At AEW Double or Nothing, Kris Statlander made her surprise return to defeat Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship.
Cargill had just come off a narrow win over Taya Valkyrie to reach a winning record of 60-0. Following the win, Mark Sterling claimed Cargill would defend the title any time and any place, leading to Statlander answering the challenge.
Statlander went full force at Cargill, hitting an elbow and a running kick. Jade fought back and attempted Jaded, but Statlander escaped and hit a Sunday Night Fever for the win and the championship.
As it turns out, the title change was a long time coming.
Kris Statlander’s AEW TBS Championship win was in the works for “months”
During a recent interview with Nick Hausman on Haus of Wrestling, Statlander revealed that there talk of her winning the title several months before she returned from injury.
“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.'”
The star admitted it was “very cool” to be trusted to be the person to end Cargill’s dominant reign.
“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.”
Statlander has already begun to establish herself as a fighting champion, having successfully defended her new title against both Nyla Rose and Anna JAS in the weeks since capturing it.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.