"The Librarian" Leva Bates Reveals Who Encouraged Her To Get Involved With AEW

"The Librarian" Leva Bates was on a recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast where she discussed her AEW signing as The Librarian. The Elite had previously spent weeks on Being The Elite looking for a Librarian for AEW. Bates revealed on AEW Unrestricted that one of AEW's Executive Vice Presidents, Cody Rhodes, had contacted her beforehand to make a video to audition to be the "Librarian" character.

"Cody actually hit me up," Bates revealed. "He's like, 'we're looking for some celebrity people to do videos, and we think it would be a lot of fun if you just kind of do a little video. If you wouldn't mind, it would be a big help for us.' And I'm like, 'oh my God.' Honestly, to be 100% honest, I was like, 'this is wonderful publicity for me', because around that time, I felt like my indie bookings were starting to go down a little bit. And I was like, 'oh, this would help me out a lot.' It's like, they're not really looking at me, but this is great. I'll get PR, I'll help them, they'll help me. Heck yeah, I'll do the video."

Bates also revealed that as she was starting up a Twitch stream, Christopher Daniels and Rhodes texted her, with Rhodes telling Bates that their "plan worked". Bates said that her being The Librarian was in AEW's plans all along though she was not made aware of the full details of said plan.

"I'm in the middle of my Q&A and I get a buzz on my phone," Bates recalled. "I look down. It was Christopher Daniels and Cody, and Cody was like, 'our plan worked.' What plan? There was a plan? I'm like, 'Cody, what plan?' He's like, 'you're in. You're The Librarian.' I'm like, 'what?' And I'm like, 'hi guys, I'm sorry. I got a very important message I got to take care. Watch some music videos real quick and I'll be right back.' And I put the Twitch stream on pause where it just kept playing music videos.

"And I'm like, 'what are you talking about? What plan? Librarian? I thought you guys already had one.' My mind went (makes exploding noises). So apparently that was his plan all along, or I just wasn't aware that he was, I guess, trying to find an in for me."

Bates recalled Kenny Omega and Rhodes praising her in front of AEW President Tony Khan. She admitted that she got emotional knowing that there were people behind the scenes vouching for her.

"Later on, Kenny was telling me, 'your video was just really, really good.' And one day, when they were sitting around talking about it, Cody brought it up to Tony," Bates said. "Right in front of Tony, 'hey, Kenny, did you see Leva's video?' And of course he and I know each other from pro wrestling, but all of our interactions up to that point had been video game conventions, like CEO and those type of things.

"So he's like, 'yeah, I know Leva. She's actually really great. She's in a lot of CEOs. She actually kind of went up above and beyond and volunteered for things she didn't have to do. She's really cool people. You like her video?' And they're kind of talking me up in front of Tony. He was like, 'well, give her a call.' Legit, when Kenny told me that, I was almost crying. It was just such a moment that I had no idea – literally no idea – that people were kind of pulling for me."

While Bates does not have a strong presence on-screen, she talked about her role as CBO Coordinator, serving as AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes' right-hand. She discussed the many roles she fills behind the scenes in AEW.

"I am pretty much the CBO Coordinator," Bates stated. "What does that mean? I am Brandi Rhodes' right-hand. Pretty much everything that she has her fingers in, I am the one that's cranking it out. So, we do a lot of PR. We do a lot of charity work, all the chief branding of all sorts. We're working with Heels now. I feel like gopher girl backstage. I'm literally running around with like a chicken with her head cut off backstage trying to connect all the pieces for all the different departments.

"I'm in charge of the makeup department, as well as the seamstress. I kind of help coordinate them along. So I'm coming up with list of who needs makeup, who's working, getting the supplies with the the head makeup artist, helping Ms. Sandra figure out who needs gear and when they need gear by the time they need gear."

Bates also discussed being a point of contact along with AEW referee and AEW Unrestricted co-host Aubrey Edwards for the women in the locker room. She said that working with Brandi has also led to her working with Dustin Rhodes as well.

"I know Aubrey and I are kind of a locker room point of contact," Bates noted. "I get so many questions from all the girls. 'Hey, where do I need to send this to?' Or, 'hey, I don't know where to go. What time is training?' Also, I feel like because I'm Brandi's right-hand, I'm also now under the umbrella of Dustin, who's our trainer for the women athletes. It's always 'hey, Leva, can you send out an email? Leva, can you run the Zoom classes for me?' So, I'm running the tech there."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.