Yeah sure I'll have a go:
Top star, don't @ me
Abadon
Alright that's it I'm out, catch y'all on the flipside.
K, fine. Real list here, based on what I feel is their in-ring and mic skills and whatnot.
Full packages, the women who should be core parts of the division with no real explanation
Jamie Hayter
Hikaru Shida
A step below, missing something but good to fill a main event out
Athena - Great wrestler, seems to lack charisma unfortunately. Still, if she keeps up this 'I'm going to kill this dark talent and you can't stop me' thing I can see it catching on.
Emi Sakura - Probably one of the best wrestlers to be regulated to Dark. Could fill in for a main event feud here and there.
Kris Statlander - Never forget that time she told an orphan they deserved to have their parents ditch them, the absolute legend. Can wrestle, can talk, great gimmick even if I dislike how she's toned down the alien part. If she can stay injury free, sky's the limit.
Nyla Rose - At this point her team with Vickie Guerrero is doing more harm than good. At least she gave us a good facet of a story with her stealing the TBS title from Jade.
Penelope Ford - Ford is good and doesn't seem to have any glaring weaknesses, but at the same time there's something missing.
The Bunny - See above.
Riho - It's honestly been so long since she's been in AEW that I'm not sure how she'd fit.
Serena Deeb - Great in-ring, not so much on the mic. She's everything they're looking for in Marina. Give her a manager to speak for her and she'll be good.
Toni Storm - She seems perfectly fine, but at the same time she seems to be missing some kind of key ingredient to properly put her in the above level, and truthfully I'm not sure what it is.
Willow Nightingale - Breakout star, ahoy! Definitely has what it takes to move up to the next level.
Solid, good but not great
Britt Baker - I never really got onto the Britt hype train and while she did fine, I don't feel as though she set the world on fire. Got good charisma, in-ring not so much, but I can forgive that. I know we expect her to turn on Jamie Hayter but her full-on supporting her heavy in an inversion of the MJF/Wardlow breakup feels refreshing.
Diamante - Poor Diamante, stuck on Dark for like three years straight. She seems fine.
Keira Hogan - She's fine. No real thoughts.
Leyla Hirsch - It's a damn shame she got injured right as she was picking up steam, because she definitely showed signs of something great during her feud with Statlander.
Madison Rayne - Eh.
Mercedes Martinez - Happy she got some spotlight at this part of her career, but she seems like she's at the appropriate level right now.
Red Velvet - I'm happy that someone from the pandemic dark era made it to a contracted level (now get KiLynn King on dial) and she's been solid enough to fill out a show.
Ruby Soho - She's good but perhaps not as great as I once hoped. Still, she's got a connection with the crowd on her side, which'll enable her to rise above her status every so often.
Saraya - Given the level of ring rust, she's performed better than expected. I think, honestly, pairing her with Deeb as veteran hands after recognition would be a good suggestion - Saraya can talk while Deeb can wrestle, as long as she reigns in some of the more odd lines on the mic.
Thunder Rosa - I think she was injured for the better part of her title run and tried to wrestle through it, but all that did was sour people on her and made us forget why we were so hyped for her in the first place, giving her a mixed standing in this weird-ass ranking that I'm not putting enough order into.
Yuka Sakazaki - AYAYAYAYAYAYAYA
Needs work but got potential
Abadon - Probably a biased fanboy here, I'll acknowledge that, but I think they excel at character work, and have improved their in-ring abilities since debuting. Give them more time and they could grow into a solid presence. Or throw the TBS belt on them, why not.
AQA - I'm giving her a shout here because before she seems to have thrown in the towel, she seemed to have a unique talent set for the division and could've grown into something great.
Jade - I think the cracks are starting to show, for lack of a better term, and while her TBS title run has been fine enough, insofar, it's starting to wear out. No idea how she'll go without the TBS/undefeated push, she's several rungs below the main event level in terms of ring work yet too protected to dabble in the Dark/Midcard area.
Julia Hart - She's an absolute genius since she saw the Varsity Blondes drowning and climbed on board with the S.S. House of Black instead. While I think she still has a way to go with her in-ring skills, she's been a great asset on the mic for House of Black. Keep developing and she could break out one day.
Skye Blue - Fairly good, all things considered, and seems to have a similar-but-not-quite-stated connection with the audience like Willow Nightingale does. That being said, a LOT of room to improve, but she's got time on her side.
Tay Melo - Tay has sadly regressed, it seems. This time last year she put in a hell of a Street Fight with Anna Jay, Penelope Ford, & The Bunny, and it looked like she would have a promising year. Since her pairing with Sammy Guevara became canon, that seems to have been forgotten. Hopefully this feud with Ruby Soho & Willow Nightingale will lead to another Street Fight and she can pick up where she left off.
Anna J.A.S - See above. Slightly better on the mic than Tay, but that's not really saying much.
Terrible
Marina Shafir - The only good thing about Marina was her violin music and now that's been overdubbed with a lame rap track.
The others
Paige VanZant - I forgot she existed, and since I have actively taken enough narcotics to block out the entire ATT/MOTY/Sammy Guevara story from my memory, I have no idea what she can do.
Leila Grey - ... I know she exists, I know she's had a few matches in AEW here and there but I'll be damned if I can remember a single thing about her.
Rebel - ... she's good at following Britt around I guess.
So, in summary, put any combination of the top two levels in a match together and it'll probably be a banger. Pair someone in the middle level with someone in the higher levels and it'll be good enough. Everyone in the lower levels still needs work but can likely deliver something serviceable if given the right partner.
In terms of my actual favorites, the ones I'll happily stop what I'm doing to watch them on Dark or such regardless of talent or place on the card, here's a top ten, so this long-ass post has some resemblance of rankings.
1. Abadon
2. Willow Nightingale
3. Kris Statlander
4. Jamie Hayter
5. Hikaru Shida
6. Skye Blue
7. Nyla Rose
8. Athena
9. Toni Storm
10. Penelope Ford/The Bunny - I'm lumping them together and you can't stop me.
anyway I'm going back to CB4 catch y'all on the flipside.
no idea if the higher in the tier they are the more you rank them, but I believe so, which means Toni would be 5th, which isn’t bad.
ill be ready
