Kris Statlander on Day One AEW Women’s Locker Room Didn’t Have The Hunger & Drive Of The Current One, Her Reason for Rejecting Death Riders Offer to Join Group, & Her AEW Women’s World Title Victory

A recent episode of the AEW Close Up with Renee Paquette show featured AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Statlander’s thoughts about the differences between the day one women’s locker room and current women’s locker room in AEW.

“I see a lot more hunger and drive. I feel like once when AEW first started, given I wasn’t there initially at the day one, but I was there with- I was like a few weeks behind. I feel like a lot of people were very… not relaxed, but people can get very like complacent with being like, I have the job, I’m where I need to be at. It takes a lot of hard work to get to that position, to get to the top, and I understand wanting to calm down and relax and be like, ‘I did it, I made it’, but we never truly make it. It’s nothing- there’s always so much more to accomplish. Sure, I was the first ever person to be TBS champion and the world champion. But what if I want to be the first ever two-time TBS champion? What if I want to be the first ever to hold both of them at the same time? There’s so much more  than that. But there’s just so many more goals that you can think of and accomplish, and in a world that’s constantly changing, it’s a little disheartening to see some people not necessarily, not that they don’t care, but to see that you put so much effort into it and see that not everybody always, and it’s not just the women, it’s everyone across the board with all aspects of every single job ever. It’s so disheartening to be like, I care so much about something that no one else seems to care about. I don’t wanna be isolated for caring so much. But I feel like today with the roster that we have now, everyone just wants so much success and just to give such an amazing product to the world, and it’s so fulfilling to be a part of it now. And to have seen it got to this point where we have everything that we need and more, honestly.”

Statlander also gave her thoughts about her reason why she rejected the Death Riders offer to join their group on the September 24th episode of AEW Dynamite.

“Like I had said, I have been in a position where other people were trying to be the one to tell me what to do. Where did I end up with it? Failed title matches, some wins, but nothing really of note. I don’t think that they understood exactly who I am as a wrestler. They were trying to turn me into something that I’m not. I don’t need to be led by them to be a form of a killer. I can do that on my own. I’ve proven that on my own. What was the selling point for me really? What was I gonna gain was being another person just like Yuta. He claims to be- look where I’m at, but look at him. He gets thrown around and thrown to the wolves and attacked and practically murdered by many people on behalf of Jon Moxley. So doesn’t really seem like a fitting place for me. that I’m not willing to put my life on the line to defend things that I care about and love and want to see the world burn sometimes, but I need to do it for myself and not for someone else, and certainly not for someone who gives me advice once or twice and thinks that I owe them everything for that.”

Statlander also gave her thoughts about how she felt on the day of her AEW Women’s World Championship victory at AEW’s All Out 2025 event.

“I mean, I was weirdly very calm that day. I don’t know why. I feel like maybe it’s because I knew that I was, it’s been four years since the last title match that I had and, or the Women’s World Championship title match that I had. I think I knew in myself that I had been preparing for this moment for so long that I, before I even stepped out there, I knew what I was ready to accomplish. I knew that it was my turn to, take the throne, and I just felt so at peace knowing that I felt like I finally had reached my turn. I had saw some quote that was actually about me finally winning and they had said something like, I had proven that what’s delayed is not always denied, and I was like that really is very true because I always knew that like, just because of my injuries, just because of things happening the way they did. Like I knew that that never meant that I wasn’t supposed to be where I am now. It just, I, and I’ve always been an advocate for saying that, like, I don’t think I would have been the wrestler that I am today had I not gone through those injuries. So I truly just feel like almost at peace knowing that this is where I’ve been the whole- where I was supposed to be the whole time.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, & 3