Aubrey Edwards On Women Wrestling Fans Having To Deal With Gatekeeping, The Growth Of AEW Heels

On a recent edition of AEW Unrestricted, the women of the AEW Heels talked about the origin of the Heels community and how it was evolved in the past year. Read on for highlights:

Leva Bates on how AEW Heels began: “[Brandi] was thinking about this idea for a while. I’m gonna say, beginning of the year [2020], she was talking about starting up this club. She wanted to make wrestling more accessible to women, and people who felt like, on the outskirts of what wrestling fandom is. I remember the first big, big launch was Double or Nothing. That’s when we did our very first ‘party.’ But it was on Zoom, cause of the pandemic! That kind of shaped how we started doing things from there on out. We had to do Zoom parties, and we started doing it, maybe monthly. Once we got out of the pandemic, that’s how it started growing. That was the initial idea, to have something, a place for women to go to, and get together and be comfortable in our own skins.”

Amanda Huber on how she became involved: “I had heard about Heels straight from the get-go. I was on a lot of the Zoom calls before anybody kind of knew who I was, just on the sidelines watching. I’m going, this is okay. Maybe not for me, but these ladies seem to be enjoying it, so good for them. After Brandi had left, I remember being in the hallway at Revolution with [AEW PR person] Mandy O’Donnell, and we were talking about my job with AEW Community, and I said ‘the Venn diagram of women wrestling fans and the people who want to do stuff in the community, it’s kind of a big circle.’ So I told Mandy, hey if you ever want me to with the Heels, or ever do anything as kind of a crossover… she’s like, ‘you need to talk to Aubrey.’ Well, I’m already BFFs with her, so let’s try that. I said to Aubrey, hey, I would like to jump on a call with you guys and figure out how I can bring community into this. It kind of snowballed from there (laughs).”

Vickie Guerrero on how the Heels program has evolved in the past year: “I can’t believe it’s already been a year [since Vickie joined]. We’ve all worked really hard on this. It’s been a constant little baby we cradle, every day (laughs). I was attending the Zoom calls when Brandi was part of it, and I was just doing guest appearances at that time. Like Amanda said, when Brandi was leading the Zoom calls, it was all about fashion, and [high] heels. I only wear heels when I’m paid for it. It was great, but once we turned it around and made it to where everybody was comfortable, and everybody could have a feeling of inclusion, like everybody could be a part of it, I loved it. Soon after that I was like, hey, I want to help out. It’s been fun.”

Aubrey Edwards on ‘bullshit gatekeeping’ of women wrestling fans: “I came on with Heels pretty early on, like you guys had attended all the sessions that were happening. I really believed in the idea, that we can do more to support women and finding a space for women to feel like they belong in wrestling. Because how many times have we all had someone say ‘oh, are you actually a wrestling fan? Well, who won the main event of this pay-per-view, and this day, and if you don’t know, you’re clearly not a wrestling fan.’ It’s this bullshit gatekeeping that happens that keeps women out of wrestling, and it’s really unfortunate. So trying to find a place where people don’t necessarily have to ‘prove’ their fandom, they can just say ‘I’m a fan of wrestling.’ Cool, you’re in! You’re one of us. There shouldn’t be a test! Cool, you love wrestling? Great! You’re one of us! That’s really what it should be.”

Aubrey Edwards on the transition of Heels after Brandi’s AEW exit: “I always believed in that idea, but like you said, when Brandi was running the organization, everything she’s doing is fine, it’s her organization. She has this high heeled logo because it’s who Brandi was; she’s about fashion, she’s about make-up. Very all feminine things. But as you said yourself [Vickie], not all women are into that. I’m going to steal the line of ‘I don’t wear heels unless I’m paid to wear heels.’ I’m also never wearing heels again, I love it. So I think that was one of the things that really drew me into helping Leva when that hole opened up. I think the idea’s good, I think the presentation just needs to change a little bit. Looking at the entirety of the AEW roster, not just the women’s locker room, but everybody. We all come from different backgrounds, we all have different interests, we all have different goals in life. To have one or two things represent ‘women as wrestling fans’ doesn’t really seem like it’s inclusive enough. We need to have everything. And I think from there it took off.”

If using any of the above quotations, please credit AEW Unrestricted h/t 411mania for the transcription.