Leva Bates Had No Idea AEW Would Sign Her As The Librarian, Says It Was All Cody Rhodes’ Plan

Leva Bates wasn’t privy to the plan that eventually got her signed to AEW.

One of the first signings to AEW’s Women’s Division, Bates made her debut for the promotion at 2019’s Fyter Fest. Her librarian character, though, was born through a contest she won on Being The Elite. Speaking at a Planet Comic-Con panel, Bates shared that it was Cody Rhodes’ idea and that she was surprised when the company reached out to sign her. She said the following:

“I can say this now, so I would actually hear just from Cody, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a few celebrity entrants to be The Librarian, would you mind doing that?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah I’ll do it.’ No interest. You know, not no interest, but no thought of me being The Librarian. I already heard rumbling that they already had a librarian, so I’m like, ‘Okay, cool.’ You know how the rumblings are. Internet rumblings. So, yeah, I’ll do it. So I put the video out there and it got a lot of buzz and it was pretty cool. Yay, my stock’s going up! Then, funny story was, I get a text a month later from Cody, [he says] ‘Our plan worked.’ Huh? What plan? Then a little bit later talent relations texts me, ‘Hey, is this still Leva Bates’ phone?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘We would like to offer you a contract to be The Librarian.’ What? Are you serious? So no, I had no idea that this was gonna happen. Apparently, this plan that Cody had was all in his head and I wasn’t privy to it until it actually worked. [He said] ‘Well, we didn’t want to get your hopes up.'”

In the time since, Peter Avalon has moved on from being a librarian and is currently one of The Wingmen and going by the name “Pretty Peter.” Bates joked about edging in on his turf before making a Highlander reference. 

“But yeah, I’m not sure if this is 100% true, but I’m pretty sure Peter was The Librarian from the get-go and then I edged my way in and made him share that. There can be only one,” Bates said.

Bates has not competed since a March 2021 episode of AEW Dark: Elevation. That said, she is still a regular on Being The Elite, where she is currently caught in a love triangle with Peter Avalon and Alex Reynolds.

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