Britt Baker Interview

Indy Mayhem Show 82
Guest: Britt Baker
Original Air Date: 08/12/2015
Listen or watch here

Sorg: With us, she just debuted at IWC’s Proving Grounds 4 (also available on IndyWrestling.us), it’s Brittany Baker!  How you doing?

Britt: Hey, I’m great!

Sorg: You’re joining us here on the show, for the first time.  Thank you.

Britt: Thanks for having me.  

Sorg: So, this isn’t the first time we’ve had a newbie on the show.  So, I’m hoping you come back in exactly a year and we see how you’re doing.

Britt: Deal.  Let’s make the date.

Sorg: So, how are you doing?

Britt: I’m doing well.  Happy to be here.

Sorg: So, we like to kind of get into, kind of, what got you into pro wrestling?  Why are you doing it?  Because we think the wrestlers have to be the biggest of fans to get this far into it, right?  So, what was kind of your earliest introduction to wrestling that really kind of caught your attention?

Britt: Okay.  So, I grew up with boys.  The family that babysat me was five (5) boys.  I have a little brother, and thirteen (13) boy cousins.  So, I’ve always been kind of a tomboy, in and out of wrestling.  I think we’ve all gone through stages where we’ve watched it more and less.  And, then, when I did my undergrad at PennState I just really got into it again.  And, I was moving to Pittsburgh for dental school, which I’m in now.  And, I found out about all the independent wrestling scene, which I wasn’t really too familiar with.  And, I was like, “Okay.  Why not?”  Like, you ask, “Why?”  I ask, “Why not?”  If you’re a wrestling fan and you have an opportunity to train in indy wrestling, it’s like a dream come true.

Sorg: Which that is funny.  You mentioned dental school.  

Britt: Mm-hmm.  

Sorg: Apparently you go to the same dental school as my cousin.

Britt: Yeah.

Sorg: So, that was kind of weird.  I can’t remember how that came together.  I don’t know if I looked at your Facebook or something and saw the mention?

Britt: The old, mutual friend gimmick.

Sorg: That’s awesome.  So, how did you come across the school itself, then?

Britt: Google.  And, then I sort of asked around with some people that I knew who were more familiar with the indy wrestling scene.  And, then, IWC is the place to be apparently.

Sorg: We get to see the trainees on our side doing production for a while.  And, I know we kind of always do the poll of, “I wonder if that one’s going to make it?”

Britt: Okay.  So, let’s talk about this.  The very first show I’m at, I meet everybody.  And, Justin Plummer, who at the time was the Aftershock, backstage announcer guy, would always ask, “So, are you going to quit yet?”  Like, every single show.  And, I’m like, “Who is this guy?  I don’t even know him, and I’m going to clothesline the man in the vest asking me am I going to quit.”

Sorg: Little did you know.

Britt: I’m like, “No.  I’m not.”  And, then, months later – you know, owner of IWC.

Sorg: And, then there you are, like fifth show in that he does, and you’re on the poster – the main event.  Awesome.  So how was it?  Well, first, who did you train under?

Britt: Super Hentai is my head trainer.  Awesome guy.  Awesome role model – a general.  And, then Marshall “The Bull” is my other trainer.  He is a bull.  That’s for sure.  And, then we always have guest trainers stopping in and out.  It’s really cool.  DJ Z stops by and helps, which is phenomenal.  We could sit in the ring forever and learn from him.

Sorg: It was always interesting, because I know Bronco, and I can’t remember the other guy, the slaughterhouse guys.  They were always bigger guys, but you can tell they wrestled like Shiima.  Like, he instilled that in them, you know?

Britt: Right.  Shiima’s awesome.  And, then, we have all the seminars.  There’s just awesome opportunities to train and learn from your idols.  So, that’s cool.

Sorg: I know. I think Tommy Dreamer’s coming up this week, isn’t he?

Britt: Yep.  Tommy Dreamer.  We had Matt Hardy, Vince Russo, Rhyno.  There’s definitely opportunities galore.

Sorg: How is he?  I mean, I think it’s obvious with everybody else, you’re learning what to do in the ring and everything.  What does somebody like Vince Russo bring on a seminar kind of basis like that?

Britt: Oh, his was awesome.  It was all promo, which I wish I could redo that seminar because it was when I just first started training and it was all about developing your character and how to portray your character, and just stuff like that.  And, it was so early on that I was like, “Um, I just took a bump yesterday for the first time.”  So, the character stuff was still way foreign to us.  Every single seminar, you take something from it.  And, I always go down, write everything down.  So someday I’m going to have a notebook of quotes and little tidbits of information from all these seminars that I go to.

Sorg: That’s great.  So, like I said, you kind of built up.  So, you’ve been kind of on the road with IWC for a few years, and there’s always kind of crazy stuff going on there.  As a trainee, what’s kind of the crazy stuff that you see, before you even get into the ring?

Britt: Oh my.  Well.

Sorg: You’re there every show, and I know it’s from the Meadville ones to the Clearfield ones.  And, like I mentioned with the seminars.  But, there’s a lot of people coming in and out and everything.  There has to be something interesting going on there.  I know being around it myself, we get to see some interesting stuff on production.  So, I can’t imagine what you guys deal with.

Britt: So, I am one of the few females involved with IWC.  

Sorg: And, to be fair to Justin, usually the females do not last.  To be fair.  You’re the first I can remember since one of our friends of the show that’s been on.  And, that was several, several years ago.

Britt: Because I’m the first Britt Baker.  That’s why.  First off, my trainees, I love them.  My fellow trainees.  We have so many inside jokes.  I could sit here forever and talk about them, and they wouldn’t make any sense or be funny to anybody.  But, I don’t know.  What are you looking for exactly?

Sorg: I don’t know.  I’m just putting that out there.  But, anyways.  So, you had your first match two weeks ago at this point, right?

Britt: Right.

Sorg: We were talking about this a little bit before the show, but Dan Hooven’s been killing it on Instagram.  I say how many times?

Britt: Oh my gosh.  Dan Hooven.

Sorg: I can’t remember.  Between you and Bulk Nasty debuting, I can’t remember the last time new, fresh-out-of-training school wrestlers had so much back story and visual representation going into something like this.

Britt: He was pulling pictures from everywhere. And, I had a picture from Hawaii, and he was like, “Oh.  Britt Baker’s training with the Usos.”  It was hilarious.

Sorg: Okay.  He wanted me to ask about the Usos.  

Britt: No.  It’s like a picture with two Samoans, and he was like, “Britt Baker, see you’re getting your training from the Usos.” It was hilarious.  And the worst part is, his personal twitter account, he’ll always be posting, “Oh, Britt Baker only charged me $20.00 this time for a picture.”  He pushes me as the ultimate heel.  And, I’m like, “Stop tweeting that stuff.”

Sorg: And, I know you and Bulk Nasty, who debuted at the first show.  It was like pictures of him lifting weights.  I’m going to try to find it here.  He puts up so many damn pictures I can’t find the ones from like two weeks ago.  But, it’s like him lifting weights, and “Bulk Nasty’s at the gym preparing for his debut.”  

Britt: Yeah, like he quietly waits or something like that.

Sorg: Yeah, he quietly waits to get on the main stage or something like that.  And, here’s the one.  This is the one that kind of got me.  The “Welcome to Brittsburg.”

Britt: Oh yeah.

Sorg: I saw that and I was like, “You’re telling me she’s going to have t-shirts, man?”

Britt: Dan Hooven started that, the Brittsburgh thing.  He started that, and then the fans kind of ran.  I have yet to ever say anything about Brittsburgh – on social media, in the ring, anything.

Sorg: You haven’t had a chance to promo.

Britt: Right.

Sorg: Let’s go back for a moment.  Before wrestling, you’ve been in IWC.  You’ve been on screen for a while now.  I think you kind of replaced Justin Plummer.  Thankfully he didn’t toss over the vest to you.

Britt: I wouldn’t wear it.  I would have to kindly refuse.

Sorg: And, I always feel bad.  Because our coloring has been so bad.  Because we color balance for the front, and he’s got so many lights in the back.  And, then we go back to you talking to somebody.  And, I swear it looks like a porn set.  

Britt: It’s fine.  

Sorg: You’re in a dress.  And, the colors are purple and stuff.  And, we’re like, “What are we doing here?”

Britt: That kind of came out of nowhere, where he was like, “You’re going to.”  Him and Chuck came up to me and they were like, “You’re going to do interviews now.  Okay.  Good.  Bring a dress.”  I’m like, “Oh.  Okay.”  First time, “What do I say?  Like, what am I doing?”  It was very nerve racking.  But, it was fun.  So, here’s backstory.  I’ll be like, all those interviews are live at Court Time, and I’ll be interviewing.  And, of course, all the wrestlers are off to the side mooning me, and this and that.  Everything unprofessional to try to throw me off my game.  

Sorg: So, how did you deal with that?  You’ve done that since Reloaded, right?

Britt: Yeah.

Sorg: So, a few months there.  A few shows there at Court Time doing some of those interviews. And, then we rolled you into, you had some issues with Dylan Bostick and Rae Lynn, right?

Britt: Yeah.  The chick’s crazy.  That’s the issue.  That’s the issue there.  Just trying to get an interview, you know, the platinum world tour, apparently they don’t do interviews.  I guess. So, yeah.  No issue, except she’s crazy and runs her mouth.  And, wants to wrestle.  And, I would absolutely want to return the favor and wrestle.

Sorg: Awesome.  And, then of course, now we’re back to where we’re at now, with the instagrams and stuff.  So, you had your first match.  How do you think it went?  You had a mixed tag, again Andrew Palace, Dylan Bostick, Rae Lynn were part of it.  Rae Lynn’s definitely been around for a little bit, right?

Britt: Right.

Sorg: How did it feel to get in front of the people down there at White Oak?

Britt: The fans there were awesome.  They’re cool.  And, I’m with Andrew Palace.  Who else?  Who better than Andrew Palace?  Everybody loves Andrew.  He can do no wrong.  And, he’s just an awesome mentor, in general.  I could put Andrew Palace over forever.  I love that guy.  Love him.  Look at him.  He’s flawless.  He is just perfect.  But, no.  It was good.  And, everyone involved was very cooperative.  Aside from Rae Lynn and Dylan being heels and cheating and this and that it was all good.  I’m so excited – one-on-one Caged Fury.  Me and Rae Lynn.  More than excited.

Sorg: Not in the cage though, right?

Britt: Not in the cage.  As of now, not in the cage.  Unless she wants to go in the cage.  I’ll wring her blonde hair through it.

Sorg: There’s not enough cage matches with ladies, I think.

Britt: Yeah.  I want to do a cage match.  Maybe not right now, but down the road I would.

Sorg: One of the main events on RAW back in the day was what, Trish and Lita, or Victoria and Lita maybe.

Britt: Yeah.  How cool would that be, to be like a Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch cage match?  I just thought of that.  That’d be cool.

Sorg: I think you’re kind of coming up in an interesting time as we’re seeing.  Obviously the divas division has been a little more diva-ey than wreslter-ey in the past several years.  And, now we’re kind of having this resurgence in NXT.  Is that kind of helping motivate you a little bit to see, “Oh wait.  We have this to look forward to, maybe?”

Britt: Right.  And, everyone always says, “Oh, who’s your favorite wrestler?  Who’s your favorite match?”  And, it’s always been Trish and Lita, Trish and Lita – from so long ago.  And, now, I feel like ever since the Takeover with Charlotte and Natalya, ever since that it’s just taken off.  And, now, if you want to see good wrestling, just put on NXT – or I guess now RAW because a lot of those girls are on the RAW stage.   NXT is filled with talent.  

Sorg: It seemed like the indy wrestling, we’ve talked a lot about the representation of indy wrestling, of women’s wrestling.  It seems like it’d be non-existent in certain places – IWC for several years it felt like, too.  Some other promotions are doing some things.  It seems like we’ve had this flux of great wrestling happening.  Again, with people like Sara Del Rey – an IWC alumna herself, now training up there.  

Britt: Trainer.

Sorg: Yeah.  Exactly.  And, I think there was actually an interview with Charlotte, maybe?  No, Paige.  Paige, on the Stone Cold Podcast, actually calling her out by name.  

Britt: Yeah.  I watched that.

Sorg: It’s nice to know that the good wrestling doesn’t have to stop for the girls before they get signed, right?

Britt: Right.  And, it’s so nice.  You turn on RAW and know you’re going to see a match – and not just hair pulling and strutting around from the divas division.  Not that we’re hating on that, but we like to see wrestling, too.  Right?  Right.  

Sorg: So, I understand you’re involved also with Chair Shot Reality with Justin LaBar?

Britt: Yes.

Sorg: How’d that come about?  

Britt: So, Justin LaBar just, one time, we were talking wrestling.  And, I’m sure we were arguing about something, because that’s what we do.  And, he was just like, “You know, I would love to have you come on the show.”  And, I did.  And, it was fun.  And, it worked.  And, then, I just kept coming on the show.  Plus, it’s nice.  They’re a bunch of dudes – a bunch of nerdy dudes, too.  So, to have a female on the show always helps.  And, I kind of took a little break from it in the summer, just because they switched the filming hours to when I was in classes for dental school.  But, I will definitely be back on the show, arguing with Justin LaBar on the reg.  

Sorg: Good.  Good.  Tell me, has Goulish ever donned the Sting make-up while on the show with you?  Because that happened to us when we were filming at Latitude 40 the one summer with them.  He just busted it out when there were those rumors of Sting coming back.

Britt: No.  I have yet to see that.  But, I’m going to mention that to him that I feel I’m missing out.  I feel robbed of the Sting make-up experience.

Sorg: It was superb.  The man has had some practice with the Sting make-up.  Out there wooing and everything.  Thankfully, I don’t think that was a show that Mark Madden was on.

Britt: He’s hilarious, in general.

Sorg: Yeah.  He’s great.  He’s awesome.  So, we’ve got a couple of questions here we like to ask going out.  First of all, what are you watching these days?  Obviously NXT.  As we talked about, you’ve got to be into.  But, is there anything else catching your attention these days?

Britt: Wrestling wise?

Sorg: Yeah.

Britt: Yeah.  I watch NXT.  I actually don’t get to catch RAW as much as I would like to because we train Monday nights.  I’m always just googling random matches – indy, old school.  I mean, I think I watch a Lita match at least once a week, just because.  I love that.  I would say primarily now I watch NXT more than anything.  Because, that’s everyone’s goal.  That’s where you want to be, so why not?  It makes sense to watch people that have reached your goal.  

Sorg: Awesome.  So, so far, again – not so far into your career so much.  But, you can add Chair Shot Reality to this too, to this question.  What’s the best and the worst thing about indy wrestling?  Or Chair Shot Reality?  We can do that.  If you’ve got any dirt on LaBar, please go ahead and share.

Britt: Oh, I have so much dirt on LaBar.  I will bury him.

Sorg: Alright, alright.  We haven’t had him on for a while.

Britt: The worst thing?  Those ring crews can get really – it’s fun, and we have a great group of guys.  Literally, all guys and me.  And, we do have fun, and we joke around.  But, particularly with the cage, those get to be late nights.  Especially the cage in Clearfield for an 8-minute match (Justin Plummer).  I’m sorry.  I had to call him out.  We’ve been mad about that.  There’s some build-up tension.  And, one of the best things is you make life-long friends.  For me, personally, I’m in dental school – where we don’t talk about NXT, Monday Night RAW generally.  The same thing with my friends.  I’ve gotten my roommates in it a little bit more, which is cool.  Because they were totally oblivious to wrestling.  And, then they started watching Total Divas.  

Sorg: And, they know you’re a wrestler and everything?

Britt: Yeah.  My roommate was at the show actually – Proving Ground. And, now she’s coming to Caged Fury and bringing her mom.  It’s so funny.  Yeah.  She’s awesome.

Sorg: We’ll have to talk my cousin into coming down, too.

Britt: Yeah.  Tell her to get down here.  

Sorg: Yeah, that side of the family is not great wrestling fans.

Britt: Oh, you don’t have to tell me.  My family hates wrestling – all of them.  

Sorg: I can tell my grandma was just very judgmental anytime I was staying with her and be like, “What are you watching?”  

Britt: Actually, I think everybody that doesn’t watch wrestling, they’re judgmental.  They look at you like, “What?  What kool-aid are you drinking?  What is wrong with you?”  It’s true though.  If you meet someone, you’re like, “Oh, I’m a professional wrestler.”  And, they’re like, “What?  Why?”  And, then, “It’s fake.  Oh, this and that.”

Sorg: I always get, “Like on the TV?”  

Britt: Yeah.  Like WWE.  

Sorg: Yeah.

Britt: Yeah.  It’s funny.  “Like John Cena?”  That’s a common one.

Sorg: “So, what?  Are they like different companies? Are they like the minor leagues?”  And, you can’t really explain it in context.

Britt: It’s so hard to explain.  It’s just like, you just roll with it.

Sorg: Like, “Yeah.  Kind of like that.  Except no TV and about 300 people maybe.”  So, I understand – we were talking about it, so you can announce it – you’re actually going to be a few different places, and not just IWC at Caged Fury in a couple weeks.”

Britt: Yeah.  Traveling a little bit.  So, I’ll be at AIW in, I think it’s October 3rd for the Girls’ Night Out show, which I’m really excited about.  I’m kind of nervous.  Because, I’ve seen a lot of the AIW girls’ matches, and they’re very, very talented females.  So that’ll be awesome experience.  I do some in-ring announcing up at PWR in Erie.  That’s a good crew – a lot of IWC people.

Sorg: That’s right, John McChesney’s pretty big up there right now.

Britt: John McChesney is huge up there.  Erie is John McChesney.  I’m convinced.  He is the mayor or something.  

Sorg: I hear rumor he may be responsible for the turnout at Global Force.  So, I could believe that.

Britt: They love him.  He’s huge up there.  I’m a McChesney fan.  I really like John.  He’s always offering advice.  

Sorg: And, of course, Caged Fury coming up here on August 22, 2015 in Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, just south of town. Of course that’ll be on DVD and digital download if you’re not in the area.  But, I recommend if you are, come check it out.  It’s going to be a crazy, crazy show.  

Britt: It is going to be a crazy show.  You have to come.  Everybody.  

Sorg: So, who’s going to do backstage now?

Britt: I don’t know.  I have no idea.

Sorg: You be careful.  Because this is where you find out you’re doing double duty.  

Britt: I am not going anywhere near that mic.  Because, the last time I did a crazy broad slapped me.  So, I told Plummer I’m retiring from that position.  

Sorg: Okay, Plummer, he’s on top now.  But, remember, he was doing ring announcing and running back to me by the camera to do commentary with, I think, Sassy Steph or something at the time.  This is what happens in indy wrestling.  You never know.  You might have to do an interview right after your match.  I hope you win it.

Britt: I will.  For sure.  As long as there’s no cheating involved.  You never know with those two.  

Sorg: Brittany Baker.  Check her out.  You’re on twitters, where else?

Britt: Twitter, Instagram, facebook – not as active on social media as I should be.  And, I am going to be better Justin Plummer.  I promise.  A tweet a day.  He told me.  That’s my new goal – is to tweet a day.  

Sorg: @RealBrittBaker on the twitter.  Bug her.  Ask her questions.  Right?

Britt: Yeah.  Definitely.  Hit me with the questions.  Everyone always asks about training.  Like, this and that.  I love training.  Training’s my favorite part of the week.  Because, I have school all week, and then I go to training Monday night, train with those goons.  Palace comes and trains with us.  And, Darrin Deniro.  They’re both my good friends.  Bulk Nasty.  We always have a good time.  Which, I just listed those names.  There is a huge size disadvantage on my part with those guys.

Sorg: Actually, I didn’t mention, but speaking of training and physicality.  It is really intimidating looking at your twitter account because I’m familiar with yoga.  I’ve done the DDP Yoga, bro.  And, I cannot do that.

Britt: Have you tried it though?  

Sorg: No.

Britt: I actually just taught Palace how to do this.  I think I could teach you.  

Sorg: You think so?

Britt: Yeah.  By next show.

Sorg: I’m rusty.  By next show?

Britt: Yeah.

Sorg: Okay. Okay.  We’ll have to work on that then.  Man, I’m going to be fit.  I’m going to be doing all kinds of poses.

Britt: And, that can be your cover photo.  

Sorg: You don’t want that.  That’s going to be ugly if I try to do that, and try to put a pic like that up in shorts.  Nobody’s going to want that.  Everybody’s going to unfollow me.  But, go check her out.  Thanks a lot for joining us, and check her out at IWC.  IWCWrestling.com for more information.  And, please, follow that Instagram.  Who knows what Hooven’s going to put up next.  He has a lot of pictures at his disposal, and a lot of time on his hands, apparently.  So, we’re going to take a look at last week in Sorgatron Media and be right back.