Ruby Soho Is the Shot of Adrenaline the AEW Women’s Division Needs

AEW All Out 2021 will forever go down as one of the greatest nights in professional wrestling. That’s attributed to several factors. We got to see CM Punk’s first match in seven years. Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson arrived on the scene. There was just an all-around great card filled with awesome matches. There was the debut of Ruby Soho — formerly Ruby Riott in WWE — during the 21-woman Casino Battle Royale, where she put the entire women’s roster on notice by winning the whole thing.

Ruby Soho’s arrival to AEW is awesome news for the women’s division for a few reasons. For starters, it adds more talent to the growing roster that already includes impressive names likes Kris Statlander, Thunder Rosa, and current AEW Women’s World Champion Britt Baker. Admittedly, AEW has been somewhat lacking in terms of its female talent. That’s not to discredit the effort that’s been put forth by the hard-working women in the company — but compared to NXT and Impact Wrestling, the AEW women’s division has been missing something.

Just like Jon Moxley set off a paradigm shift in the landscape of professional wrestling following his debut at AEW’s inaugural Double or Nothing pay-per-view in 2019, Ruby Soho could mark a massive change for the company’s women’s division. Her background speaks for itself: She’s a highly talented wrestler with a rad punk rock look, a great name, and an awesome entrance theme in Rancid’s “Ruby Soho.”

In addition to her talent and presentation, though, Soho is hungry as hell, and it shows. After doing some good work in NXT as Ruby Riott, she was ultimately misused on the main roster. Just when it seemed like she was going places on both Raw and SmackDown with her Riott Squad stable, the carpet was pulled out from underneath her. She’d get chances to shine, would do so, and then she would lose big matches. She was briefly sidelined with an injury, but she came back with that fire intact.

Unfortunately, Ruby Soho isn’t the only example of WWE going stop-and-go-and-stop-again with its talent. This is something that happens a lot in WWE, and it’s especially happened more and more as of late. It was heartbreaking to see her released from WWE, but there was always hope that something special could happen. That’s because Soho is the type of wrestler that you just know is destined for more. So when she was released from her WWE contract, fans knew they hadn’t seen the last of her.

Ruby Soho is hungrier than ever because you could argue that WWE wasted a few of her best years. The flip-side to that argument is that while her WWE tenure didn’t allow her to reach her full potential, her experiences there could catapult her to even greater heights.

Though she’s earned a title shot against Britt Baker in her very short time in AEW, it’s also very exciting to think about Ruby Soho’s other possible feuds with the rest of the women’s roster. Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose, Jade Cargill, and the aforementioned Kris Statlander and Thunder Rosa — these are all exciting matches that’ll likely happen at some point, whether they’re title bouts or just good, old school grudge matches.

Not to mention, thanks to AEW’s working relationship with Impact Wrestling, it’s insane to think that Ruby Soho could potentially mix things up with some of the incredible wrestlers on that roster. Names like Rosemary, Havok, and Impact Wrestling Women’s Champion Deonna Purrazzo come to mind. The sky’s the limit as far as the challenges and opponents AEW can throw Soho’s way, and it’s going to be a lot of fun being a part of that adventure as fans.

Soho’s AEW arrival will hopefully also open the door for fresh signings to the women’s division. There are plenty of women’s wrestling companies out there like SHIMMER that have a lot of awesome wrestlers. And sadly, there are still some women being underutilized in WWE that could make the jump to AEW at some point. Realistically, even if official signings don’t happen, there’s nothing stopping AEW from developing more working relationships with other companies and their women’s rosters.

In an era where women’s wrestling truly matters and feels fresh, fun, and interesting, it really seems like anything can happen. Yes, AEW still has plenty of work to do with its division, but thankfully, it’s apparent that the company is going in the right direction. And with Ruby Soho hitting the ground running, she could very well be the paradigm shift the women’s wrestling landscape in AEW has needed for some time.