Brandi Rhodes Discusses Gender Pay Gap In Pro Wrestling

Brandi Rhodes continues to discuss equal pay in AEW.

Much has been made about equal pay in AEW ever since Brandi Rhodes first mentioned it at the AEW Rally in January. “We care about our women. They will be paid equally. There’s no sliding scale,” said Brandi. She would later clarify, saying, “Equal pay means equal opportunity regardless of sex. It does not mean that everyone will be paid the exact same salary regardless of their position. It means the gender pay gap does not apply. An entry level woman won’t make less than an entry level man because of her gender.”

During the media scrum at Thursday’s AEW Double or Nothing Ticket Announcement Party, Brandi offered further insight into equal pay, sharing an example from her time in professional wrestling.

“If you’re someone who is coming straight from the Indies and you’ve not been on television for awhile, male or female, you start at the same spot. If you have been on TV for awhile and maybe you’ve been a champion. You start at the same spot,” said Brandi. “With places that I’ve worked before, there have been a lot of times where no matter what, you start at ‘this. This is your weekly or your per-show.’ But then you talk to a man and their per-show is different. And they may be a man who has never been on TV before. I worked for a company where I had a pay…that was okay. But way below pays of people who had never been on TV before. I have been in this industry a long time and worked for top companies. Why is that?”

Brandi revealed four new female signings to AEW at the Ticket Announcement Party including Kylie Rae and the legendary Aja Kong. You can view the entire AEW female roster at this link. 

And you can listen to Brandi’s entire media scrum in the video above.