Inside The Reds

WWE Star Jade Cargill Touts Supportive Brandon Phillips and Efforts to Grow Women's Professional Softball

Big things have small beginnings, and a strong support system.

Rick Ucchino

Rick Ucchino talks to WWE Superstar Jade Cargill at SummerSlam Press Junket
Rick Ucchino talks to WWE Superstar Jade Cargill at SummerSlam Press Junket /
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Congratulations go out to the Texas Smoke. They are now two-time Women's Professional Fastpitch Softball Champions after defeating the Coastal Bend Tidal Wave 13-4 in the title game on Thursday night.

You may not be familiar with the Texas Smoke or the WPF—both of which have existed for two seasons—but chances are you know the driving force behind this new push in professional women's softball.

It's the all-star tag team of former Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips and his wife, WWE Superstar Jade Cargill.

In the six years following his retirement from the game of baseball, 'Dat Dude BP' has stayed busy. When he's not traveling the world to support Cargill's budding professional wrestling career, his time and energy is focused on his daughter and helping kick start the next evolution in women's athletics.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Cargill at the WWE SummerSlam Press Junket in Cleveland earlier this month, where she happily proclaimed that Phillips is thoroughly relishing this latest chapter of his life.

“He's just enjoying retirement and owning a team." Cargill said. "The passion right now is women's sports and trying to do nothing but uplift women's sports and women's softball, because obviously he played Major League Baseball. So, he wants to do as much as he can in case our daughter ever wants to get into that avenue.”

Looking around the landscape of women's softball, Phillips noticed a significant lack of professional options for thousands of female athletes to pursue once their college careers came to a close. Especially after the National Pro Fastpitch League folded in 2021 following two cancelled seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the opportunity arose to get involved in a brand new league, Phillips jumped into action.

Phillips and Cargill became owners of the Dallas-based Texas Smoke in November, 2022. They were the fourth franchise of Women's Fastpitch. The organization was up and running in time for the inaugural season just months later.

"It’s time to provide more opportunities for women to prolong their passion of this amazing game," Phillips said at the time.

It was a small first step into what he and Cargill hope will blossom into a much larger world.

“There are only the four teams in our division. Other than us, it's like AU [Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball] and then there’s a whole bunch of independent teams. So, the fact that he got the ball and just ran with it, and now we're the owners of the entire league, that speaks volumes. He's just very passionate.”

You could see that same passion and pride in Cargill who was gleaming with excitement to—allow me to use a wrestling term here—put over her girls and her husband's efforts to grow professional softball.

Interest in women's sports has reached an all-time high across the board. The WNBA is experiencing the biggest boom period in the league's history thanks in large part to a stellar rookie class headlined by Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever and Angel Reese of the Chicago Sky.

The Fever alone have watched attendance this season balloon by 265% from 2023. More than 3.4 million people tuned in to watch last month's All-Star Game, in which Team WNBA defeated the now gold medal U.S. Olympic roster 117-109, setting a new viewership record.

Considerable investments have also been made in new women's professional hockey, volleyball and rugby leagues.

The argument could certainly be made that professional wrestling served as one of the catalysts of this women's athletic movement. The appropriately named "Women's Revolution" that began in WWE back in 2016 provided proof that women were not only more than valet material, but they could be among the biggest stars in the entire pro wrestling industry.

Three years into that movement women would main event WrestleMania for the first time ever as Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair (daughter of WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair) and MMA megastar Ronda Rousey in a triple threat match for both WWE Women's Championships at the time.

That same year is when rival All Elite Wrestling debuted on national television. The company run by Jacksonville Jaguars Chief Strategy Officer Tony Khan. It's also the company that gave Cargill her start in wrestling before she made the move to WWE last year.

Standing 5-10, Cargill is an athletic marvel. She's one of WWE's premiere attractions alongside her tag team partner, former WWE Women's Champion and collegiate track star Bianca Belair.

“I'm hoping that we continue to go off and just continue to … break down barriers”, Cargill said. “That's what we're here for. We're here to do nothing but create footsteps for the next generation.”

Cargill and Belair are currently on the hunt to win back their WWE Women's Tag Team Championships after dropping them in a triple threat match at Clash at the Castle earlier this year in Glasgow, Scotland.

Whether it's a high point or a low point in her career, Phillips is there offering his support every step of the way. A completely reversed dynamic from when they first met eight years ago.

“Our lives have literally flipped," Cargill said. “Which he's fine with just being like, ‘Hey, do your thing. This is you. I'm gonna support you. I'll be here on the side with our daughter, but I want this about you.’ And I'm very appreciative 'cause probably a lot of men wouldn't be like that.”

The travel schedule of a WWE Superstar is perhaps unmatched by any profession in sports, save for Cincinnati Bengals and UC Bearcats play-by-play man Dan Hoard during football season.

So far this year Cargill has flown to aforementioned Scotland, France and Saudi Arabia for major premium live events (the name given to major WWE shows that used to be referred to as pay-per-views). She had also just completed a several day tour of Japan before hopping on a flight to Cleveland to chat with about 60 members of the wrestling media ahead of SummerSlam.

Having a strong support base in Phillips, someone who has years of experience in dealing with the travel requirements, stress and daunting expectations of being a professional athlete, has been invaluable to Cargill as she transitions from promising AEW performer to a bonafide megastar and main eventer in WWE. And doing so on top of the responsibilities of running a professional sports franchise and raising a child.

During Phillips' 11 seasons in Cincinnati, Reds fans grew accustomed to seeing that trademark million dollar smile grace Great American Ball Park. Never a man to be threatened with a good time, the responsibility lands on Phillips to let his wife know it's OK to have fun everyone now and again. Even in the face of the mounting stress and anxiety that may come with her job.

It's a true yin-yang relationship, because there will be times when it's on Cargill to reel in her husband a bit.

“He has a sense of humor where I'm like, not everybody understands the sense of humor. You gotta calm down. We just match each other," Cargill said. "We balance each other out. He's loosen up, have fun. And I'm like calm down, it’s time to be serious. So we just balance each other.”

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Rick Ucchino

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