In an interview with Sports Illustrated, AEW referee Aubrey Edwards, Amanda Huber, and Leva Bates discussed three years of AEW Heels, a community made for women who are fans of wrestling.
AEW Heels aims to foster a community where women and female-identifying fans can come together and celebrate their passion for professional wrestling.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
Huber on wanting to connect with other women who are fans: “I’ve loved wrestling my entire life. Finding other women who were fans was always a struggle. I was the wrestling fan, and everybody knew it, but I wanted other women to enjoy this super cool thing that I loved. I was always searching for that community.”
Edwards on keeping the group inclusive: “There is a different way it’s presented, and our goal is to make it even more inclusive. That begins with the logo, which was a pair of high heels and didn’t represent everyone. We’ve tweaked a lot, staying true to our existing members and encouraging new people to join. The heart of the organization hasn’t changed. We want to build a female fan base that knows they’re appreciated and can be themselves. We want to make wrestling more acceptable.”
Edwards on why this is important: “I’ve been part of so many male-dominated industries, so there’s always been that feeling of not belonging 100% to a community. Luckily, I was introduced to wrestling in a very positive way. There were very few female referees in 2017, but wrestling has been really good to me. And I want to leave it in an even better place than I found it. I love seeing more female faces in the crowd. That means more people are involved. There is still this type of gatekeeping, like getting asked which match was the main event of this event and which city it was held in. Seriously? Just let people enjoy the things they enjoy, and that’s what we are building with Heels. Membership has almost tripled, and it’s almost all by word of mouth.”
