Jamie Hayter is looking at the bigger picture when it comes to AEW’s women’s division, and she sees opportunity in the absence of one of its top stars.
Ahead of AEW Dynasty, where she is set to challenge Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship, Hayter spoke with The Takedown on SI.com about the current landscape of the division. With Toni Storm currently sidelined, Hayter believes the door is now open for fresh names to step into the spotlight.
“I think Toni did such a fantastic job and no one else could have done that,” Hayter said. “She really did carry this division for those three years, and she was the division I feel like. Of course, this is an opportunity for myself and for everybody else. It’s a chance to kind of mix up the roster a bit more. Maybe put people in the mix that haven’t been for a while.”
Storm has been out of action since her victory over Marina Shafir at AEW Revolution 2026. She was also involved in a pull-apart brawl with Ronda Rousey during the event, but was later not medically cleared to appear on Dynamite.
As of now, she is expected to remain out of action for an extended period, though the exact reason for her absence has not been made public.
A big shift for the division.
Hayter went on to emphasize that the current moment represents a chance for experimentation and growth across the roster, noting that the ever-evolving nature of wrestling makes this kind of transition a positive.
“This is a process for everyone,” she continued. “We’re constantly learning. We are all at different parts of our careers and we’ve been at AEW for different lengths of time. So I think it really is the perfect moment to just switch things up and give things a try. It’s never a bad thing to try things out. And if it doesn’t work or it doesn’t go well, if it doesn’t feel good, you can always do something else. That’s the beauty of wrestling.”
AEW Dynasty takes place tonight at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
