It Sounds Like Britt Baker Wants Out Of AEW

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Wrestler X hit the ground running in AEW. They became one of its biggest stars and the face of a division, only to ultimately disappear from television after a promising start. Wrestler X now reportedly wants out of AEW and is likely to reappear on WWE programming in the future.

This template is becoming a tale as old as AEW Sting. And, in this case, Wrestler X is Britt Baker.

According to Bodyslam.net (h/t Diva-Dirt.com), former AEW women’s world champion is “actively trying to leave AEW.” The report went on to state that Baker fell out with various people in AEW backstage, and was looking to get out of her contract, which reportedly runs through 2026. Baker hasn’t appeared on AEW TV since November 13, 2024, where she defeated Penelope Ford on AEW Dynamite before having an awkward exchange with Serena Deeb. After Deeb walked out to confront Baker in a non-speaking segment, Baker could be seen dismissively mouthing the words “nobody cares,” several times.

The post-match segment between Baker and Deeb has become fodder for memes among the internet wrestling community, and in hindsight, one cannot help but wonder if these seemingly off-the-cuff comments had something to do with Baker’s disappearance from TV.

Britt Baker Wants Leaving AEW?

Baker, who recently removed AEW from her Twitter bio, made headlines for a reported incident with top star MJF. The Hurt Syndicate member’s girlfriend Alicia Atout allegedly overheard Baker speaking ill of MJF backstage during the July 17, 2024 broadcast of AEW Dynamite. The confrontation between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Baker led to MJF reportedly punching a wall. Baker was suspended as a result of an HR investigation.

Baker has remained active on social media during an extended vacation. In a thinly veiled shot at AEW, Baker posted the following quote to her Instagram Stories:

“A bottle of water can be $1 at the supermarket, $3 at the gym, $5 at the movies, $6 on a plane…”

“Same water,” the quote continued, this time with text highlighted by Baker. “The only thing that changed its value was the place.”

Baker is clearly making a point that she’s still at the top of her game, but may need a change of scenery to show her true value to the wrestling business after being yanked from AEW television for the past eight months.

Baker’s exit speaks to a troubling theme in AEW of Tony Khan’s lack of conflict resolution skills. One of the many skills a wrestling promoter must have, especially while booking weekly national TV, is conflict management. Conflicts are inevitable in the wrestling business, and real-life issues backstage often lead to compelling storylines on TV. Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett, one of the greatest promoter tandems in wrestling history, famously had a sign in their office that read “Personal Issues Draw Money.”

Not only has Khan fumbled the opportunity to recreate life-imitating-art stories (CM Punk vs. The Elite, Jack Perry; Andrade vs. Sammy Guevara; Britt Baker and MJF), Khan’s response is to bench talent before ultimately releasing them to WWE. Khan can’t even seem to bring himself to embarrass or job out talent who seem to be on their way out of the company. Instead, he leaves them on the bench, where they build sympathy with WWE’s IWC contingent through cryptic messages and ultimately a surprise debut in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world.

With or without backstage tension, the list of AEW stars who have defected to WWE is staggering in terms of the star power they had in Jacksonville:

AEW Free Agents Who Joined WWE In 2025

• Mariah May (Blake Monroe)
• Ricky Starks (Ricky Saints)
• Penta
• Rey Fenix
• Miro (Rusev)
• Malakai Black (Aleister Black)

Other talent who left AEW include former undefeated AEW TBS champion Jade Cargill, former NXT Heritage Cup champion Brian Pillman Jr. (Lexis King), Andrade, former NXT North American champion Shawn Spears, current NXT North American champion Ethan Page, former AEW world champion CM Punk and WWE quarterback Cody Rhodes—arguably AEW’s biggest loss with CM Punk as a close second. Baker seems destined to join this growing list given Khan’s recent propensity to let disgruntled talent out of their contracts. This sets a dangerous precedent, especially with WWE actively looking to sign AEW talent.

“We won’t sign and bench people. We sign people who we want to use,” said WWE President Nick Khan during an interview with Bill Simmons. ”[AEW has] a lot of talented wrestlers. And we’re happy about that. When contractually they’re available to be talked to and have conversations with, assume a number of them will come over. And nothing but respect for the father who finances it and owns the Jaguars and all those other things.”

As the secondary promotion, AEW already faces the challenge of distinguishing who truly wants to be All Elite and who is using AEW as a springboard to get WWE’s attention in the middle of a wrestling war. WWE is a fierce competitor, and has answered Tony Khan’s “Enjoy Wrestling” spirit by carving out an unapologetic warpath designed to upend AEW from the inside out.

From acquiring AEW talent, to Nick Khan crediting Tony Khan’s father for AEW’s success, to counterprogramming AEW into oblivion during its biggest weekend, WWE is not messing around. More ex-AEW talent has flourished in WWE than those who have not. This is by design, to entice AEW talent. With Tony Khan liable to bench even his biggest stars before handing them over to the competition, Khan is on the verge of turning AEW into a WWE showcase territory.

Like NXT with a bigger budget.