AEW has produced many PPVs through the years that could make the claim for being the best within the promotion’s short history, but for many fans, the gold standard event stays All Out 2021. There have been, after all, the top-tier matches, corresponding to The Lucha Brothers, Penta and Rey Fenix, defeating the Young Bucks to capture the AEW World Tag Team Championships, and CM Punk’s return to wrestling, defeating Darby Allin. But numerous All Out 2021’s repute is built on the surprise debuts of three former WWE stars. Probably the most talked about to this present day remain Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson, who each showed up within the show’s closing angle. The third got here earlier within the show, when Ruby Soho was the ultimate entrant within the Casino Battle Royale, winning it to secure an AEW Women’s World Championship shot.
Very similar to with Danielson and Cole, Soho’s AEW debut was hotly anticipated, as many fans felt she’d have some extent to prove after a WWE run many felt was lacking, and that she may very well be the catalyst for an AEW women’s division that was still considered more of a weakness than a strength. Alas, a fast glance at Soho’s overall run with AEW would lead many to conclude that things didn’t quite work out the best way everyone expected. While the AEW women’s division has flourished, an argument could be made that Soho had little to do with it, as her AEW run to this point features no runs as AEW Women’s World Champion, nor the AEW TBS Championship. And it didn’t seem that was within the cards prior to Soho happening maternity leave, as she was involved in a romance storyline with real-life partner, Angelo Parker, that was largely confined to the now-defunct “AEW Rampage.”
Has Soho’s AEW Run Been That Bad?
Those facts don’t tell the entire story of Soho’s AEW run. While she may not have held a championship up to now, Soho was a frequent contender for each the Women’s World Championship and TBS Championship from 2021 to 2023, including making it to the finals of the tournament to crown the first-ever TBS Champion, which she lost to Jade Cargill. In reality, attending to tournament finals and losing has form of been the story of Soho’s AEW run; along with the TBS Title tournament, she was also the finalist within the 2022 and 2023 Women’s Owen Hart Cup finals, falling to Britt Baker and Willow Nightingale. But even outside title contention, Soho was often prominently featured, more so after she turned heel and joined the ill-fated Outcasts stable alongside Saraya and a pre-“Timeless” Toni Storm.
Thus, once you mix all that info on Soho’s AEW run to form a nuanced take, the query of whether her run has been worse than expected is answered with a…possibly? All of it is dependent upon the attention of the beholder. In case you expected that Soho would are available in, change the AEW women’s division overnight, and turn out to be a multi-time champion, it’s comprehensible why her time could be seen as a disappointment. Compared to her WWE run, nevertheless, it’s hard to argue that things have not gone higher for Soho; she’s been featured more, she’s been in title contention, and apart from her pregnancy, she hasn’t disappeared from TV for long stretches. Has it been perfect? No. Has it been awful? No. In the long run, Ruby Soho’s AEW run has been what many would call a mixed bag. I’ll leave it as much as you to choose how disappointing that’s.
