Former AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker on how she balances her life as a licensed dentist and a pro wrestler

Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. is really a dentist — she doesn’t just play one on TV. When she’s not practicing dentistry, she’s also Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., former AEW Women’s Champion, and one of the top female wrestlers in the industry since she joined the Tony Khan-helmed All Elite Wrestling in 2019.

So what would drive a dentist to become a pro wrestler in their spare time? Maybe we should actually phrase that differently, because it wasn’t as if Britt Baker decided to become a wrestler as a fallback plan to dentistry or vice-versa; in fact, at the same time the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania native enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, she also started her journey training as a pro-wrestler.

“I was just a fan. I never dreamed of it as a kid,” Baker said when asked about what drove her to become a professional wrestler in addition to a dentist in an interview with Fox News Digital. “It was never anything that I was chasing until I learned that I could really. I was in a wormhole on YouTube of what’s called indy wrestling – independent wrestling. And I found out that some of my favorite wrestlers, like massive WWE stars, all started off in what’s called the independent wrestling circuit. Pretty much anyone could do it. You’re wrestling in front of 50 people in bingo halls and high school auditoriums and anyone can do it.”

Baker explains that even though dentistry was already a solid profession, her love of wrestling, and particularly, the feeling she derived from first stepping foot in a wrestling ring, was what made her decision to become a pro wrestler an easy one.

“That got kind of my brain ticking. ‘Hey, maybe I should just try it and see because I love wrestling so much maybe I will like it.’ And then the first time I tried out and stepped foot inside a wrestling ring, the rest was history. The problem was I was already accepted into dental school. So, I decided right then and there I was gonna be a wrestler and a dentist.”

As you might have guessed, balancing both jobs can become a little difficult. Particularly when fans from one world cross over into the other.

“Very carefully. It’s hard,” Baker said when asked how she balances being a dentist and a pro wrestler. “I would say right now it’s definitely the hardest time to manage of any time since I became a licensed dentist because they don’t teach you in dental school how to handle wrestling fans coming into your practice as patients and hunting down autographs and pictures and it’s very hard because you want to be respectful of the fans and give them your time but not in the dental office. That’s for patients that need help and care and not an autograph.”

All Elite Wrestling, which was launched in January 2019, and features such high-profile stars as Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, Sting, “Hangman” Adam Page and many more, has been the first legitimate contender to longtime pro wrestling juggernaut WWE, owned by Vince McMahon (soon to be owned by Endeavor, which also owns UFC, in a $9.3 billion deal) and Baker attributes much of that legitimacy and gravitas to AEW owner Tony Khan, the son of Jacksonville Jaguars and Fulham FC owner Shad Khan.

“Just how he treats people,” Baker said when asked what Khan’s most advantageous quality as an owner was. “How he treats his fans and those who support him. He really does care and not only that, you know he cares about you and what your thoughts are and what your concerns are. He’s a human and you feel that way when you’re talking to him,” Baker told Fox News Digital. “When you think of like a billionaire and the owner of the Jags and the owner of Fulham football, you think he’s some out of this world person that won’t even give you the time of day and it’s the total opposite. You can text him and call him at anytime and eventually he will get back to you or as soon as he can.

“But I think, as far as AEW goes, what makes him so special is that he was a fan. A fan of wrestling before anything. So, we have a fan of our sport kind of driving the bus right now and what better way to start a new wrestling revolution with someone who’s an actual fan. It’s not just a corporate, business power move. It’s somebody who truly loves what we do.”

When asked if she thought AEW had the capability to become a pro wrestling titan on the level of McMahon’s WWE, Baker said, “I do. I think so,” she said. “When I first signed with AEW, I really took a chance and took a risk because all I ever wanted was to be with WWE but I just felt so strongly and so passionate about AEW. And the fact that they told me I could still be a dentist while I was wrestling. That’s all I need to hear. That was it.

“But we started very small. We didn’t even have a TV deal yet and now we have two TV shows on TBS and TNT. We have ‘All-Access’ the reality show. And now we just announced we’re going to be wrestling in the UK at Wembley Stadium, which is huge. Massive. We’re well on our way, making huge strides and there’s a lot of people that this is just kind of an alternative to WWE. If you don’t like that, you can watch this. Or if you like that, you can also watch AEW. And it’s just cool that we have the options. And also, it is competition for WWE. And competition makes everything better because everyone has to rise up or they’re gonna fall behind. So it just makes all of professional wrestling better having AEW around.”