Mariah May’s title reign is such an interesting case study.
For about a year, we knew that she would become the next AEW Women’s World Champion and honestly, the Toni Storm/Mariah May arc is the best women’s story that AEW has ever produced. These two had an amazing match at All In and the sky was the limit for Mariah May.
Fast forward to Brisbane, Australia and these two produced magic once again. There’s no denying the chemistry between May and Storm. Other than the questionable rookie arc - which didn’t make any sense story-wise - these two know how to craft a story that gets you invested into their characters. Heck, their final interview segment with Renee was the best go-home build to Revolution.
But May’s rivalry with Toni Storm is a big reason her title reign didn’t work.
Lack of Compelling Challengers
AEW knows how to build talent. Adam “Hangman” Page, Wardlow, Dr. Britt Baker, and May stand out as the company did such an incredible job building these names before they won their first title. Each path was different, but it was such a joy to see these characters grow and evolve into something so compelling.
But AEW has this problem of not being able to keep that momentum once a wrestler wins a title. I’m sorry to say, none of the names listed above had a strong title run. And that’s not any of the talent’s fault.
Going back to Mariah May, the problem is that we all knew that Toni Storm was going to challenge for the title again. The even bigger issue is that AEW simply failed to overcome that black cloud hanging over every wrestler whose name isn’t Toni Storm.
Yuka Sakazaki and Nyla Rose were random challengers of the week. Willow Nightingale was fresh off her big loss to Kris Statlander. There was some story with Anna Jay as there’s money in her winning her first big title. I liked that she beat May in an eliminator match. It makes those matches less predictable when the champion loses from time to time. I liked that she lost to May too. There’s money in building towards that big moment for her.
However, she was simply the challenger of the week. There was some juice to the story, but there was never a moment I brought that Anna Jay was going to win. For one, the story came out of the blue. If AEW had started this journey of Anna trying to win her first AEW title earlier in the year then there would’ve been more of a mystery in regards to whether she will win or not.
The second problem was that it was rushed for a simple television match. This should’ve been a pay-per-view contest that would’ve allowed the story to build longer with a necessary development that would’ve allowed audiences to connect with Jay.
Then there’s Mina Shirakawa. This rivalry should’ve been a slam dunk. It was nicely built into the Toni Storm/Mariah May feud leading into Forbidden Door. But this was the very definition of a rushed story. There wasn’t any build to the break-up of their relationship. Granted, we knew that May would turn on her sooner or later, but we didn’t see the deterioration of their relationship. That’s the meat and potatoes of a feud of this nature.
This was an easy feud to book. Have Mina come back shortly after May’s title win. In fact, she could’ve come out and help May beat Willow. Then slowly develop their feud where we start to see the cracks in their relationship until the breaking point.
AEW stopped at Chapter 3 and skipped to Chapter 8 and their match at Winter is Coming suffered because of it. The fans didn’t care about Mina because we weren’t given a chance to bond with her character. We were supposed to root for her because Mariah May is a despicable person, not because we wanted to see Mina get her revenge on a long-time friend/partner.
The Thunder Rosa feud was filler. They didn’t even try to develop a story that felt organic for their match at World’s End.
All the women who challenged May for the belt are good to excellent wrestlers. This isn’t on the wrestlers. It’s on the booking. AEW has an underlying problem of focusing on the MATCHES instead of the story. This is strange since they seem to get the balance of good storytelling and wrestling right with May and Storm. This also highlights one of the biggest and laziest booking devices that’s plagued the promotion lately.
Number One Contender’s Matches Are Killing AEW
This is my biggest gripe about AEW right: Tournaments, Gauntlet matches, or any type of number contender’s match. Simply put, they’re lazy plot devices that require minimum effort. Consistently booking these types of matches takes away a unique approach of developing characters and stories.
At least Anna Jay and Mina Shirakawa were given stories with more depth. But it’s common practice now for AEW to book contenders’ matches with no added context to the feud once the challenger is determined. Just look at Kazuchika Okada’s run as Continental Champion. I’m also looking at you, Daniel Garcia. The focus is on the matches. And great matches are always appreciated, but what captivates the audience is a memorable story.
I want to get invested in these characters' journeys. Take a look at Harley Cameron. In a short span of a month, creative gave Cameron the ball and she ran with it by creating a fun character that fans can easily root for. I know AEW is capable of telling stories around titles. But they just didn’t do it for a good majority of May’s reign. She just had matches, matches, and more matches.
We got segments of her character being heelish from time to time and May is quite good at that. In fact, May is a strong performer when she's given something to sink her teeth into. But there hasn’t been that defining babyface moment where I felt that maybe she would drop the belt. There was not one woman who was built to the point where fans believed that a title change would happen.
Number one contender’s matches aren’t a bad thing, but there needs to be substance beyond that. I should be able to buy that women like Willow Nightingale or Thunder Rosa could take that belt away from Mariah May. Even though Willow’s feud with Mercedes Mone was a mess, that one contract-signing segment was an excellent way to add juice to their story.
I’m not asking for sports entertainment levels of story. But AEW relies too heavily on contender’s matches as it strips away the opportunity to develop characters and rivalries.
Was Mariah May's Title Reign Horrible?
Do I think Mariah May had a terrible title reign? No. She’s had good to great matches; Plus, she’s had fun character moments. But besides Toni Storm, there wasn’t a feud that made her reign memorable. What makes a title run incredible isn’t particularly the string of great matches.
Don’t get me wrong, having great matches certainly helps, but having a feud that fans get invested in is what makes a title run so unforgettable. Trish Stratus didn’t just have Lita; she also had Jazz, Molly Holly, Victoria, and probably her most infamous, Mickie James.
Stories during May’s run were either rushed or given the lackluster contendership treatment. I do hope that May gets a second run with the belt, but hopefully, she’s given a pair of compelling challengers along the way.