10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About Priscilla Kelly

3. The Initial AEW Plans

Priscilla Kelly
AEW

Having competed in so many countries despite her relatively young age of 23, many thought that the buzz around Priscilla Kelly would mean that she was a shoo-in to end up in All Elite Wrestling once the promotion launched and began to lock down its talent - particularly when you consider how AEW's women's division has been one of the more problematic elements of the promotion across its young lifespan.

The Gypsy Princess has actually had two matches in AEW, appearing in All Out 2019's Casino Battle Royale, and then losing to Britt Baker on last year's Jericho Cruise.

According to Priscilla, AEW did actually offer her a deal, but she opted against it.

As for what ideas All Elite had for bringing her full-time into the fold, they wanted her to be introduced to AEW television as the wife of Darby Allin - which, of course, she was when AEW launched.

Speaking about those plans during an appearance on Vickie Guerrero's Excuse Me podcast, Kelly revealed:

"The thought was thrown around for me to be put with Darby in AEW. Maybe like, ‘You come in, and you’ll be the wife, and then like you get kicked in the face, and he then gets mad or something’. Like, there was a lot of ideas thrown around. I explained to everybody, I said, ‘You know, I could come in, I could do a wife spot, and it could eventually lead into me having matches or whatever it may be'.
But here’s the problem with that. If I come in and I’m introduced as Darby’s wife, I’m forever by the fans gonna be known as just as his wife. And then from there on out, everything I do in the ring or on a promo is gonna be heavily, heavily compared to him. I immediately become the Robin to his Batman.”

AEW's loss is clearly WWE's gain, and now it remains to be seen how Kelly, under her Gigi Dolin name, fares in NXT and beyond.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.