AEW Dynamite: Riho Crowned First AEW Women’s Champion

All Elite Wrestling crowned their first-ever Women’s Champion on Wednesday night during AEW Dynamite on TNT.

Nyla Rose took on Riho in the match, which occurred midway through the second hour of the broadcast. From the get-go, the fans put over the high stakes of the match, which was no surprise as the D.C. AEW faithful were tremendous all night long.

Britt Baker did commentary on the match, which was a good call given the fact that she figures to be a huge focal point of the AEW women’s division moving forward.

The announce crew put over the fact that Rose grew up in the D.C. area early in the match, while also pointing out Riho’s story of starting wrestling at the age of 9 (she’s currently 22). They also mentioned that Riho pinned Rose in a triple threat match at AEW Fyter Fest this past summer (Yuka Sakazaki was also part of that bout).

Given her superior size, Rose dominated the early portion of the match and brushed aside any offense Riho tried to execute, including a flying crossbody to the outside which saw Rose simply catch her opponent.

A turning point came when some chairs became involved on the outside, letting Riho gain an advantage. However, it didn’t last long and Rose quickly took back control, including hitting an impressive top rope knee drop while AEW was on commercial (though it was still visible due to the picture-in-pictured offered during commercial breaks).

The latter part of the match saw advantage and momentum shift back and forth as the crowd went wild. Rose hit a Death Valley Driver for a near fall, then went up top. Riho climbed to the top with her and hit several right hands and followed that up with a Northern Lights Suplex from the top for a near fall.

Riho followed that with a couple of running knees and covered for the pinfall to become the first AEW Women’s Champion.

Michael Nakazawa came in the ring afterward to congratulate Riho, but he was blindsided (and powerbombed) by Rose. Rose went to hit a Death Valley Driver on the ring apron to Riho but Kenny Omega ran out to make the save.