Red Velvet Recalls How She Got Initial Opportunities To Work For AEW

In March 2021, Red Velvet received an official upgrade to her AEW contract, with Cody Rhodes announcing that AEW President Tony Khan had boosted Velvet to a full-time deal with the company. Two years before that though, Velvet was unsure of where her wrestling career was headed. On a recent episode of "Pope's Point of View," Velvet recalled how that state of uncertainty began to shift, and eventually led her to working for All Elite Wrestling.

"I was building a name for myself, but I was just in the east coast. I didn't know how I was going to get to the west coast because people didn't know who I was, so sometimes they weren't giving me the opportunity. And I really was like, 'Something needs to change, and I don't know where or how.' So, I love her to death, she is one of my best friends now, but this flyer comes up of KiLynn [King]. She was having a 'Dark' match on AEW ... I spoke with my wrestling dad and I was just like, 'I don't know what I have to do. I know I can do it, I just need the opportunity [with AEW].' So he said, 'Okay well, I'll call you back because I have some people I know and some people I've done some stuff for and maybe they can help me out.'"

Luckily for Velvet, the connections of her "wrestling dad" paid off, as she later received an email from AEW's Manager of Talent Relations, QT Marshall, asking if she was interested in doing extra work for AEW. After securing a rental car, Velvet then made her way to Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida — the site of AEW's pandemic programming. Amidst the pre-taping training sessions, Velvet was approached by AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes, who informed her that she would be competing alongside Kenzie Paige in a tag team match on "AEW Dark" against Allie and Rhodes herself. Upon her successful outing in the tag team match, Velvet was then invited back for more appearances.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Pope's Point of View" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.