Facts About Britt Baker Only Hardcore Fans Know

Britt Baker is one of the most interesting female wrestlers on the circuit today. Baker, who has a real-life dental practice, switches between her time in the office and time in the ring. We have seen a dentist gimmick in wrestling before, but Britt Baker is no gimmick. She exploded on the wrestling scene in 2015 and, shortly after her start in AEW, she became the face of the company's women's division.

Despite only being on mainstream televised wrestling since 2019, Baker has racked up some huge accomplishments in a short amount of time. She has won the AEW Women's Championship and held it for 290 days, the second longest reign in AEW history. In addition, Britt Baker has collected gold on the independent scene and had a successful character transformation in AEW. With Britt Baker's success inside the ring all while maintaining a dental career, there is a lot to uncover about the short wrestling history of Britt Baker D.M.D.

Putting forth the effort to train for professional wrestling is a major feat within itself and Britt Baker not only did that, but also juggled the challenges of medical school at the same time. In 2015, shortly after completing her undergraduate studies at Penn State University, Baker made her debut with International Wrestling Cartel (via Pitt Alumni). Shortly after, Britt also began her studies in Dental Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. While studying, she joined the training sessions at Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) which was based out of Cleveland, Ohio in hopes of honing her skills.

Britt Baker mentioned in an interview with MEL Magazine that she felt like an outcast in dental school, because being a wrestler at the same time was certainly not the norm. In the interview she said, "Dental students don't think it's cool if you're a wrestler; they think it's cool if you get straight As and become an oral surgeon." Britt Baker admits that early into her career, she didn't really know what Independent Wrestling was and had to "whip out [her] trusty YouTube App" to start her "research." After scouring independent wrestling on YouTube, she saw some of her favorite wrestlers like Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. This gave her the reality check she needed that one day she could be a huge star just like them.

In AIW, Baker was trained by none other than, Mr. and Mrs. Wrestling themselves, Johnny Gargano and Candice LaRae. Despite not being signed to "NXT" yet, Gargano was still flying to Florida with Tommaso Ciampa to attend the "NXT" tapings. After the tapings, Gargano would fly back to Cleveland to train Britt Baker and the other students at 10 PM.

Britt Baker credits Gargano and LaRae for her push keep training despite being in medical school and making the long drive to training sessions. On an episode of Fightful's "Shooting Softly," Britt sat down with Sean Ross Sapp and talked about this point of her life: "That was a really hard time in my life. It's so weird because I loved every moment of it, but it was still hard so it still kinda sucked. But I would get so excited because I'd get to train with Candice and Johnny." In case you needed another reason to love the Gargano and LaRae duo, they are a huge reason why Britt Baker entered the wrestling scene and stuck around.

While Britt Baker was training to be a wrestler, Sasha Banks and Bayley were changing the game in women's wrestling by main eventing "NXT" TakeOvers and stealing the show. It comes as no surprise that someone with the drive of Britt Baker would choose Banks and Bayley, along with all their matches and moments, to be her inspiration while training. At a Steel City Comic Con Panel in 2021, Baker talked fondly about Bayley and Banks: "That was when the tides were turning and they kind of paved the way for my generation of wrestling. Even though they are still in my generation, they came before me."

Britt Baker did some trailblazing of her own when she competed in a Lights Out Match against Thunder Rosa on the March 7th, 2021 episode of AEW "Dynamite." This match raised the bar for women's wrestling as far as hardcore matches are concerned. On an episode of "The Sessions with Rene Paquette," Baker mentioned that many wrestlers reached out to her praising the match. Britt received praise from Mick Foley, Drew McIntyre, and most importantly, Bayley. Very early into her career, Britt Baker had already pushed the envelope for women's wrestling and got the nod of approval from one of her biggest inspirations. 

When Britt Baker was getting her start, there was no AEW. Striving wrestlers looked to WWE as their way to make it to the "big leagues." In 2015, Britt Baker received a tryout match in WWE alongside Bianca Belair and Lacy Evans. Baker, along with a small group of others, was asked to complete a second physical, moving them to the second stage of the tryout. In Britt's mind, she felt like this was it — she had made it to WWE so early into her career.

However, Baker had also just started her first year of dental school. During this time, Canyon Ceman was the Senior Director of Talent Development for WWE. Britt Baker told about a conversation she had with Ceman during her tryout on an episode of "Throwing Down" with Rene Paquette and Meisha Tate: "Then Canyon pulled me aside and said, 'You know, as a father, I have a hard time pulling you from your academic career. You're going to be a dentist. I want you to finish that." This news was heart-breaking for Baker, who was ready to drop dental school for a career in WWE. Things still worked out for her, though — not only did she finish dental school, but she got her big break in AEW four years later.

On the July 25th, 2016 episode of "Monday Night Raw," Britt Baker found herself working as enhancement talent for Nia Jax, who was recently drafted to "Raw." Baker lost in a squash match, making Jax look strong on her new brand. In an interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Britt mentions that referee John Cone approached her and told her to put her gear on because she "was going to bump around a bit." This was a surreal announcement to Britt Baker.

Baker got no offense in and instead was driven back first into the turn buckle, was on the receiving end of a huge leg drop, and got her nose busted open. There were rumors that Britt was heated with Jax after having her nose busted open in the match, but Britt shut those rumors down. Although Britt Baker didn't have a storied career in WWE, this squash match helped open other opportunities for her in WWE. Two years after the match with Nia Jax, she appeared again in the 2018 Mae Young Classic Tournament, a year before officially singing with AEW.

It is not everyday that a wrestler in a major federation balances two full time careers. The travel schedule of a wrestler is daunting and exhausting, leaving little time to be home, let alone work in a dentist office. Britt Baker knows that she will be busy every Wednesday, night so her dental office is closed that day. However, Britt told Bleacher Report that both of her worlds are very understanding of each other. She praises AEW for allowing her fly to a "Dynamite" show either Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. 

On the other end of "Dynamite," Baker says that AEW always makes sure to get her on the first flight Thursday morning, so she can make it back to the dental office on time. It is hard to take patients and be live on TV every single week without patients asking questions about it. Britt says she likes to try to keep her two lives separate, but will talk about her wrestling career if a patient asks. Sometimes it is hard to keep the two worlds separate, especially if Baker brings bruises and black eyes back to the office with her.

It is not secret that Britt Baker and Adam Cole are a power couple in wrestling. Wrestling runs on a unique schedule, so finding a partner willing to work around that schedule can be tough. Due to this, wrestlers often meet and date within the business. However, Cole and Baker's love story is a little less traditional than that. While in Hershey, Pennsylvania for a dental school conference, Britt fired up the Bumble app and matched with Adam Cole.

On Episode 342 of "Vids I Dig with Chris Van Vliet", Britt admits that she didn't recognize Adam Cole despite knowing him as a wrestler before. She said, "anytime I've ever seen him in a wrestling ring he's like soaking wet, his hair is dripping wet, he has no clothes on, pro-wrestling, right? And it said his name was Austin, so for me, I'm like, this guy looks so familiar but I don't know Austin." Baker and Cole chatted for awhile on Bumble, and it wasn't until Adam Cole came back from New Japan Pro-Wrestling and won the ROH Title for the third time that the two finally went on a date. Britt went from not recognizing his dry hair and street clothes appearance to eventually moving in with him in Orlando.

In April and May of 2022, both Adam Cole and Britt Baker competed in the first ever Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament for their respective genders. Cole and Baker found themselves in the finals of the tournament at Double or Nothing on May 29th, 2022. When the tournament was over, each had won the men's side and women's side of the tournament respectively. However, this was not the first time Baker and Cole had won gold alongside each other.

In August of 2017, Britt Baker and Adam Cole found themselves in a match at WrestleCircus: Cody Rhodes Summer Circus Show competing for the Big Top Tag Team Titles. Britt was on a hot streak in the summer of 2017 — two weeks prior to this match, she had captured the Iron City Women's Championship from Penelope Ford. This time, at WrestleCircus, Cole and Baker found themselves competing against Sami Callahan and Jessicka Havoc. Cole and Baker secured the Big Top Tag Titles, marking a major win for this couple early into Britt's career. Things started to pick up for Baker from there, and at the time (per Bleacher Report), she had her eyes set on getting to WWE, not even knowing she would soon be headliner for a company that didn't exist yet .

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes a wrestler from another company will attend a show put on by the competition as a fan. Often times the wrestler will not be shown in any crowd shots, but in this particular case, Britt Baker was shown in the audience of NXT TakeOver: Wargames 2019. This was shocking to many because before AEW, the WWE generally didn't allow their talent to attend other wrestling shows. However, Tony Kahn did not adopt this rule, and allows AEW talent to attend shows as they wish.

Britt was able to watch her boyfriend compete in a high caliber WarGames match. Adam Cole had tried to watch Britt wrestle a year earlier at the All In pay-per-view. However, Cole worked for WWE at the time and this was not allowed. On an episode of "AEW: Unrestricted," Britt recalls the frustration of this: "For All In actually, he had a plane ticket booked and then they told him he can't go. So, he still came to be supportful and he just watched it on his phone in the hotel room so that way we could after-party afterwards, but he wasn't allowed to go." Adam Cole later joined Britt in AEW, so now they can watch each other wrestle from the sidelines every week.

Britt Baker and Wardlow are featured regularly on AEW television. These two "home-grown" talents of AEW actually have a history with each other stemming far before AEW was born. Wardlow and Baker both began their wrestling careers in International Wrestling Cartel. When Britt got to AEW, one of the first people she recommended for Cody Rhodes to look into was Wardlow. Cody took Baker's advice and sent Raymond Lloyd (better known as WCW's Glacier) over to ICW for a seminar.

Lloyd ended up watching one of Wardlow's matches, and the next day, he called Rhodes and told him that Wardlow was a guy they were going to want to consider for the company. Wardlow appeared on an episode of "Insight With Chris Van Vilet" and talked about this moment: "I think there was one more guy from Warrior Wrestling that had contacted Cody about me. So it was this perfect storm where so many people said my name." Thanks to Britt Baker and others, Wardlow has found himself a successful career with AEW.

Some of the greatest on screen chemistry in wrestling comes from those who know each other best backstage. This is the case with Britt Baker and Tony Schiavone. Their on screen dynamic involved Britt chastising Schiavone for either being a Starbucks barista in the past or for just trying to do his job. These two have great comedic timing throughout many segments in the past, and a major reason for that is Britt and Tony get along so well off camera.

Britt has mentioned that she loves talking with Tony because he has a calming presence about him. Baker also credits a part of the success of her heel character to the chemistry she has with Schiavone. On an episode of "Talk is Jericho" (h/t Fightful), Britt mentioned Tony's influence on her heel character: "He helps my character so much because he plays along better than anybody in the entire locker room could because of who he is and what he does and how he interacts." Britt's first major heel promo took place on the Jericho Cruise with Tony Schiavone as the verbal punching bag. Since then, Britt's heel run in AEW has been some of the best work in the AEW women's division to date.

Before Britt Baker tore up AEW with her heel run, AEW brought her in as a babyface. On an episode of the podcast "Saturday Nights Main Event" (h/t 411 Mania), Britt claimed her babyface failed because the character she was playing was not really who she is. She even mentions that she blames JR on commentary for the babyface character not getting over. Britt felt that JR constantly hammered to the audience that she was a dentist, to the point where it was overkill and not a cool concept anymore.

Despite the lackluster character, Britt was still happy being in a major company doing what she loved and trained to do. It wasn't until she was training one day and Kenny Omega approached Britt about turning heel. Throughout her career, Baker had never been a heel and was interested in switching it up. Britt mentions that she channeled her inner WCW Chris Jericho as inspiration on how to act on camera. Britt recalled her feelings on the idea: "So, just like my whole experience with AEW, I felt like I was just kinda thrown into the fire. 'Let's go, let's see if this works.' And it did."