The Women Have Led AEW’s Resurgence in 2025

Close to 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, February 16, hundreds of thousands of people on the East Coast were watching pro wrestling.

The main event of Grand Slam Australia provided one of the more eye-opening tv ratings in recent memory, as the strength of Toni Storm and Mariah May’s feud kept people from their bedtimes. Toni Storm won the AEW world title, the sold-out crowd in Australia roared their approval, and fans had a new memory.

The final 11 minutes of the show, which ended at 12:56 a.m., averaged nearly 300,000 viewers and a 0.10 demo, which is what an episode of Collision sometimes does on a normal Saturday night in primetime. A good portion of the AEW fanbase did not want to wait until the next day — they wanted to see Toni win that title then and there.

As an ardent AEW supporter from the start, there has been a clear feeling of resurgence through the first four months of 2025.

That does not diminish 2024, which was one of the best years in AEW history creatively and financially. However, AEW in 2024 battled with inconsistency. There were great shows and great matches, but there wasn’t the sense of everything hitting on all cylinders.

That changed dramatically in 2025, and Grand Slam Australia has turned into a telling turning point.