Britt Baker found herself in controversy as she has a t-shirt being sold by AEW that features a photo of her with a black eye.
This comes after an angle where she was attacked by Saraya, Toni Storm, and Ruby Soho while she was trying to defend her boyfriend, Adam Cole, from an attack by Chris Jericho and his Jericho Appreciation Society.
Baker addressed the backlash while speaking with Sports Illustrated. She said,
“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.”
“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.”
Baker explained that it shows a narrative where some people don’t see women being as tough as men in the wrestling business. She added,
“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.”
