AEW made it official on tonight’s Dynamite: the promotion is finally launching a Women’s World Tag Team Championship and has pulled the curtain back on the tournament bracket that will crown the inaugural champs — a five-week sprint that begins next week and instantly raises stakes, alliances and rivalries across the women’s division. The bracket pairs established tandems, hot new tandems and high-profile, star-powered pairings that read like a who’s-who of AEW’s present and future. The tournament launch was teased and then confirmed on AEW’s social channels and reported across the wrestling press. 

What was revealed (the bracket at a glance)

AEW’s opening-round matchups announced during the bracket reveal are:

• Jamie Hayter & Queen Aminata vs. Julia Hart & Skye Blue
• Mercedes Moné & Athena vs. Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron
• Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa (the duo has billed themselves with a team name) vs. Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford
  (Reporters and AEW coverage list the full bracket and first-round pairings following Dynamite’s segment.)  

This bracket will run over the next several weeks on AEW programming, culminating in the finals to determine the first-ever AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions.

When — and why — these titles matter

Talk of AEW commissioning women’s tag belts has floated around for months and reporting indicates the company even had belts created well before this summer; Tony Khan and backstage sources have repeatedly signaled interest as the women’s roster has grown deeper and more tag-ready. That development means these belts are not a last-minute novelty — they’re intended to be a permanent new pillar of AEW’s division structure. A number of outlets chronicled this timeline and the lead-up to last night’s reveal. 

Why these titles matter: AEW’s women’s division is at a point of critical mass — multiple established singles stars, renewed tag pairings and creative room to tell genuine multi-week tag stories. A properly launched tag championship can a) give midcard and main-event women fresh, meaningful goals; b) create factional conflict and multi-team booking on TV; and c) raise the bar for both singles and tag storytelling by providing new stakes and new platforms to showcase combinations of characters and styles.

How these teams came to be — quick origin notes

(Using only what has been publicly established or reported.)

• Jamie Hayter & Queen Aminata — Hayter has been a mainstay in AEW’s upper card; Queen Aminata (recently tied into Hayter’s storylines) teamed with Hayter in the four-way that won last night’s advantage match to pick their first-round opponent. Their pairing is presented as bulldog, hard-edge veterans versus a younger faction.  
• Julia Hart & Skye Blue — A chemistry-based team that has roots in existing factional dynamics (the mystique/psychological edges of Hart with the explosive athleticism of Skye Blue). They represent a cohesive unit with storyline ties to other trios and stable angles.  
• Mercedes Moné & Athena — A superstar pairing: Moné brings megastar heat and mainstream draw, Athena offers intense in-ring credibility. Their joint presence instantly elevates the tournament’s prestige and ensures media attention. They’re positioned as a formidable combination of star power and technical heat.  
• Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron — A newer pairing that blends Willow’s power and crowd-pulling spirit with Harley’s rising momentum. Together they bring athleticism and a clear underdog/undercard hunger story.  
• Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa — Marketable, high-profile pairing; both have recent singles highlights and immediate credibility. Reporters noted the pair even debuted a team name during the reveal, further branding themselves as one of the tournament’s centerpieces. Their recent singles arcs (losses and risers) make them logical candidates to chase the new hardware.  
• Megan Bayne & Penelope Ford — A hard-hitting pairing that can tell revenge and grit stories; Bayne’s power and Ford’s opportunistic streak set them up to be credible upset candidates.  

Who has the best shot at the finals (and why)

This is partly creative booking and party preference — but on paper and from a momentum standpoint:

• Top favorites: Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa and Mercedes Moné & Athena. Both pairings combine mainstream heat with in-ring credibility. Toni & Mina have been framed in recent weeks as major players coming off singles storylines; Moné & Athena are an immediate headline attraction who can anchor the belts with star power.  
• Dark-horse/strategic contenders: Jamie Hayter & Queen Aminata — Hayter’s position in AEW’s hierarchy and her involvement in the Blood & Guts angle (see below) make her team a logical finalist, particularly if AEW wants to further connect tag gold with big-event stakes. Julia Hart & Skye Blue have the storytelling chemistry to pull upsets and make a surprise run.  

AEW will likely balance star power vs. credible tag team storytelling — winners should be able to both sell the belts and carry weekly TV programs.

Potential storylines that could come from the tournament

This bracket is a narrative gold mine. A few possible directions AEW can (and likely will) take:

1. Prestige elevation: Crowning a team made of two established singles stars (Moné/Athena or Toni/Mina) immediately gives the titles prestige but also creates tension: will singles ambitions pull partners apart? That opens long-term storytelling for dissolving teams/feuds.
2. Underdog rise: A newly formed team (Willow & Harley or Bayne & Ford) pulling upsets en route to the finals creates crowd investment and makes the belts feel earned.
3. Factional warfare: Teams like Julia Hart & Skye Blue tie into existing trios/stable dynamics, which can escalate into multi-team feuds and trios-style skirmishes — perfect lead-ins to pay-per-view matches.
4. Blood & Guts overlap: Winners or participants could have direct consequences for the first-ever women’s Blood & Guts match — both in terms of alliances and revenge plots (see next section).  

How the tournament affects the first-ever women’s Blood & Guts match (Nov. 12)

AEW already announced the first-ever women’s Blood & Guts for the November 12 Dynamite special in Greensboro — a card-shaping event that will feature Jamie Hayter, Queen Aminata and their allies against the Triangle of Madness (Julia Hart, Skye Blue and friends), with teammates still to be named. The tournament and the Blood & Guts card are intrinsically linked: Hayter & Queen Aminata are both in the tag tournament and part of the Blood & Guts narrative, so wins, losses or targeted injuries in tag tournament matches can feed into who is available (or seeking revenge) for Nov. 12. AEW can use the tournament as both a prove-it gauntlet and a way to insert new players into the Blood & Guts teams in organic, storyline-valid ways. 

If, for example, Jamie Hayter’s team wins key matches and then suffers an ambush, that could ratchet up vendettas that pay off inside the cage. Conversely, if a team like Mercedes & Athena goes deep, they may be kept off the Blood & Guts match (for narrative reasons) or inserted as wild cards — each booking choice has major ripple effects on November 12’s main event.

Which team makes the most sense to become inaugural champions?

From a booking, prestige and long-term storytelling standpoint, Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa make the most sense as inaugural champions. Reasons:

• They combine recent singles credibility with a fresh team dynamic and branding potential (they’ve already leaned into a team identity). Crowning them gives the belts immediate legitimacy without burning a major mainstream star (Moné) who AEW can still use to anchor singles angles across TV and PPV.
• That said, Mercedes Moné & Athena are an equally plausible pick if AEW wants an instant, mainstream splash. Their championship reign would sell immediately, but it risks making the belts feel like single-star props rather than a tag division built around teams.
• Jamie Hayter & Queen Aminata as champions would tightly link the belts to the Blood & Guts main narrative and allow AEW to build long stories around faction warfare — a different, TV-heavy but storyline-rich route.  

Final thought — a clean slate and big responsibility

AEW’s Women’s World Tag Team Championship tournament is more than a five-week series of matches: it’s the company asking the audience whether it’s ready to treat women’s tag wrestling as a priority. The bracket blends star power, in-house team chemistry and creative opportunity. How AEW balances prestige, meaningful tag psychology and long-term booking will determine whether these belts are a lasting addition — or a short-lived novelty. For now, the reveal has done exactly what it needed to: raise questions, create must-watch TV and give multiple teams and storylines fresh life heading into Blood & Guts and beyond.

Make sure to subscribe to our Late Night Crew Wrestling YouTube Channel. Follow @yorkjavon, @kspowerwheels & @LateNightCrewYT on X.