieve the immense potential they have.
Otherwise, this will remain a frustrating sticking point for that promotions critics, detractors and women's wrestling fans in general.
This is not to suggest WWE is guiltless. It has had its fair share of randomness and head-scratching lack of actual storyline depth when it comes to its women's divisions.
With the rise of Damage CTRL and their feud with Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan's dark descent, and Ronda Rousey's heel turn and reunion with Shayna Baszler, though, it at least has more going for it than its counterpart.
Both companies suffer from a lack of character depth, which is readily apparent upon first glance at WWE's Raw and SmackDown or AEW's Dynamite and Rampage.
Are the women who appear on those broadcasts talented? Absolutely. Are they infinitely better workers than some of their predecessors? Most definitely. Many are even better between the ropes than the men they share the show with.
With that said, there is a severe lack of defined female characters across both companies.
Too many are thrown onto shows and expected to sink or swim, given no real personalities, motivations or actual character to speak of. No one doubts their talent, but there is a discernible disconnect between what they do and how it connects with the audience.
Look no further than Damage CTRL's Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky on WWE Raw.
Two of the best workers in NXT, they made the jump to the main roster under Triple H and have gone on a tear alongside Bayley, earning praise for their in-ring action and capturing the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on two different occasions.
But why are they with Bayley? What actually is Damage CTRL? Why the attitude change for Sky, who was last seen portraying a babyface in NXT? Who are Kai and Sky? What motivates them besides the generic everyone-uses-it pursuit of gold?
Ditto Shotzi, Raquel Rodriguez, Aliyah, Xia Li and so many others who have joined the main roster and were thrown into action without any real explanation as to who they were or why fans should care.
However, AEW may be even more guilty of the lack of characters for its performers.
Toni Storm, as much as she oozes star potential, is devoid of any actual character traits that fans can get behind other than her in-ring ability. The same can be said about 75 percent of the roster, which is brimming with talent but lacks any substance beyond an ability to wrestle well.
Madison Rayne was touted as a huge addition to the women's division but it was never expanded upon as to why she was a big deal, and her mentorship of Skye Blue has blossomed out of a random blink-and-you-missed-it promo.
Many of the problems facing that division in particular can be attributed to similar, afterthought booking.
Until both companies fix that glaring issue and give fans a little more meat on the creative bone, it will continue to plague what should be women's divisions that are stealing shows and making headlines more than they already are.
Make no mistake about it: Women's wrestling is in far better shape now than it ever has been. The in-ring action is infinitely better than before, along with the emphasis put on it.
The support from the audience is there, but it can be even more so with a little more attention to detail, character implementation and actual storylines for the phenomenal wrestlers across WWE and AEW to sink their teeth into.
