Kris Statlander reached the top of the mountain at the AEW All Out pay-per-view, winning the AEW Women’s World Championship in a grueling fatal four-way match. The victory was a deeply emotional one for Statlander, who has had an “up-and-down journey” in All Elite Wrestling, marked by incredible highs and devastating, long-term injuries. She has twice been on the cusp of reaching the top of the division, only to be derailed by major knee injuries that required nearly a year of recovery each time. Her triumphant win in Toronto was the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance, a moment that she says makes all the difficult times worthwhile.
During the post-show media scrum, the new champion was visibly emotional as she spoke about what the achievement meant to her after her long and difficult road back to the top.
“It’s been a very up-and-down journey for me. I feel like there were so many opportunities where maybe I had the chance to be the first early on, but I was derailed by my knee injury. I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll come back and be the first person to do this.’ Then, I get injured and time passes by, and other people step up and take that position. It’s very much been, not hurtful, but disheartening, having to be like, ‘Something out of my control stopped me from having that historic moment.’ To now finally have something to my name, ‘I’m the first ever to do this’ it makes all those injuries, all those hard times, all the ups and downs so worth it. I worked unbelievably hard to be in this position that I’m in today. To have that title means more than I could imagine. Wrestling is insane.“
Statlander won the championship by defeating former champion “Timeless” Toni Storm, the returning Jamie Hayter, and Thekla.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription. Thanks for checking out this article. Make sure to follow Jeff Jarrett and all things GFE on Facebook.
