The choice to put Kris Statlander over Jade Cargill was not made on the spot.
At AEW Double or Nothing, after being sidelined for more than eight months due to injury, Kris Statlander made his comeback to AEW. She accepted Cargill’s open challenge for a TBS Championship Match that evening. Statlander was able to take advantage of a battered Cargill, who had just defeated Taya Valkyrie, to spoil Jade’s perfect record and win the match.
When Statlander appeared on Haus of Wrestling, she disclosed that discussions about her winning the championship began months before AEW Double Or Nothing.
There was talks about it a few months before I fully returned, but I always never believe that things are going to happen until I walk out there and it happens. So I was kind of just, even the night before, I was like, ‘We’ll see if this happens because things can change.’ That’s how it is. It wasn’t that I don’t trust people. It’s just that, you know, things happen so much. Things need to be changed and you can never really, it’s more just you don’t want to set yourself up for disappointment. There wasn’t anything like, ‘Oh, we’re not sure if you’re the one that’s going to do it,’ it was more just, you know, ‘We’ll see what the definitive plans are when we get there.’ But I do remember when I first heard the idea, I was kind of like, ‘Okay, if that’s what you want.’ It was a very, very cool thing to know that a lot of people trusted me to be that one, and I just hope that in that moment that I did return and that everything I continued to do while I have the title lives up to and exceeds expectations,”
-Kris Statlander
Since making her return and capturing the TBS Championship, Statlander has made two successful defences on AEW Dynamite, first defeating former AEW Women’s Champion Nyla Rose before putting away Anna Jay AS the following week.
Statlander is undoubtedly one of AEW’s most popular and talented stars, and thus, it’s great to finally see her back in action on a consistent basis.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
