American audiences were not used to the kind of women's wrestling witnessed on the March 18, 2021 episode of "AEW Dynamite,"where Dr. Britt Baker faced Thunder Rosa in an unsanctioned "Lights Out" match. The two women went to war in a brutal, bloody clash featuring chairs, ladders, and perhaps most memorably, thumbtacks. Thumbtack spots in men's matches were old hat by then, but for two women to do it on a major North American stage, it was groundbreaking if not divisive.
Baker reflected on the experience in an interview for the DDP Yoga YouTube channel,where she did some rehabilitative work with the WCW and WWE legend. During an uncomfortable yet restorative cold plunge, Baker revealed just how anxious she was going into the Lights Out match.
"That was the most nervous I've ever been in my life,"Baker said of the match."I never did a table bump before."
Leading up to the encounter, Baker said her fellow AEW colleague Chris Jericho had tried to ease her mind about doing the spot.
"Jericho sent me a video beforehand of how to do it, and it was the funniest thing ever. I'll save it 'til the end of time," Baker said, though she didn't elaborate on what was funny about it. Jericho had his own experience with thumbtacks while still wrestling for WWE. The former "Y2J" faced current AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, performing then as Dean Ambrose, in an Asylum Match at Extreme Rules 2016. Jericho famously took a back bump into the tacks before ultimately losing to Ambrose.
Meanwhile, there's no love lostbetweenBakerand Rosa, as the two reportedly had real heatoffscreen while working together onscreen. They faced off several times in AEW, both in singles and tag team matches, splitting their one-on-one encounters with two wins apiece.
