Britt Baker has been the face of the AEW Women's Division since the pandemic when she rose to prominence as a heel.
Baker was given regular mic time while injured and when she returned to the ring, was slotted in a top spot despite not being the champion. Some fans have complained about Baker being regularly featured on television and being involved in top stories, wanting more opportunities for other women.
Online, Baker has been compared to Charlotte Flair, who has received similar criticism for always being involved in main stories on WWE television.
Speaking to Swerve Strickland & Monteasy on Swerve City, Baker was asked about being the face of the division and comparisons to Charlotte.
"I do consider myself the face of the women's division. That's a job and that's a priority. Me doing what I do at TV every week, me being on TV is 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, but I'm gonna network and meet this person and that person and be like, 'Have you heard of AEW? Let me tell you about this.' Next thing you know, we have John Kreese (Martin Kove) from Cobra Kai showing up 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. People don't understand the constant pressure that comes with all the hate that you get. We are people. On Twitter, they dehumanize us, 'Oh, we're just wrestling characters,' but we're not, we're people. This is our job and we want to be good at our job. You're doing everything you can to not mess up, but sometimes you still might. The next day, you're working ten times harder to make sure you're not making the same mistakes because we're human," she said.
Baker continued, "Being the face of the division, you're under a microscope. No matter what you're doing, what you're saying, 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 there. Britt did this wrong because she did that wrong 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. It's taken talking to people like Chris Jericho, Tony Schiavone, and Tony Khan to say, 'Do not listen to Twitter. Get it out of your head. It's not real. Listen to your co-workers and peers and people you look up to in wrestling. Listen to the fans.'"
Baker said she also talks to her friends who casually watch wrestling, but can offer a different opinion than those close to the situation.
"People forget before I was in the position that I'm in, I lost to every girl on the roster like two or three times. My first year and a half, I was always losing. Babyface and even when I was a heel, I was losing to the point where it was time for me to get ready to challenge (Hikaru) Shida, my record was so bad, I had to do ten Dark matches to get my record up," she said.
Baker won the AEW Women's Championship from Hikaru Shida at AEW Double or Nothing 2021.
Baker circled back to Charlotte, recalling advice Charlotte gave her about dealing with online critics.
"Back to Charlotte, her and I have chatted, and she has given me so much great advice just to get through this. She's 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 want to be true because you know what's going on and what you're working with. She's been fantastic to me," she said.
Charlotte has been off WWE television since losing to Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania Backlash.
Baker recently teamed with Jamie Hayter on the October 12 episode of AEW Dynamite, losing to Shida & Toni Storm.
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