Britt Baker walked out of her Lights Out match against Thunder Rosa with a bloody face and thumbtacks stuck in her body.
Baker and Rosa made history on the March 17 AEW Dynamite, competing in the first-ever women's Lights Out match and becoming the first women to headline Dynamite.
Speaking to Renee Paquette on Oral Sessions, Baker detailed everything that went on behind the scenes leading up to the historic AEW match.
"[Tony Khan] told me about a month or so before the match [Lights Out] is what he wanted to do. 'Okay, let's go Hardcore Britt.' I was so nervous because I did not know how to set up a table. I'm asking the crew, 'Should I have to set up this table, how do I open it?' I've never done anything like this in my life," said Britt. "The ladder was so heavy. They make it look so effortless. I'm already so nervous about everything in this match. It's the main event, it's dangerous, there is so much pressure on the women's division to show out. There were so many things that could go wrong and I had never done anything like that."
When asked when she found out she would be in the main event of Dynamite, Baker said, "Things change in wrestling. [Tony] told us it would be the main event and then the day of, I see the whiteboard and that's when it really hit that it was happening. The night before, I watched the Trish and Lita main event (on Raw) and I thought, 'How cool would it be to go down in the history books with this match?' It's such a famous match, I've memorized the whole thing. I thought, 'Maybe Trish and Lita will watch this match one day. How cool would that be? It was so nerve-wracking. Jerry [Lynn], who was our agent, told us at least three times, 'You ladies have a chance to make history tonight.' Every time he said that I would hype myself up. I was so nervous, pumped up, and anxious."
Baker noted that she knew things were going to hurt in the match, but she was "ready to die" in the ring. She also said she was motivated to bring legitimacy to the women's division in AEW.
She also said that Rosa was the perfect foil for her because she's a fiery babyface and has the same passion and drive as Baker.
Baker also revealed that she was the one who wanted to do the thumbtacks spot in the match.
"We got into a couple of disagreements earlier in the day and I'm like, 'No, we have to do it, it's going to be fine. Just trust me.' I trust her so much. I wouldn't do that with anybody and I just needed her to trust her, and trust me, obviously. I'm not some crazy daredevil, but I was just ready to go," she said.
She thanked referee Paul Turner for always calming her before matches and checking on her during the match to make sure she was okay. Baker famously bled buckets in the match, leading to a visual that has already become a top-selling t-shirt on the AEW store.
"I knew I was bleeding a lot because I saw it dripping a lot and it was in my eyes. When I had blood before, I broke my nose. When the blood runs into your eyes, no one warned me about that. It's like a red fog and you can't see anything. At one point I say, 'I can't see.' I ask Reba, 'Give me your towel.' She gives me her jacket and I wipe my bloody eyes off. It did freak me out for a second," she recalled.
Before the match, Baker sought advice and talked to many different people, including Jon Moxley, Christian, and Kenny Omega.
"I talked to him about wanting to use the tacks and he was saying, 'Yeah, they hurt, but not that bad.' Turns out, they friggin hurt. Christian also informed me that the tacks don't hurt. I informed him immediately after 'No, the tacks hurt.' They pulled them out in the back and I forget what the final total was. They had shaken out when I took the final table bump. Another person who helped me out was Kenny [Omega]. He can sense when I'm about to lose it and always finds me and has a way of calming me down. It's a very normal conversation. He sat next to me as I was putting my boots on and I feel like he prepared me for war. He just told me, 'This is a special night and you're prepared for this,'" she said.
Finally, Britt praised Tony Khan for his care for the performers, revealing that she continued to push for different spots and as the match grew closer, he became very concerned.
Britt said about the AEW President, "Tony is very thoughtful and caring. He worries and is worried about our safety and getting hurt. I would always give him an idea one at a time. I didn't want to throw it all at once because he'd be like, 'No way.' I saved the tacks for last. I was like, 'I really think the tacks will be something that makes this match stick out because girls don't take tacks.' He was all for it and loved it. Right before the match, he pulled me into his office and he was worried. 'Britt, I don't know about some of these spots. The table bump at the end, the ladder.' I was like, 'Just trust me. We have to do this for this match to be what it needs to be,' and he did. As soon as the match was over, we stopped filming, and he was one of the first ones out there to check on me as I was laying in table rubble. He's a germaphobe and he hugged me as I was covered in blood. That's when I was like, 'Man, this must've been a good match.'"
Britt admitted that "everything hurt," but the adrenaline carried her through the match.
Elsewhere during the podcast, Britt gave Adam Cole's reaction to the match and revealed who reached out to her from other companies. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
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