Tony Khan Fed Up With Wildly Unpopular Britt Baker In AEW

Tony Khan is reportedly so frustrated with Britt Baker that she might never wrestle for the company again.

In 2019, Britt Baker became the first woman signed by AEW, and at Double or Nothing two years later she won the Women’s World Title for the first time.

Over the next ten months, Baker saw off all challengers and continued her on-screen rivalry with Thunder Rosa. The pair were the first women to headline Dynamite thanks to their Unsanctioned Lights Out match in March 2021, and Rosa beat Baker to win the championship in March 2022 in a Steel Cage Match.

However, this period was followed by reports of significant heat between the duo and they “couldn’t stand one another.”

Baker went on hiatus in September 2023 as a result of a back injury and during her absence, she suffered other health issues. The star wouldn’t return until June 2024, but talk of backstage problems quickly emerged.

That August it was reported Britt Baker got involved in an altercation with MJF and his partner Alicia Atout. Following the incident Baker was suspended.

Baker hasn’t wrestled since defeating Penelope Ford on November 13th. After the match, she was confronted by Serena Deeb and was repeatedly shown on camera saying “Nobody cares” as the star made her way onto the stage. Deeb later wore a t-shirt with the phrase and an arrow pointing to her face on the December 7th edition of Collision.

Britt Baker’s AEW Could Be Over

As attention turns to Grand Slam: Australia in February and Revolution in March, fans would be forgiven for thinking Baker might soon be back in the fold. However, in reality, it seems that couldn’t be further from the truth.

According to a new report from Wade Keller via PWTorch VIP, Baker could be done with AEW altogether. Keller claimed there’s a growing frustration with Baker from management as well as her fellow wrestlers, citing another incident after her altercation with MJF.

“People have been wondering where Britt Baker is. She might be done with AEW, at least the feeling I’m getting from talking to people in AEW is Tony Khan might have her in the same category as some other wrestlers, where they just don’t get phone calls and don’t get called in to show up.

There’s a lot of frustration with her, I’m told, and I’ve heard this pretty consistently, she’s wildly unpopular in the women’s locker room. One person said no one ever wants to see her come back, speaking of the women’s locker room.

Now, that is a bold, broad statement. I could imagine somebody on social media going, ‘I’m a woman in AEW, and I want her back.’ Okay, fair enough. But I’m just telling you, somebody’s perception is nobody wants her back. That’s how bad it is. Someone’s willing to tell me that. There was the incident with her in MJF, and I’m told that factors into her being off television. But there are other issues with her that have come up.

She has become increasingly difficult to work with in a general sense. She has always had a reputation for being difficult to work with. There was a specific situation recently and not counting the MJF, situation, where people just threw their hands up.

I don’t know a lot of details on it, but I was told, a ittle bit, but where it was sort of, maybe it wasn’t like a huge deal, but it was enough to sort of be the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of just feeling like, ‘You know what, we’ve got a strong women’s division now compared to when she was on top, and we don’t need to deal with her. She’s going to be this difficult to work with.’ And so that’s where they are with her.

Keller reiterated that even when Baker was on top of the women’s division, all was not well behind the scenes. He added that Toy Khan is now fed up enough that he’s decided to focus TV time on others, leaving Baker kicking her heels on the sidelines.

I am told the Adam Cole situation is not stopping her like there should be no heat on Adam Cole. He has nothing to do with her not being on TV, even though they were in a relationship. And then, as of last reports, they weren’t. So that’s not a factor. If it ever was, it isn’t now.

Obviously, she had some stand-up moments in AEW and became a star and was seen as the centerpiece act. But even back then, I was hearing about her reputation and being unpopular in certain circles and difficult to work with, and being fiercely territorial of her role in the company in a way that just felt unsustainable.

And from what I’m hearing, at least, the attitude right now, at the moment, the belief is that Tony Khan is fed up enough that he’s going to focus his TV time on others.

I don’t know what that means in terms of her pay and her contract, and it’s possible eventually, things will change. She’ll make a phone call and apologize, or there’ll be five major injuries on the women’s roster, and she’s still under contract, so Tony Khan will call her and go, ‘Well, now we need you.’ Obviously there’s, caveats to this, but at this point in asking around, looks like you should not expect to see her back imminently, and that is the context of why.”

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Rey Fenix is one of several AEW stars expected to sign with WWE when their current deals expire. According to the report, Malakai Black, Miro, and Ricky Starks will all be on their way to the sports entertainment giant as soon as they’re able.

H/t to WrestlingNews.Co