Ruby Soho & others defend AEW women’s locker room in wake of LuFisto’s criticism

AEW has not responded to any requests for comment on independent wrestling veteran LuFisto’s criticisms of their women’s wrestling division and backstage culture, and there’s a good argument that they shouldn’t.

But many members of their roster have, including one of the women who LuFisto particularly had issues with, Ruby Soho.

Wrestlers not employed by AEW voiced support for Soho after her name came up repeatedly in LuFisto’s interview with Fightful earlier this week:

Ruby’s “only statement” on the matter is probably an example why:

The women in the AEW locker room don’t just claim to be in support of women’s wrestling, they show it. Whether you see it or not. The ones who don’t ask for credit after they stand in gorilla and cheer for two women who beat each other to a pulp for your amusement. The ones who lend an enhancement talent their knee pads because they forgot theirs at home. The ones who sit in the locker room with a sobbing peer for an hour to console her when she’s having a bad day. Those women are silent heroes.

Just because the voices you hear are the loudest doesn’t mean those voices are speaking the truth.

That generally “high road” approach was followed by several others members of AEW’s women’s roster:

Saraya: The narrative going around is very disheartening considering someone says they want the best for women’s wrestling but buries it in a number of tweets.. I will say being in this company close to a year, my favourite part is being with the girls in the locker room. They uplift, support and laugh with each other every week and only want the best for one another. We hype each other up, we buy each other wrestling gear sometimes just as a little surprise, we text each other daily and we are there as a shoulder too. This is one of the best locker rooms I’ve been in and I refuse to let people twist it to be otherwise. Love you all

Renee Paquette: We have an incredible women’s division that all look out for and support each other. I’ve never seen it be anything other than a safe space for a bunch of kick ass women that all want to see each other and all of @aew shine to their full potential. Women hating women is a real dusty take.

A secondary focal point of LuFisto’s critique, Britt Baker, amplified many of the above. She also responded to other Twitter/X users to say, “I love AEW and I love our women’s locker room”, and to refute an accusation made in LuFisto’s follow-up tweets about a meeting held amidst the locker room’s well-documented and seemingly resolved issues with Thunder Rosa last year:

One of the few male wrestlers to chime in, AEW World champion Maxwell Jacpb Friedman, took a different approach. Without naming LuFisto, MJF went on the attack while defending his co-workers in this tweet:

If you listen to miserable people who never made it in this sport that’s not exactly the brightest thing to do.

Use your brain.

If someone’s been in professional wrestling for over a decade and you find them to be talented but they’ve never truly “panned out” there’s a reason for it.

1. Lack of talent.
2. Difficulty to work with.
3. Delusional

Just to name a few.

People love to talk ill of companies and will say things like “I’m the only person who’s brave enough to speak up.” When in reality the only reason you’re spewing bullshit is because you are aware deep down you aren’t going to make it so what’s the harm in spewing reckless lies and trying to hurt hard working talented people on your way down to obscurity.

We have an amazing women’s locker room.

Sorry not sorry.

As many have joked, LuFisto seems to have succeeded in united the AEW team against a common foe. Will it last? Drive them to new heights? Or is this all just some drama for me & my fellow messy bitches who love it, and talking points for the never-ending debate about the pros and cons of Tony Khan’s fed?

Time will tell.