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Nowadays when watching WWE and AEW you'll notice there are more female referees than ever before.
Jessika Carr and Daphne Lashaunn are represented on the main roster for Vince McMahon's promotion. You'll regularly see them officiating both men's and women's matches each and every week on RAW and SmackDown.
Some 20 years ago, it would have been unusual to see a female official on a mainstream pro-wrestling show. However, female inclusion within sports has seen a dramatic increase in modern times and more opportunities are being presented.
The change in attitude really took hold of WWE in 2015 when they officially ignited their Women's Revolution. It ultimately led to one of the greatest moments in company history when Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair main-evented WrestleMania in 2019.
AEW made their own history following their inception in January 2019. They appointed their first-ever full-time referee later that year, who is now regularly featured each and every week in their programming.
So who is the female referee for AEW?
Aubrey Edwards is All Elite Wrestling's female referee. Edwards used to be a producer in the video game industry. She sought out a career in pro-wrestling after she was offered opportunities in the business following her appearance as a member of the audience as "Daniel Bryan Crying Girl" in WWE in 2016. Edwards was captured crying during Bryan's retirement speech.
She initially trained to be a wrestler, before transitioning into becoming a referee.
Edwards ultimately made wrestling history at AEW's inaugural pay-per-view event All Out. She became the first woman to referee a professional wrestling world championship match on pay-per-view, officiating a match between Chris Jericho and "Hangman" Adam Page for the AEW World Championship.
Aside from refereeing, Aubrey is also co-host of the weekly AEW Unrestricted show and project coordinator for the company, particularly involving the gaming department.
Aubrey Edwards explains her "hybrid" role with AEW
Aubrey Edwards spoke with Game Informer in December 2020 to discuss her multiple roles within Tony Khan's company.
"It’s almost like a hybrid role. I’m doing development things in the way that I’m working with art and making sure that all of our characters are represented properly, that our brand is represented properly. I’m working with the team to work on different features and follow the game design that we’re building with this game.
She continued:
"I’m currently writing some narrative stuff for tutorials and whatnot. So I’m doing a lot of random day-to-day development stuff, but at the same time kind of acting as that publisher role as well, working with marketing and trying to figure out what our timelines are there and working with budgets and all these different things." (h/t ewrestling)
There's no doubt Aubrey is a fan favorite and she's going to be a mainstay wearing the zebra stripes in the ring for All Elite Wrestling for years to come.
Are you a fan of Aubrey Edwards and her work in All Elite Wrestling? Let us know in the comments below!
