5 Possible Holders of the Inaugural AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles (1 of 5)

When Tony Khan officially announced the physical existence of the AEW Women’s Tag-Team Championship belts on the WrestFriends with Iridian Fierro podcast a little over-a-month ago, speculation has been rife throughout the wrestling world regarding who will first be crowned as AEW’s inaugural Women’s Tag-Team Champions.

This article will assess 5 possible holders of the soon-to-arrive women’s tag-team belts, speculating on new and old partnerships alike, while also assessing the potentially seminal nature of such titles as AEW approaches its sixth year of existence.

Speaking on the aforementioned WrestleFriends podcast, Khan stated: “I have the belts. I made the belts. They exist. But I will put them into play when we are able to put the very best roster forward.”

While AEW’s women’s division has been in the midst of a monumental reshaping throughout the last year-or-so, following some incredibly talented roster arrivals and numerous returns of long-term absentees such as ex-champions Jamie Hayter and Thunder Rosa, the injury bug has since returned, ravaging its way through AEW since the All In: Texas women’s Casino Gauntlet match.

Ironically, both Rosa and Hayter were put on the shelf following this match, while recent new signing Mina Shirakaka also picked up a hand injury.

“I have a bunch of people I would like to get involved in a women’s tag team tournament potentially,” Khan said.

“There has been so much injury in the women’s division and as the person who put together the women’s casino gauntlet, I wish that we had come out of it healthier. “A quarter of the people in the match got knocked out of the match and out of action indefinitely.”

However, injuries aside, it is now clear that the titles’ homecoming will arrive sooner rather than later, and rightly so! Personally, for me, the women’s roster has never been stronger, and there has also been some tantalising partnerships developing throughout Dynamite, Collision, and Ring of Honor as of late.

So, with that being said, please continue reading, as we at The Collider UK ponder who will hold tag-team gold aloft for the first time in the Jacksonville promotion’s burgeoning women’s division.

1. Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander

What better way to start than with the two Long-Island natives?!

The complicated companionship of both Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale has not only captivated both AEW and wrestling fans alike since Nightingale’s official addition to the company in late 2022, but
for almost the last four years, the visceral intertwining of both Statlander and Nightingale has veered from smiling sidekicks to antagonistic betrayers, and somewhere in between.

To call it a rivalry would be an understatement; their narrative has not only transcended both their head-to-head record card and their geography, but this association has continued to remain at the forefront of AEW television.

According to Wrazzlin’ Pro-Wrestling Stats, their record in AEW singles action currently sits at two wins for Nightingale and four wins for Statlander, epitomising the incredibly similar skillset of the two Long Island competitors (their most recent match was on the May 8th edition of AEW Collision, with Statlander leaving victorious).

Despite their complex history- a relationship made even more titillating thanks to the introduction of the TBS title in 2022- both former holders of TBS belt have always seemed to re-enter one another’s orbit, most lately via the charming influence of Australian conduit Harley Cameron.

What better way to add another intriguing chapter to this intertwining friendship than by putting all prior differences aside by becoming the inaugural AEW Women’s Tag-Team Champions. While Cameron has recently petitioned for her own partnership with Statlander (I must admit, WrathLander has quite the ring to it), Cameron is probably better served as a way to officially reunite both women into on-screen comrades at this stage of her career.

AEW fans will be firmly aware of the sentimental nature of Tony Khan when it comes to booking, and while this potential decision would be far from Statlander and Nightingale’s epilogue, it would certainly help Khan validate the pair’s crucial influence to not only AEW, but also to partner brands New Japan Pro Wrestling and CMLL.

For me, this would be the perfect way to further develop a connection which has remained not only at the forefront of the women’s division, but throughout AEW as a whole, meandering through one-on-one singles matches, tag-team matches, Casino Gauntlets, brutal street fights, and various title divisions.

However, while a certain contingent of the AEW faithful would point towards either competitor as viable conquerors of both the AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm, or the TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, respectively, I believe their status as (almost) AEW ‘Originals’ would be the perfect stamp of approval to mark the historical crowning of such champions.

Not only are both ex-TBS champions formidable competitors between the ropes, but their global marketability is only further complimented by their connections to many other individuals and factions throughout the roster (The Conglomeration, and more recently with Statlander, The Death Riders), which could eventually become the catalyst for further invigorating storylines.

As potential champions, Nightingale could become to perfect counterpoise to help Statlander avoid the alluring potential of The Death Riders, or alternatively, could Statlander become the perfect culvert for the birth of a truly heel Nightingale?

Moreover, becoming the maiden possessors of the tag titles would not only cement either woman as key, multi-champion stars within the promotion, but it would also highlight the importance to other members of the roster of creatively fostering their own complex friendships on-screen. They do say wrestling is a 52-week a year sport, after all!

When Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill at Double or Nothing 2023 to dethrone the then undefeated TBS champion, this arguably proved to not only be the stimulus for several of the women’s roster to catapult themselves to the upper echelons of the women’s singles division (such as Statlander, Nightingale, and Julia Hart for example) but could this also be classed as the potential genesis of Statlander and Nightingale’s intemperate association?

Cargill’s defeat wasn’t exactly a changing of the guard- the idiom does not fully apply here- it was more that her unceremonious departure from AEW left the promotion with no other choice than to cleverly unleash the cards they always possessed. And what a hand it turned out to be! They do say the wrestling business is all about the timing. Welcome to the title scene Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale!

What better way for a relationship to come full circle as we approach 2026 than to hug it out, let bygones be bygones, and unite once more. In doing so, both women could etch themselves in the AEW record books once again by swatting away any other competitors to the tag-team throne, becoming the initial holders of the AEW Women’s Tag-Team Championships. They surely do deserve it!