Exclusive: Jamie Hayter believes AEW Women’s wrestling has evolved but it’s not enough

With just days left for AEW All In 2026 in London, British wrestling sensation and former Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter appeared for an exclusive interview with Clutchpoints. All geared up for her tag title match against Megan Bayne and Lena Kross, Hayter is now hopeful to bring it home with Alex Windsor.

While England failed to win the FIFA World Cup this year and bring it home, Hayter is positive about Windsor, Will Ospreay, and her efforts. “ Of course, absolutely. This is the year it’s coming home. This is the year it’s coming home, and we’re gonna be the ones to facilitate that for everybody else. Of course. I hope so, anyway. I’m manifesting it,’ Hayter claimed, although she began the answer by first booing the English team.

While Hayter and Windsor pursue the Tag titles, Mercedes Moné will be chasing Willow Nightingale’s AEW Women’s World title. Featuring a card of nine matches, where only two matches have been dedicated to the women, Hayter was asked about the evolution of AEW’s women’s division.

When Hayter began her journey her All Elite journey, the roster was mostly Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Riho, Emi Sakura, and more. However, over the years, the roster has expanded and now boasts the likes of Moné, Nightingale, Toni Storm, Kris Statlander, and many more.

“I think there definitely has been an evolution to the division. I think it’s been an incredibly slow process, though. I think it’s only really been the last few years. Well, I don’t know; it’s just been up and down. It’s hard to compare it to before because before there ‌were some positive things about when it first started and some negative things, and you can really say the same about now. Like, I’m always gonna be a champion for women having more time, women getting more opportunities, main eventing, this, that, and the other.

“Like, I’m always gonna champion that, and it’s certainly happened; more of that has happened, but it’s never enough. So I think, like, and that’s like across the board in like women’s wrestling, women’s sport as a whole. There are definitely changes, but improvements, but they’re not good enough for me to be like, ‘It’s amazing. It’s really, really good.’ It’s okay. And that’s not just AEW specific. Again, it’s just very much how my thoughts and feelings towards women in sport in general and from my own experiences as well,” Hayter shared.

Jamie Hayter feels proud of her good working relationship with her AEW boss, Tony Khan

Not everyone can say that they share a good working relationship with their boss, but Jamie Hayter can. “ It’s great. ‌I haven’t worked too closely with Tony [Khan] on so much stuff. But I really enjoy his passion, and everyone says it, and it’s just true. There’s really no other way to describe him as passionate as he is. And he just loves wrestling. He really cares about the talent.

“I’ve always had such good conversations with Tony. I like him as a person, which, how many people can say that about their boss? That they, like, really like them, you know? And they think they’re overall, like, a great person. And they just‌ want the best for everyone. They want everyone to succeed, and that’s what it is,” Hayter further added.

“So it’s‌ been really good. Like, I mean, I couldn’t really ask for anyone better to work under, to be honest with you. And that, that’s just from my experiences. I couldn’t really say enough positive things about that and about my experiences with him. So yeah, it’s been really good. Really, really good,” she finished.

Sharing a positive rapport with Tony Khan, Hayter signed with the promotion in 2021 after first wrestling there in 2019. When asked what motivated her actions, she said,  ”Honestly, from the two experiences that‌ I had in 2019, I just really liked it. I liked the people there. I liked the atmosphere. When I was backstage, everyone was very friendly, very supportive, and that was kind of ‌the case even when I left for a while, and you know, obviously the pandemic happened.

“You didn’t really do that much travel. But I still stayed in contact with them, like, throughout, and you know, AEW was still interested in me at that time as well. So I just knew I wanted to go there. I was holding out hope that the pandemic wouldn’t last forever because, yeah, I don’t really think I could have seen myself really go anywhere else at that point.

“I loved what I was doing in Japan, of course, but I wanted to try something else, and I had a really good relationship. I honestly wouldn’t‌ have done it any other way. I’m glad how it all happened, how it panned out, and what’s kind of come from that,” she finished.

Jamie Hayter believes AEW has the best women’s division

Sharing a positive mentality about different wrestling promotions, Hayter claimed that while most of the other promotions have a good women’s division, AEW has the best one. “Oh, that’s so hard but the best, obviously. Number one. If I didn’t say number one, I wouldn’t be a good representative of the girls. I really think we have a great division. Of course, like‌ all the other divisions, there are so many fantastic women’s wrestlers within them.

“I think it’s so hard. Of course you want, you want your team to be the best. But I just think in general there’s, across all, across the board in every way you just said, so much talent. And it’s‌ good that it’s a nice spread of talent across every single company. So you can really just watch good women’s wrestling wherever you wanna check it out,” she finished.

Every time the topic of AEW, Jamie Hayter and Tony Khan arises, fans automatically connect it with Britt Baker. When asked about the whereabouts of Baker, Hayter claimed that she was not the right person to ask that, and even if she knew about it, she wouldn’t ruin the surprise.

AEW’s Jamie Hayter on Will Ospreay working hard for women’s wrestling in the UK

Will Ospreay is currently one of the top mainstream wrestlers working hard to develop women’s wrestling in the UK. Ospreay is an active producer and creative team member for the prominent UK women’s independent promotion, Pro-Wrestling: EVE. When asked about her thoughts on Ospreay’s contribution, Hayter shared, “ I think it’s really good. I think if someone wants to help champion women’s wrestling, then that’s great. Like, anything to get the women on a bigger platform, more butts in seats. Yeah, I’m all for it. Giving women better wages, if that’s what it comes down to, then I’m all about it.

“I don’t see any help being particularly wrong. I just want the women to do well, and for all the women to enjoy what they’re doing. That’s the most important thing to me. So any help is good, I think,” she finished.

Jamie Hayter says Emi Sakura is the toughest and most physical wrestler she has faced

Hayter’s conversation soon drifted to her opinions on which women’s division wrestlers deserve more recognition and who she considers her toughest opponent. Instead of saying out loud a single name, Hayter shared a collective answer.

“That’s a really good question ’cause I think I personally think it’s hard to pinpoint one woman for me in AEW that deserves anything because everyone’s so worthy. I think we really have a great group of girls here. I love all of them. I think everyone’s incredibly talented, and they bring their own thing to the table. Everyone has something to offer here. So I, like, as it may seem like a Cop-out answer, but I think all of us. All the women deserve the opportunity, and I think I’m never gonna shut up about it, and I think there can always be more done. But, you know, we’re all willing and able to do so,” she finished.

For her toughest opponent, Hayter named Emi Sakura. “I think Emi [Sakura] is probably one of the toughest women I’ve wrestled. And you wouldn’t really realize that until you step in the ring with her, just‌ how tough Emi is. I wrestled her in the UK a couple of times. I wrestled her in AEW a few times now, and yeah, I think for me, she’s‌ one of the toughest. She’s very physical, and she’s got that wealth of knowledge and experience,” she said. “She’s tough but in the most positive way possible.”

One of the most popular and accomplished women’s wrestlers on the roster, Hayter is always rooting for the division to succeed. And now, in less than a week, fans will find her challenging for the AEW Women’s World Tag Team titles at All In against Megan Bayne and Lena Kross.

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