Britt Baker: “Kenny Omega had the idea to turn me heel”

Britt Baker is set to battle in the main event of this week’s Dynamite and discussed her partnership with Rebel, developing as a talent while on TV and more in a new interview with Sports Illustrated. You can check out highlights below:

On developing into a star on live TV: “I went from wrestling on the independents in front of 200 people to wrestling on Dynamite in front of 10,000 people, and with a million more watching. That’s definitely baptism by fire, but that is one of the things that makes AEW so great. We don’t have a performance center to train; we’re all learning as we go. That makes the highs higher and the lows lower. And as far as learning as we go on TV, I love it. It’s such a challenge and such a rush. You know you have to go out there and kill it, or you won’t get that opportunity again.”

On if she thought she’d be as effective a heel as she is: “I didn’t. I’d never been a heel in my wrestling career—I was always, always a babyface. Kenny Omega had the idea to turn me heel. I was up for it, but deep down, I was concerned. Now I’m learning that I am a much better heel. I get to say the things that everybody else is thinking. That makes being a heel so much fun. It’s really a matter of saying and doing the things that, if I were watching, would make me furious and drive me crazy. The facials, the verbiage, whatever it takes to piss people off, I’ll do it.”

On her pairing with Rebel: “I am so happy that the rest of the world is seeing her talent. When we started “The Rules of Being a Role Model,” she was the makeup artist. She’s so passionate about wrestling, she was written into the first scene, the one in my dental office, as Reba. Once Tony saw that, he thought our interaction was great. We all thought it made sense to keep us together. At one point, there was talk of me turning on her. But I can’t. She’s that important to Dr. Britt Baker. We are having so much fun together. We always say, “Just let us flow; don’t overcomplicate things,” and that’s when you get the greatest product quality from us. Just let us flow, and we’re going to hit it out of the park.”