Starrcast III was home to a "Women of AEW" pannel on Friday, Aug. 30. The pannel was hosted by Tony Schiavone and included AEW stars Britt Baker, Brandi Rhodes, Nyla Rose, Allie, and Sadie Gibbs.
Highlights from the stage show are below.
- Brandi calls this a great time for wrestling. "The fans have made it easy to do this."
- Brandi discusses her parents supporting her as a figure skater and her realizing that she wanted to go to college over the Olympics. Says her mom, who is there this weekend, still supports her. Says no one knew she had a broadcasting background when she got into wrestling. "They hired me based off what I looked like, which was fine." Brandi was happy to do ring announcing when she first started.
- Brandi says she got the wrestling bug when she went to Survivor Series in Miami (2007). She was ready to sign that day.
- "Ring announcing is a memorization game," says Brandi. Says she didn't know the outcomes or anything. But she had the best seat in the house. Brandi says a lot of stuff she does in the ring is character-based. "I'm not doing flips. You don't want to see that."
- Britt Baker is a dentist. Schiavone asks, "Why would a dentist want to get into wrestling?" "Because they are a wrestling fan," says Baker. High praise for Brandi's teeth.
- Baker says she's never watched her first match back because she doesn't think it was very good. But she was so happy to get the match done and be able to call herself a pro wrestler. Says she was excited Chris Jericho was at the show where she won the ICW Women's Title.
- Allie is alive. She discusses her love of wrestling and grinding on the Independent scene. "When you have a passion for something, it doesn't fell like work."
- Allie says it was "perfect timing" that her IMPACT deal was up and AEW came calling.
- Nyla is a wrestler because she loves wrestling. Nyla jokes about how Britt's jaw was feeling after their match at Double or Nothing. Brandi says she added Awesome Kong to the DON match because it was good for the brand. Nyla now knows to expect curveballs.
- Nyla discusses her time working on The Switch, a television show in Canada.
- Sadie says watching a clip of Natalya vs. Nikki Bella made her want to be a wrestler. Says she went to a WWE tryout because she didn't know about the Independent scene. Sadie was told by WWE that she had everything they were looking for, she just needed to prove she wanted it. So she started to grind on the Independent scene.
- Brandi explains what the Casino Battle Royale is. Allie's focus will be on Brandi and doesn't think it will be tough to eliminate Brandi. "I've been eating a lot," says Brandi. A lot of trash talk to try and build the Casino Battle Royale.
- Brandi calls Cody taking the chair shot to the head "one of the scariest moments" of her life. Brandi says she is still distracted by the fact that Cody has not picked who he wants in his corner against Shawn Spears. Says she'll be hurt if she isn't picked.
- More hype for the Casino Battle Royale. The hype includes Nyla Rose cutting an excellent promo.
- Dream intergender matches: Allie - Shawn Michaels, Brandi - Randy Orton, Britt - Adam Cole, Nyla - No one, Sadie - Kenny Omega.
- Britt discusses the women's fatal four-way match at All In. Says it was cool that four women from four different companies had a match against each other. Is happy she ended up in AEW.
- Brandi says "Britt was painfully consistent to get booked on All In. So much so, that I almost said 'don't book her. she's doing too much.' But she admired Britt's persistence and once AEW became a reality, Britt was the first person Brandi wanted. Brandi always liked Allie and thought she was great in the ring when given a chance on IMPACT. Nyla was picked by Kenny Omega. Brandi says she's never seen Nyla in a big match. Twitter helped get Sadie Gibbs signed because people were begging Brandi to scout her.
- Nyla discusses the importance and pressure of being the first AEW Women's Champion. Believes all the women are ready and understand what comes with being the champion and the face of the division.
- The women talks about how they stay healthy on the road. Nyla and Britt make sure they have water. Allie makes sure she has coffee. Sadie likes Uber Eats and Brandi does meal prep. "Sometimes, you just forget to eat," says Allie.
- Brandi says they have an "End of the World" party after the show tomorrow. It's a big celebration with food, candy, and drinks for everyone.
- Britt says she will feel like a failure if she's not the first Women's Champion because she was the first woman signed. Believes she will thrive under the pressure.
- Dream matches: Brandi - Sensational Sherri, Britt - Tessa Blanchard, Allie - Trish Stratus, Nyla - Trish Stratus or Lita or her mentor, Sadie - Natalya
- Brandi discusses the difficulties of being the only woman working in a high position in the AEW front office. You can view her full comments by clicking here. Brandi also reveals that Awesome Kong is a female coach. Britt says she finally feels like she's moving away from being "Adam Cole's girlfriend" and getting recognized for her accomplishments. Allie, Sadie and Nyla discuss the progress they've made over the years from becoming more respected as women.
- Brandi is focused on making sure the women get equal time when AEW comes to TNT. Teases surprises for the Casino Battle Royale but is committed to the roster they have. "Everyone is going to love what happens to the division in October."
You can order Starrcast III through FITE TV.
