Since 2019, there have been 42 AEW pay-per-view events, a number that can grow to 45 if you include Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen in 2019, and Wrestle Dynasty in 2025. Out of all of those events, a grand total of zero women’s matches have been the main event, which is something that has caused fans to criticize AEW President Tony Khan for not valuing women’s wrestling in the same way he values their male counterparts. However, during a recent interview on Sports Illustrated’s “The Takedown” with Jon Alba, Khan was asked about the possibility of having a women’s match headline an AEW pay-per-view in 2026, and he believes that it can potentially happen.
“It’s very potentially possible. It has to be the right match, or the right situation at the right time,” Khan said, who had spoken very highly of both ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone earlier in the interview. “If there were ever two that could do it, it would be [Storm and Mone], but there’s a bunch of other candidates for it as well. It was a fantastic match they had at All In Texas, that was a main event caliber match and it really felt that way, and it was presented as one of the main matches on the card.”
Khan was asked as to why a match like ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm against Kris Statlander for the AEW Women’s World Championship, which took place at the WrestleDream pay-per-view in October 2025, can’t main event over something like Hangman Page against Kyle Fletcher for the AEW Men’s World Championship which headlined the All Out pay-per-view in September 2025, despite Storm and Statlander’s feud having more story to it than Page and Fletcher. Khan explained that given the length of Page vs. Fletcher, that match was the right choice to headline the show, but a women’s pay-per-view main event is something that can happen very soon. “I think it’s absolutely something we can see and I would expect to see in the future on the night where it makes the most sense, and it’s biggest and most anticipated match on that card.”
Please credit “The Takedown” when using quotes from this article and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
