Brandi Rhodes Explains Why AEW Women’s Tournament Is On YouTube

Last week, AEW kicked off their women’s tag team tournament. The matches have not been shown on Dynamite or even Dark, but on a separate YouTube show on Monday night.

The decision not to put the tournament onto TV has been met with mixed reactions online. While some are fine with it, others think it’s another example of AEW not respecting its women’s division.

During an interview with TV Insider, AEW Chief Branding Officer Brandi Rhodes has opened up about why the decision was made not to have the tournament matches on Dynamite:

“With YouTube, it’s its own show. That means we are trusted enough to carry our own show and don’t have to be compared to men. We were also not restricted on time. So it’s really the dream scenario. Better than finding out when we are live and something went long, you may only have four minutes to put it out there. That’s really hard, especially when you are trying to introduce new women and put that kind of pressure on them. Being it’s our own show without the restraints and to be able to tell these stories how we want to is a really great situation.”

While the majority of stuff that AEW has put out since the launch of Dynamite has been brilliant, many people have criticised the company for the lack of care it’s given its women division.

During the interview with TV Insider, Brandi addressed the issue of the lack of women being showcased on Dynamite, and seemed to indicate it was out of her hands:

“It’s an interesting question because I don’t feel it really applies to me considering it’s not something week-to-week I discuss or plan. I took this tournament on as a side project. Of course, in doing the tournament I know what the criticisms have been. I know what they are and thought this would be really great for that, especially those who are die-hard women’s wrestling fans. As far as the week-to-week goes, unfortunately that’s a burden that lies elsewhere. Thankfully, it’s not one I have to navigate so frequently.”

When Brandi left Twitter last week, her husband Cody stated that it was because of racial abuse that she’d been suffering. Following on from this, Brandi herself explained why she deleted her account:

I just think that right now there are other things that need my attention a lot more. I’m focusing on “Heels,” which Friday we had our first members based event. It was extremely successful. It’s nice to come together in a community of women that really appreciated it and enjoyed it. We had a really great time on Friday night. It was nice to put my energy into that. My energy is also going into the ‘Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament’…It has been a really nice weekend to put all my time and energy into what I want to be focusing on right now.”

Thanks to Fightful for the transcription.

• Brandi Rhodes
• Dynamite
• youtube
• AEW

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