The Galaxy’s Greatest Alien, Kris Statlander has talked about her AEW return during the Arcade Anarchy match on Dynamite, saying she was fearful of blundering during her big moment.
Statlander returned to AEW after several months out with a knee injury on the 31st of March 2021 edition of Dynamite. During the Arcade Anarchy match between Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor, and Miro and Kip Sabian, Statlander made her presence felt when she emerged from a ringside claw machine. Statlander pushed the plexiglass out of the machine straight into the face of Penelope Ford.
Speaking to Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Statlander revealed the two women agreed that she had to go full force to get out of the claw machine.
Statlander explained:
“I got cleared the Tuesday, I believe, that we fly out to go to tapings and then I was not expecting anything at all to happen because you got to pull up storylines and stuff like that. I know they were talking about maybe teasing returning and everything and I just got told that I was going to be in the claw machine and I was just like, okay, that’s cool. Then, I was so worried that the plexiglass wasn’t going to come off. Me and Penelope were like, ‘It’s just got to be full force. You just gotta do it.’”
According to Statlander, another worry was playing on her mind. With a knee brace on, it was going to prove difficult for her to climb out of the claw machine. Kris Statlander did not want to go down in wrestling folklore the way The Shockmaster infamously did when he bundled himself through a wall in his WCW debut.
Statlander continued:
“Then, I was worried that I was going to Shockmaster myself getting out of the claw machine because it’s pretty hard to get over there. So I was like, great, I’m going to make my big return– because my leg can’t bend all the way with a brace on, so I was like if my foot gets stuck and I f*cking eat sh*t, oh god’. Like I was so worried that I was going to face plant but they told me that they were going to put a step in there for me and that I would be able to grab onto the top.”
“It was hot in there too. I was in there before they did entrances. I was in there the entire match. So, suffering. There would be times where Penelope would walk over to me, ‘Hey, do you hear the you suck chant, they’re talking about you.’ Then she would walk away.”
Since her return, Statlander has stayed aligned with the Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. Cassidy will face Pac on an upcoming edition of AEW Dynamite in an AEW World Title Eliminator. The winner will go on to challenge Kenny Omega for his AEW Championship at Double Or Nothing.