Last week’s announcement that AEW’s “female-forward community” Heels was adding a $49 annual subscription fee was met with a lot of pushback online. Specific reactions to the program also got tied up in ongoing concerns about how the company booked and presented women’s wrestling on Dark and Dynamite. In the wake of the response, the woman responsible - Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes - deactivated her Twitter account.
Here are some updates on both situations.
On her still-active Instagram, Brandi heralded the success of Heels’ first event since the new price tag was announced, which happened on Friday night (Aug. 7). She also indicated Heels has already hit its initial membership goals. The good news came under a very nice photo which Rhodes has every right to share but that might not help with criticism such as Heels not being overtly welcoming for the entire range of fans who identify as female or non-binary.
In a since deleted Tweet, Brandi’s husband and fellow AEW executive Cody said her decision to leave Twitter came when the Heels critiques came along with race-based hate for Rhodes herself:
Leaving a social app because you open your phone to an absurd amount of n bombs is respectfully understandable. No place for that.
— Cody (@CodyRhodes) August 8, 2020
And while he didn’t mention Brandi specifically, Matt Jackson used an Instagram Story to give more backstory on The Young Bucks decision to leave Twitter late last year (h/t Andy Nemmity).
“I applaud anyone who decides to take a break from social media. Especially the toxic world of Twitter specifically. We logged off when threatening messages were sent to us regularly and finally the last straw came when google map images of our homes were being tweeted to us. It’s been a nice break for our mental health. If someone decides to sign off, good for them.”
Based on the 21st century news cycle, this controversy is probably mostly in our rear view.
Overall, it’s a reminder of what a double-edge sword the internet and especially social media can be - an amazing tool for promoting products & services to build a brand, and an easy to exploit means of directing venom & hate at anyone who uses it.