Aubrey Edwards Was Scared to Referee the First AEW World Title Match

Speaking with Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Aubrey Edwards discussed being the referee for the first-ever AEW World Title match at All-Out last year. Edwards served as the referee for the match and Chris Jericho noted that he decided that he wanted to have her referee the bout after seeing her work at the earlier AEW PPVs. Edwards noted that she was scared going into the match because she was “all in my head” and didn’t want to screw it up. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

Jericho on asking to have Edwards referee the match: “It’s funny, because I was — once again, coming here and I knew a few people. There’s a lot of people I don’t know, so you’re just watching the matches and seeing everybody’s vibe. And I remember, I said to Cody, ‘She’s really good as a ref,’ right? And that’s when I was thinking, ‘Okay, we’re doing this title match with with Hangman. I want to have Aubrey, the first ever female ref in a world heavyweight title match.’”

Edwards on being nervous refereeing the match: “[It was] terrifying. [laughs] I’m not going lie, I was scared in that match. People ask me like, what my favorite match is, and they assume it’s that one. I’m like, ‘Oh, no.’ I was all in my head, I was so worried. It’s my first time working with Chris. Turns out he’s — you’re cool, great, cool guy and super easy to work with. But I’m like, ‘I just don’t wanna f**k up.’ I’m so nervous. I’m worried I’m just going to drop the belt because it’s like 40 pounds. I was so in my head about that whole thing, that I don’t think I enjoyed it in the moment. Now, watching it back after I’m like, ‘Okay, this was good. I’m happy with my performance. I could have done a couple things differently/.’ But yeah, I was nerve-racked.”

Edwards on working the main event of a PPV: “I was incredibly grateful for that. Honestly, one of my career goals was to main event a PPV someday. And to do that just after I have my two-year anniversary in the business is absolutely insane. So I can’t thank you enough for the opportunity. It was great.”