Britt Baker Reveals Rhino Talked Her Into Trying Out For WWE, Why She Eventually Got Turned Down

In an interview on the latest episode of Talk is Jericho, Dr. Britt Baker DMD spoke about how it was Rhino who convinced her to try out for the WWE, then revealed why she eventually didn’t have a career there. Here are highlights:

On meeting Rhino: “One of the first seminars that I ever did…and I was setting up the ring for the promotion I worked at, IWC, and they had a Rhino seminar. I was debating, ‘Oh should I do it, should I not do it?’ Because I was very early on in training, I couldn’t have a match, I barely even know how to hit the ropes at that point. So I debated and finally I was like, ‘No I’m gonna do it.’ So I did the seminar and from that point on Rhino was a huge mentor to me pretty much throughout my whole independent career.”

On the advice he gave her about WWE: “He actually was the one that told me, he said, ‘Have you submitted your stuff to WWE?’ And I said, “No no no, I haven’t even had a match yet. There’s no way.’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘Let me ask you one question.’ And I’ll never forget this, he said, ‘WWVD?’ And I’m like, I don’t know that means. ‘What would Vince do?’ And at that time I was like, who is this crazy man talking to me right now? But no, so I sent in all my stuff and very early on I had communications with WWE. I had my first tryout before…no actually after I had my first match. I had no business being there. I was not any sort of name on the independent scene but just because of catching someone’s eye at a seminar.”

On what the tryout was like: “So I had to tell a lot of lies to be able to get out of school for that weekend because that’s a couple days. My tryout was actually pretty stacked with talent. It was…Bianca [Belair] was in it, Lacey Evans, Velveteen Dream, Sonya Deville, it was a loaded class. All those names I mentioned, plus myself, at the very end, got pulled aside to do like this extra physical with the doctor and I asked, I’m like, ‘What is this for?’ ‘Oh basically the people on this list have intentions of being hired.’ So I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m gonna get a job with WWE!'”

On not getting the job: “I’ll never forget at the very end of the camp, Canyon Ceman pulled me aside. If you’re an independent wrestler, Canyon Ceman is the gatekeeper. He is, ‘You shall not pass or come on in to the WWE.’ And he told me, he was like, ‘You really impressed a lot of people at this tryout.’ I was like, so excited, so excited. But he said, ‘As a father, I have a really hard time pulling someone from a professional degree for this business.’ And my heart just sank. So a couple of weeks later I got an email from him saying, ‘You have a lot of the qualities we look for, however we don’t have an opportunity for you at this time, but if you have the passion to succeed in this, you’ll find a way to make this work throughout dental school.’ And I never forgot that. Didn’t work out for WWE but it worked out to my advantage even better because I’m able to do both careers. I’m a dentist and a professional wrestler on TV.”

On what might have happened if she went to WWE: “And I kinda always dreaded that time when I would have to [quit dentistry], because I know how it goes. I’m not super experienced, I would have went straight to NXT, and I would have been a slave to the Performance Center, and there’s not enough hours in the day to even think about doing dentistry. So I kind of always wondered. I was always playing the game with them. ‘Yeah, you know, three months, six months, two months…’ but it was just never was working out. So when I got the offer from AEW it was like the heavens opened up. ‘Is this real? I get to do everything that I want to do and get paid to do both and I don’t have to make any true sacrifice?’ It was honestly too good to be true.”

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk is Jericho with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.