In an interview with The Wrestling Classic (via Fightful), Aubrey Edwards spoke about the various trials and tribulations AEW has had and is prou of the company for overcoming them.
She said: ““It’s incredible to see all of the things that we as a company have been through. Knowing that we were in Jacksonville for a year and a half during the pandemic, and that feels like a lifetime ago, but at the time, we didn’t know when we were leaving. It’s a very different AEW then than it is now. There’s definitely different periods of time that we see AEW go through, like when we were doing Darks in Orlando, before Rampage, before Collision. There’s so much growth that just has happened, that has effected our lives, where we are every work, where we’re traveling to, all those sort of things. So just seeing the different format that AEW has taken, especially knowing our next television deal, we’re going to be streaming. That’s an entirely different audience. Streaming simultaneously as we’re on cable, so we get to keep our current audience and grow, be in front of different eyeballs than we have been previously. Seeing that growth has been really cool because I remember the day when we got our first television deal. We were in Miami, and it was insane. Shad Khan was walking around, congratulating everybody. But that’s sort of the feeling of AEW. I feel like that’s a big part that hasn’t gone away, is that sort of feel of camaraderie, and it’s always cliche to say it, but that feeling of family. Seeing the different roster that has come in, I was really fortunate when I came in, I was on the indies, so I knew a good chunk of the people because I’d worked with them before. Now, I’m seeing people come in who have been my heroes, people I have idolized. I remember once flying to Brooklyn to see Mercedes Mone wrestle because of what she meant to women’s wrestling. Now having worked with her multiple times in officiating title matches is just insane. Bryan Danielson has been my favorite wrestler since I started watching wrestling, and being a part of all of these amazing moments, sitting by the stage at Wembley and seeing him win a title, tears streaming down my eyes, it’s insane that all of these things have happened, that we’ve grown to this point that we are a real competitor to a company that’s been around 40-plus years, and what it’s done for the business. Having different companies allows you to negotiate, it gives people more opportunities for jobs, it gives people more opportunities for growth. Competition is always good for everyone because you’re always trying to bring your A game. It’s just been fantastic to see us grow and change over time, and we still have that very scrappy attitude. There’s a number of people that wear multiple hats backstage, and they still do to this day, and they have since day one. But we’ve been able to bring in a lot of different people. I think we finally have over 100 full-time staff at AEW in different roles and whatnot. It’s crazy. It’s incredible.“
