Ahead of All Elite Wrestling’s TNT premiere next Wednesday, several AEW talents and personnel spoke with The Post regarding the promotion’s core values including their focus on diversity and inclusion.
WarnerMedia’s Brett Weitz, who is the general manager for TNT, TBT and truTV, spoke about AEW’s aim for their product to “look like the world does.”
“We expect the ring to look like the world does,” Weitz said. “When you open up the prism and spread the lens out wider and show people that you as a consumer are represented here… that’s really empowering for people.”
AEW’s Chief Branding Officer, Brandi Rhodes, added to this. She explained that AEW doesn’t look at race, gender or sexuality, they judge the talent purely on their wrestling ability:
“[We’re] looking at everybody as a wrestling star,” Brandi stated. “Sometimes people see wrestlers for other attributes they have — their race, gender or sexuality — we just see this person as an incredible athlete, and we need them on our team.”
Safe Space
One AEW star who is grateful for AEW’s values is Nyla Rose. Despite being a transgender competitor, AEW has never made a point of it or turned it into a storyline. Rose admits this was “huge” for her.
“That was a huge thing for me,” Rose said, before adding, “transphobic critics who say AEW is shoving [her gender] down their throats couldn’t be more wrong. Nobody said anything!”
Commenting on dealing with daily hate, Rose said, “It’s a little hard to see such hateful, spiteful vitriol being spewed daily. It doesn’t cost you anything to use my proper pronouns. That’s how I identify, that’s who I am, that’s not a character, that doesn’t go away when the camera stops rolling.”
Ultimately, Rose is thankful that AEW has her back and are taking steps to make sure AEW is a “safe space for everyone, so everyone feels welcome.”
AEW: Dynamite premieres on TNT next week, October 2nd.
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