Kris Statlander Beats Toni Storm to Retain AEW Women's Title at WrestleDream 2025

Kris Statlander beat "Timeless" Toni Storm at WrestleDream on Saturday to retain the AEW Women's World Championship.

Statlander hit Storm with Saturday Night Fever for the win.

This was a hard-fought match from beginning to end.

Afterward, the two embraced in the ring.

Statlander didn't get much time to enjoy her victory, as Mercedes Moné interrupted her moment prior to her own open challenge for the AEW TBS Championship and Interim ROH Women's World Television Championship title belts.

Moné congratulated Statlander but demanded that she leave. Statlander did after an in-ring staredown, perhaps foreshadowing something between the two down the road.

After Moné defeated Mina Shirakawa, Statlander returned the favor, confronted the fellow champion in the ring and hit her with a Samoan drop.

WrestleDream marked the first-ever one-on-one match between Statlander and Storm, although it served as a rematch of sorts after they met in the four-way match last month at All Out.

Storm, who entered All Out having held the AEW women's world title for 217 consecutive days, was widely expected to retain over Statlander, Jamie Hayter and Thekla.

However, fans were treated to one of the most shocking AEW results in recent memory when Statlander caught Storm with a roll-up and pinned her to win the AEW Women's World Championship.

While Stat previously held the TBS Championship, the win represented the start of her first reign as the top women's titleholder in AEW.

Given Storm's dominance over the women's division in recent years and the manner in which Statlander beat her at All Out, it was widely expected that a rematch was on the horizon.

It was made official on the Oct. 1 episode of Dynamite when Storm challenged Statlander to a title match, leading to a quick acceptance from Statlander.

While the chaos of the four-way match seemingly played a role in Statlander catching Storm by surprise, she would not have that advantage at WrestleDream.

Instead, Statlander had to go head-to-head with arguably the greatest women's wrestler in AEW history, and she had to try to beat Storm in a straight-up wrestling match.

Statlander was up to the challenge on Saturday, getting past Storm to retain her title and prove that she is a worthy champion.