Dr. Britt Baker DMD has arguably established herself as the face of the All Elite Wrestling women’s division.
Since arriving to All Elite Wrestling, the “DMD” quickly integrated herself as a staple of the company. Defeating Hikaru Shida on AEW: Double or Nothing 2021, Baker plowed through the competition during her reign. Along the way, she headlined the programming on multiple occasions, even while battling an injury. But with her rapid ascent, comes unique challenges, including online criticism.
In a recent appearance on the Swerve City Podcast, Britt Baker discussed her status atop the AEW women’s division. Additionally, she opened up about the frequent comparisons she’s received to WWE Superstar, Charlotte Flair. “I do consider myself the face of the women’s division,” she said. “That’s a job and that’s a priority. So, me doing what I do at TV every week, me being on TV, that’s a presence. I’m one of the top stars in the division, but I’m doing all these outside things that are given to me and hitting home runs left and right.”
“If you send me to Comic Cons, not only am I going at a Comic Con, but I’m gonna network and meet this person and that person and be like, ‘Have you heard of AEW? Because let me tell you about this.’ Next thing you know, we have John Kreese (Martin Kove) from Cobra Kai showing up with me at AEW Dynamite. I’m taking advantage of every single opportunity.”
“I do get compared to Charlotte all the time on Twitter. For me, ‘okay cool, one of the best women’s wrestlers of all time. You’re so mean for calling me that.’ [laughs] People don’t understand the constant pressure that comes with all the hate that you get. We are people. I think on Twitter, they dehumanize us, like ‘oh, we’re just wrestling characters,’ but we’re not, we’re people. This is our job and everybody in the world, we want to be good at our job. You’re doing everything you can to not mess up, and sometimes you still might. But the next day, you’re working ten times harder to make sure you’re not making the same mistakes because we’re human.”
Baker continued on the explain the struggles with the scrutiny she’s faced being the face of a division. “You’re under a microscope. No matter what you do, what you say, everyone has you under a microscope and they are looking for any second to twist and turn your words, to watch a match, and all of a sudden they know it all. ‘Oh, I see what happened right there. Britt did this wrong because she did that wrong and then she went to Tony and told Tony (Khan) this, this and this. That’s why this happened.’ No, it’s not. This was written three weeks ago. You can’t let that get in your brain or you will drive yourself insane, because I have.”
Despite sometimes getting lost in the cesspool of online criticism, the former champion revealed three people that have helped her overcome it. “It’s taken talking to people like Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, and Tony Khan to just say, ‘Do not listen to Twitter. Get it out of your head. It’s not real. Listen to your co-workers, listen to your peers. Listen to the people you look up to in wrestling, listen to the fans.’”
Before Britt Baker rose to the top of the division though, Baker suffered frequent losses. “People forget before I was in the position that I’m in, I lost to every girl on the roster two to three times. My first year and a half to two years of AEW, I was always losing. When I was babyface and even when I was heel, I was losing to the point where it was time for me to start challenging (Hikaru) Shida for belt, my record was so bad, I had to do ten Dark matches to get my record up so that I could be number one contender.”
“Funny thing with wrestling fans, is they love you on the climb, on the journey up,” she explained her frustration. “The second you get the belt, the second you get the win, or this or that. Then it’s the next person’s turn, and you’re taking up somebody’s space.”
Amidst frequent comparisons to former Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Baker revealed that she actually chatted with her. “She has given me so much advice just to get through this. She really has given me solid advice to just stay true to what you know is true. Don’t worry about the narratives that fans are creating or what they think they want to be true because you know what’s going on and you know how hard you’re working with. She’s been fantastic to me,” she said. “I would love to wrestle her.”
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