Britt Baker Confirms WWE's Recent Interest, Why She Wasn't Signed Earlier

All Elite Wrestling Women's Champion Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. confirmed WWE recently expressed interest in signing her, but said the feeling wasn't mutual.

While participating in a radio interview with former WWE commentator Renee Paquette, Baker also confirmed reports previously addressed by her boyfriend, former NXT and current AEW superstar Adam Cole, about the company expressing interest in her while Cole was still under contract.

"It's no secret, [Adam] has already said it, that cat is out of the bag and I'm not going to get in trouble," Baker said via Fightful. "WWE was definitely poking the bear a little bit through him recently, when I was still with AEW. 'Hey, we're interested in her,' without teetering the line of contract tampering, they definitely let me know that they had interest in me, but it wasn't a mutual thing. I'm very happy with AEW and thankful for the opportunities and this is where I want to stay."

Cole appeared on Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast last month and confirmed NXT officials were interest in signing Baker amid her emergence as AEW's top female star.

"I know for sure that NXT was interested in saying, 'Hey, if Britt is available please let us know,' and I know AEW was interested in me as well," Cole said. "It was an interesting back and forth of 'it'd be cool if you came here' or 'it'd be cool if I came there,' but we were both under contract. Not much we could do, but we did fantasize about those things."

Additionally, Baker revealed a surprising reason why WWE hadn't previously signed her, despite her growing popularity on the independent circuit prior to AEW's official launch in 2019.

“Obviously originally there was no AEW so everybody wanted to go to WWE," Baker told Paquette via WrestlingNews.co. "That was the dream. I had a tryout with WWE, and in my tryout was Bianca [Belair] and Lacey [Evans]. There was a small group of us that got picked to do this secondary physical where it was like, ‘Oh man, we’re all getting signed. This is the crew.’ Then [former WWE Senior Director of Talent and Development] Canyon [Ceman] pulled me aside and said, ‘You know, as a father, I have a hard time pulling you from your academic career. You’re going to be a dentist. I want you to finish that. This was year one of dental school. My heart sunk because I was young, dumb, and ready to leave dental school in a heartbeat for WWE. Thank God I didn’t. Then AEW came along just as I was finishing dental school, and it was the perfect storm for me because I could still practice dentistry three days a week. I could travel, wrestle on TV, and grow my craft. To me, it’s not a question. Of course. Tony Khan, what’s up man? Let’s do this. It’s no secret because he’s already said it by now. The cat’s out of the bag. I’m not going to get in trouble. WWE was definitely poking the bear a little bit through him recently saying, ‘They are really interested in her.’ Without teetering the lines of contract tampering, they definitely let me know they had interest in me, but it wasn’t a mutual thing. I’m very happy in AEW. I’m very content and thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had there, and this is where I want to stay.”

Baker continued wrestling while earning her D.M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 and participated in the All In pay-per-view event -- which predated AEW's launch -- during the same year.

The Punxsutawney native was announced as the company's first female signee during its inaugural press conference on January 8, 2019.

Baker defeated Hikaru Shida via submission to win the AEW Women's World Championship during the promotion's Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 30, her first championship in a major wrestling promotion.