Kris Statlander Reflects on "Weird" AEW Women's World Title Win

At All Out 2025, Kris Statlander defeated "Timeless" Toni Storm, Thekla, and Jamie Hayter to become Women's World Champion for the first time.

Former champion Storm had been on the run of a lifetime prior to the loss, becoming one of the biggest stars in the entire industry. This saw her see off Mariah May in brutal fashion before handing Mercedes Mone her first AEW defeat in front of more than 21,000 fans at All In: Texas.

However, all good things come to an end, and just two months after beating Mone, Storm found herself looking at the lights as Statlander took home AEW's top prize.

The victory was especially poignant for Statlander, who had been with the company since 2019 and overcome two major knee injuries. Furthermore, it meant that the star became the first woman in company history to win both the World and TBS Championships.

Kris Statlander returned from her second ACL surgery to become TBS Champion at Double Or Nothing 2023. | All Elite Wrestling

Kris Statlander has been through an "odd time"

Kris Statlander went on to make five successful title defenses, but her reign failed to capture fans' imagination in the same way as Storm's had through the earlier part of the year. Statlander eventually lost the title to Thekla on February 11 in a violent Strap Match.

In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet, Statlander has now opened up about her run with the World Title for the first time, and admitted it came along at the wrong time.

“I feel like you shouldn’t always necessarily need to brand yourself as a champion in order to be worthy of having this memorable career, so to speak. I feel like actually winning the championship kind of came at a really weird time for me."
Kris Statlander

The star went on to say that she faced an "uphill battle" trying to cement herself and find herself as World Champion.

"It almost didn’t feel like it was the right time, because the way Toni Storm went about making the match was like, 'you, you, you, let’s go do it,' and we’re like, 'okay,' so it’s kind of like taking advantage of an opportunity."

"Meanwhile, I was still getting harassed by the Death Riders and trying to sneak my way out of dealing with them. And then the up and down situation with Willow, and then me and Harley were kind of a thing. It was like a really, really weird time where I was very unsure of what I wanted to do and what path I wanted to take."

"Now I’m in this opportunity to win this belt. I’ve never gotten a chance to win, and I haven’t wrestled for in years at this point, so it’s like, I’m not gonna not take the opportunity, just because in my mind, things are all over the place."

"But at the same time, it felt really weird. It was just kind of like, well, I guess we’re here, so okay, and now it’s just kind of been an uphill battle trying to cement myself and find myself, while also putting myself and showing everyone who I am as the World Champion. So it’s been a really odd time.”

Since losing the title, Statlander has wrestled just once, teaming with Thunder Rosa to beat the Sisters of Sin.