AEW’s Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes spoke with TV Insider this week and said she recently left Twitter because she has more important things to focus on.
Rhodes made the news and social media chatter last week after she deactivated her Twitter account following fan criticism over the AEW “Heels” online community for female fans. The speculation was that Rhodes, who was regularly active on Twitter, deleted her page because the negative feedback was too much.
Rhodes told Scott Fishman of TV Insider that she’s now focusing on AEW’s “Deadly Draw” tag team tournament for the women’s division, and the “Heels” project.
“I just think that right now there are other things that need my attention a lot more,” Rhodes said of leaving Twitter. “I’m focusing on ‘Heels,’ which Friday we had our first members based event. It was extremely successful. It’s nice to come together in a community of women that really appreciated it and enjoyed it. We had a really great time on Friday night. It was nice to put my energy into that.
“My energy is also going into the ‘Women’s Tag Team Cup Tournament’…It has been a really nice weekend to put all my time and energy into what I want to be focusing on right now.”
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Rhodes directly addressed the feedback to “Heels” and said the plans are already laid out for the project for the next year, and she believes word of mouth will be the best thing for it. She touted last Friday’s event for members, calling it a success.
“I think the word of mouth on ‘Heels’ is going to be the best thing for it,” she said. “After the event on Friday the word about it was positive. There was not a single person of the two hundred and change people who showed up that said I did not get what I expected or asked for…We want to keep the women excited and looking forward to different things. The plans are very much laid out for ‘Heels.’ We’ve got a course of action for an entire year here.
“That course of action can change a little bit as the conditions of the world improves, but I think for now we’ve got plenty of events and virtual meet-and-greets and contests and cool things for these women. Not just monthly, but weekly…It’s a cool thing to talk to each other and motivate each other and share their slices of life and just have fun, which is so much of what is missing in life. These are trying times with current events. If ‘Heels’ can be the bright light at the end of the tunnel for them, we’re happy to do whatever it takes to make it that.”
Rhodes also talked about how money isn’t the most important thing when it comes to the “Heels” project. She said “Heels” is not intended to be “super profitable” for the company.
“Another thing for people to know out of the gate is that ‘Heels’ is not ever going to be something I look to as a super profitable thing,” she said. “It’s not intended to be. It’s intended to be something they can count on and grow with and learn with and get something out of.
“In order to run a multi-faceted platform like that, it costs money. It’s not cheap by any means. This is not going to be a huge cash grab for AEW. But it’s something fans will love and appreciate, so it’s worth all the work and effort. Not everything is about a dollar. Some things are about what’s right.”
