The Simple Solution To AEW's Biggest Problem
Britt Baker has been one of AEW's most well-defined and consistent television performers since turning heel in January 2020.
The move resulted in an instant upturn in fortunes for Baker, whose performances seemingly became more assured overnight. Prickly, gloating promos and increasingly nasty ring work (remember the night she took glee in knocking Yuka Sakazaki's tooth out?) drew real, passionate heat, and Tony Schiavone became a sympathetic perfect foil for her bullying. The veteran announcer is amongst the most wholesome people in AEW. Everybody loves him. Baker's biggest browbeatings of the 62-year-old were the equivalent of somebody mugging your lovely uncle on his morning grocery run.
A knee injury suffered in May should have derailed this train, but no. From her wheelchair, and with Reba by her side, Baker delivered a week-to-week masterclass on how to stay relevant without being able to wrestle. If anything, her strength of character increased. Britt became increasingly obnoxious, deluded, entitled, and paranoid as she delivered her Rules of Being a Role Model, unrivalled conspiracy theories, and warred with Big Swole, and while the end result was All Out’s panned Tooth and Nail cinematic match, Britt perfected her onscreen persona during this period.
Finally, a personality strong enough to push the division forward had emerged and this, primarily, is why it’s time for her to take the throne.
The entire division has suffered from a chronic lack of character development. Shida is the perfect example of this, as while most would agree on the Full Metal Champion’s bell-to-bell pedigree, her personality has never been expanded beyond what she’s able to show in the ring. Elsewhere, Nyla Rose has a potentially useful manager in Vickie Guerrero, though the duo are rarely given promo time. Penelope Ford barely says a word. Going further back, Riho’s character was scarcely expanded outside the ring, while Kris Statlander’s development never went beyond the word “alien”.
Britt Baker, therefore, is an anomaly; an anomaly that must now become the norm.
CONT’d…