Backstage Reaction To Jamie Hayter's AEW Women's World Title Reign

Jamie Hayter's rise to becoming AEW Women's World Champion has been one of the more unabashedly positive pro wrestling stories of 2022, with the British import getting over organically with the audience while performing at a consistently high level in the ring.

According to a report from Fightful Select, the sentiment is similar behind the scenes. According to Sean Ross Sapp's report, he has "heard unanimous positive reception backstage" about Hayter's performance as champion so far, both in general and specific to Wednesday night's successful title defense against Hikaru Shida that headlined "Dynamite." He's also heard similar kudos for Britt Baker and Rebel for how well they've moved into their roles as Hayter's backup.

Also getting praise according to the same report: four-time former Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champion B.J. Whitmer, who produced and agented both the Shida match and Hayter's title win over Toni Storm at November's Full Gear pay-per-view. A student of Les Thatcher's wrestling school who broke in around the same time as the likes of Chris Hero and Nigel McGuinness circa 1999-2000, Whitmer has been with AEW since the company's early days in 2019. He came over with various ROH wrestlers and office staff who made the transition at the time.

The Fightful report also noted that Willow Nightingale put over Whitmer's impact as a producer in an interview with the Grapsody podcast.

Whitmer has not wrestled since 2017, his last match being a loss to current independent standout Dominic Garrini at Absolute Intense Wrestling's Gauntlet for the Gold 12 event in Cleveland, Ohio.