Was Ruby Soho Actually Used Better In WWE Than AEW?
Ruby Soho made her surprise debut for AEW at All Out 2021, the Joker for the Casino Battle Royale. After this big win and getting the star treatment for her first match with the company, many fans were all too eager to underscore the differences between WWE and AEW, suggesting Soho felt like more of a star out of the gate in this new environment and came across as a likely future champion.
Related: 10 Pictures Of Ruby Soho Like You've Never Seen Her BeforeThat potential hasn’t materialized yet, though. One year later, Soho found herself working a Zero Hour pre-show match before All Out in a mixed tag team match where she got hurt. Many of the same fans who lauded what AEW was doing with her previously chastised the company for squandering her talent and organic connection with the crowd.
Ruby Soho’s WWE Run May Have Been Underrated
It would be easy to criticize Ruby Soho’s time in WWE. She never wound up winning a title and her Riott Squad faction proved largely ineffectual even after the introduction of the Women’s Tag Team Championship where one might think that the pair of her and Liv Morgan, in particular, might thrive.
However, there are other noteworthy elements of Soho’s time in WWE. That includes that she lasted in the WWE system for over four years and most of that time was spent on the main roster. She not only hung around on the roster but was more than once featured, including being positioned as the leader of a heel team that went against Ronda Rousey and The Bella Twins at Super Show-Down 2018 and a one-on-one challenger to The Baddest Women on the Planet’s Raw Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber 2019.
Soho may not have been among the dream opponents for Rousey that fans were clamoring for. Nonetheless, this positioning spoke to both the credibility of how WWE had established the character (maybe fans didn’t buy her beating Rousey, but WWE only so much as tried to get a few challengers over as credible threats) not to mention her ability to be able to hang physically with Rousey and deliver a good match while the champ was still relatively inexperienced in the ring.
Ruby Soho Has Been Featured IN AEW
Critics will point out that Ruby Soho has yet to win championship gold in AEW. Indeed, less than a month into her tenure with the company, she was tapping out to put over then-reigning World Women’s Champion Britt Baker.
Related: Ruby Soho Describes Surprisingly Favorite Part Of Her AEW DebutDespite Soho’s limited success, it nonetheless does speak volumes that she has been positioned to take high profile losses on repeated occasions. After winning her debut match in the Casino Battle Royale she proved one of Baker’s most formidable challengers (and the DMD needed outside interference to beat her). From there, Soho won her way to the finals of the tournament to crown the original TBS Champion, and there was little shame in putting over Jade Cargill given the tear she’s gone on since, improving in the ring and remaining undefeated. Soho lost to Baker once again at Double or Nothing this past May, but did so in the finals of the Owen Hart Cup tournament, meaning she’d won three other featured matches (including beating Kris Statlander) to reach that match.
So, altogether, Soho clearly hasn’t been pushed as heavily as Baker, Cargill, or other champions like Toni Storm and Thunder Rosa. There’s a real case, however, that she has objectively rounded out the top five best featured female talents in the company this past year, and is someone there's still plenty of time for AEW to make good use of.
Ruby Soho Has Actually Been Used Consistently In Mainstream Wrestling
Ruby Soho’s time in NXT tends to be forgotten for how short it was before her main roster call up. It’s interesting to note, though, that she had a pretty electric debut, showing up to help a babyface contingent against the Sanity faction, and particularly play a foil to Nikki Cross. From there, she was a one-time TakeOver title challenger, participating in a Fatal Fourway in which Asuka ultimately retained. She moved on to an underrated feud with Sonya Deville.
One of the more striking parts of Soho’s time in NXT is that it feels like a microcosm of her whole career, including her time WWE main roster and AEW runs alike—a popular talent who made a splash when she first showed up, an unsuccessful title challenger, and a reliably strong worker who made those around her look fantastic. So, while fans can split hairs about her being better off in WWE or AEW, the reality is that her fate, at least as far as fans can see, was probably about the same across brands
When AEW shelled out to have Rancid play Ruby Soho to the ring for her Owen Hart Cup Final match with Britt Baker at Double or Nothing, it may well have told the tale of her wrestling persona. She could be viewed as something like a modern day, women’s Roddy Piper, Owen Hart, or Jake Roberts. She’s a solid hand who remains featured and connects with fans, but doesn’t win the big one—arguably because she doesn’t need to do so to stay over.
