Britt Baker took a photo of herself sporting a black eye after she was attacked by The Outcasts (Saraya, Toni Storm, & Ruby Soho) on AEW Dynamite.
The photo became a t-shirt and the t-shirt caused a stir online with some fans say that the shirt, without any context, supports domestic violence.
Baker was active on social media in defending the shirt and its purpose, and speaking to Sports Illustrated, Baker elaborated on her thoughts.
“I was very surprised. When I posted the picture of my black eye on social media, it got almost 100,000 likes [and comments saying] that I’m tough and I’m a badass and, ‘Wow, this girl, she’s strong.’ It was empowering,” Baker said. “But then when it went on a shirt, it was really problematic, and that was so confusing to me. Because why? If I’m on a shirt with a black eye, why does that make me weak? Why does that make me a victim? But if a man, or Chris Jericho, had a black eye, they’d be tough and they’d be a badass.
“To me, it’s showing the internal narrative that people are saying about women—and that’s that we’re not as strong or as tough as the men, and that’s the real problem here. It’s not a black eye on a T-shirt. Sometimes I do get hurt. I’ve broken my leg, my wrist, my nose—and guess what? Now I have a black eye and I signed up for that. I’ve actually been telling the makeup artist, ‘Don’t cover up my black eye.’ Because I think it’s empowering, because I’m tough. You should see the other girl.”
The shirt was the top selling shirt of the week on Pro Wrestling Tees.
Supports domestic violence how?I got a black eye in a RING? My enemies put a pic on a shirt to troll me and I outsmarted them.--
— Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (@RealBrittBaker) April 29, 2023
Does that mean all the (top selling) bloody T-shirts are supporting murder?
If a male wrestler had a shirt with a black eye would you be this pissed? https://t.co/QD9ghSdgQc pic.twitter.com/I05DP2T8SS
.@ShopAEW -- https://t.co/4DCHsoBc2o pic.twitter.com/q6mfG7ThXA
— Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (@RealBrittBaker) May 4, 2023
Chris Jericho wore the shirt on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, but Baker got the last laugh as she slapped Jericho after he was attacked by Adam Cole.
If you missed anything from Wednesday's AEW Dynamite, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
