AEW Dynamite: Windsor, Moné, Storm, and Athena Set the Stage for a Women’s Wrestling Showdown

If you’re telling me AEW Dynamite in Cincinnati wasn’t a night for the women to steal the spotlight, then you weren’t watching the same show I was. Forget the parking lot brawls, the powder-in-the-face tricks, and the Young Bucks getting fined for kicking poor Justin Roberts. The real electricity came when six of AEW’s fiercest women tore the house down in a tag match that might have been more about mind games than wins and losses.

You had Alex Windsor, Queen Aminata, and Willow Nightingale teaming up like they’ve been running the same block for years, taking on Mercedes Moné, Thekla, and Skye Blue. It’s already a big deal when you see that kind of talent in one ring, but add Toni Storm and Athena watching from the crowd like they were scouting prey, and you knew we were in for chaos.

From the start, Windsor reminded everyone why she’s been on a tear lately, shutting down Skye Blue with the kind of crisp offense that makes you wonder how long until she’s draped in gold. But Mercedes Moné isn’t exactly the type to let someone else run the show. When she tagged in against Queen Aminata, we got that delicious collision of styles: speed and swagger versus raw power and precision. Aminata’s Chocolate Kisses had the TBS champ rocking for a minute, but the challengers got trapped in the wrong corner, and suddenly it was all Moné, Thekla, and Blue running the pace.

That is, until Willow Nightingale entered the chat. The energy shift was instant. Willow doesn’t just wrestle, she changes the temperature in the building. One minute it’s all hope for the other team, the next it’s a cannonball in the corner and three women stacked like a bad poker hand. By the time things broke down completely, it was Windsor and Blue in the ring, and Windsor locked in a Sharpshooter so deep it might still be hurting this morning.

But this wasn’t over when the bell rang. Storm and Athena went from balcony shade to arena-wide brawl, Mercedes and Windsor threw more shots, and it all ended with Toni Storm cutting the kind of promo that made it clear next week’s tag—Storm and Windsor versus Moné and Athena—isn’t just a tune-up for Forbidden Door, it’s a powder keg waiting to explode.

That’s what I love about AEW’s women’s division right now. It’s not just the matches, it’s the layers. The championships aren’t just props, they’re magnets pulling every ego, grudge, and ambition into the same space until someone breaks. And judging by the way Windsor stared down Moné after that match, we’re about to see some breaking real soon.

If Forbidden Door is going to be as stacked as it looks, don’t be surprised if the women walk out with the match of the night. And I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s Windsor’s name we’re talking about afterward.

Which of these women do you think will make the biggest statement heading into Forbidden Door?

Check out our watch-along and post-show with Courtney Rice.