AEW's Kris Statlander on Overcoming Self-Doubt, If Aliens Are Real, Diet Hacks, More

At AEW All Out, Kris Statlander defeated Thekla, Jamie Hayter and Toni Storm to win her first World Championship.

This Saturday, Statlander will step back into the ring to defend her title against the former champion in a one-on-one rematch at WrestleDream.

Winning the world title made Stat the first woman to hold both the World and TBS Championships in AEW, and with any luck, she will be the first to hold all three once those tag titles are in play.

We had a chance to speak with Statlander ahead of her title match about winning the belt, working with The Timeless One, teaming with Harley Cameron, being mom to a bearded dragon and a pigeon, aliens, Dragon Ball Z and much more.

Winning the World Title

All Out is arguably AEW's biggest show of the year, so Statlander dethroning the most successful women's champion in AEW history at the event was a big deal.

"It felt very surreal," Statlander said. "I also kind of felt a lot of pressure, like maybe I wasn't worthy of winning the title.

"I've said before, {Toni} is someone who has been so synonymous with the women's world championship for so long that it kind of felt like, not that I wasn't ready for it, but I am still just in a weird spot of trying to figure myself out and right my wrongs and whatnot.

"But I am always willing to step up and face a challenge head-on, whether it's another opponent or if it's being the champion. It's a little nerve-racking and I still feel like I'm trying to find my footing of proving I am who I say I am and I'm worthy of everything that I have."

Working with Toni Storm

The storyline with Statlander and Storm has not been built on the classic heel vs. babyface dynamic, so they have been able to tell a different kind of story without having to worry about incorporating the usual wrestling tropes.

"It's been very entertaining and very fun," Statlander said. "And I feel like it brings a different side to what a feud can be, and that it's not all problems in life, and not all miscommunications and struggles.

"Not all of them are just based off of wanting to prove that you're better than someone or just 'I don't like you, so I deserve what you have.'

"I feel like sometimes there's just more to a conflict than just anger or hatred or ill will. I feel like that was a fun, interesting thing to bring into wrestling that you don't get to see very often."

The Death Riders

Leading up to her winning the title, Statlander was approached by The Death Riders on multiple occasions in a clear effort to recruit her. The 30-year-old resisted their tactics and stayed true to herself, tired of letting others dictate her career.

"I'm not quite sure exactly what they were trying to accomplish, and I think that's why I was very hesitant to participate in their shenanigans," Statlander said.

"Because they kind of just come at you with whatever they choose, and they just expect you to conform or follow along with what they are doing, and that's not really how I roll, I would say.

"I've been down the path of letting someone else tell me what to do and letting someone else kind of try and guide me, and it ended up not working out with me, and I don't want to go through that again.

"They have been terrorizing everyone in AEW for quite some time now, and I try to find a way to see if maybe I can kind of play their game a little bit and maybe I can get a little more information on how to take them down."

Working with Harley Cameron

Instead of working with Jon Moxley's crew, Stat has been aligned with someone who is about as far away from The Death Riders as it gets: Harley Cameron. Somehow, Stat manages to keep her composure when performing with the woman who has become the funniest person in AEW.

"She and I are very, very good friends on and off the screen," Statlander said. "So what you see on camera is kind of like how we act in real life anyway.

"So we're very used to each other's kind of weird behavior. I'm very used to her and I know how to keep a straight face and be serious with her and lock her back in when she gets a little too off the rails.

"But she is someone I'm very happy to be working with both on and off screen."

Cameron has already made one puppet of Mercedes Moné, but when asked if she has been approached about a Statlander puppet, she said, "I don't think so. I hope it's not something that she's planning,"

Eating on the Road

Spending a lot of time traveling can make it difficult to stick to a proper diet, especially when most of the choices are fast food, but Statlander manages to find a way to eat right and work out on the road.

"It can be [difficult], but there's always like secret hacks," Statlander said. "And sometimes it's not necessarily about the places that you eat, but the choices that you make at the places that you eat.

"Like, one of my go-tos is, it's very boring, but if I get Buffalo Wild Wings, I'll have the grilled tenders. I'll do that and the veggie sticks instead of getting a regular chicken nugget or boneless wing or something like that.

"You can find something anywhere. I'm too lazy to meal prep and bring it places, so you have to make conscious choices. And then I'm also very strict about making sure I don't miss my workouts, whether I'm wrestling that day or not, or if we have to travel that day. I do everything I can to accommodate and stay on track with all of that.

"I'm also not someone who restrains what I eat. If I have a craving, sometimes I will find a way to satisfy it. The thing about wrestling is it's obviously a very performative, physical business, so part of that is 'How do I try and look my best but also, how do I not hurt myself every time?'

"Unfortunately, with wrestling, someone who is super lean can be in a lot of pain a lot of times, because bumping hurts. And sometimes not being super lean is a bit safer for your body. So I don't always try to be the leanest.

"I've never really been a super lean person. It took me a very long time to have a decent relationship with food in that aspect. I don't love-love food in that way. I'm not a foodie.

"I'll eat what I can, when I can, and I'll do my best to not eat like crap and not eat horrible, disgusting, gross fried foods all the time. If I want something, I won't be afraid to have it because it's not going to hurt me in the long run. Life is so short. Why cry over some ice cream or something like that?"

Bearded Dragons and Pigeons

Statlander is an animal lover, but she doesn't have the usual pets like a dog or a cat. She is the proud owner of a bearded dragon. We asked if it's easier or harder than caring for a normal pet when traveling so much, and she said it's a bit of both.

"It's both easy and not easy," Statlander said. "Because I personally love him so so much, he's my little baby, so I always have people stop by and check on him for me when I'm out of town, even though for like one day, he would be fine by himself.

"They're like low maintenance and high maintenance at the same time. When you first get them, they need to be fed every single day. They have heat lamps and other lamps on timers. Making sure their environment is very clean and whatnot, and they have time to go get their soaks to help with their shedding.

"My bearded dragon basically is trained to poop every time he takes a soak, so I don't have to clean up poop all the time. And they don't poop every day. I've basically potty-trained him in a way.

"Now that he's a little bit older, he doesn't need to eat every day, even though I offer him food every day. So it's easy because he doesn't need to be let out and walked multiple times a day, but because it's so easy, I also worry more, I feel."

In addition to the bearded dragon, Stat has also been caring for a rescue pigeon. While not a very common pet, she said it's more common than one might think.

"I also have a pigeon," she said. "Her name is Mini Wheat. A lot of them are more sort of rescues. Mine is a rescue pigeon. People, if they see an injured pigeon, they'll kind of take it in. And pigeons are very friendly. They like to bond with people, so people end up keeping them.

"It's more common than I realized now that I'm sort of in the pigeon owner community, but it's also not very common at all because of the amount of people that are like 'You have a pigeon?'

"There's a lot of stereotypes on them, but they're very sweet and very clean and very chill, docile pets. Same thing with the bearded dragon. She's high maintenance but also low maintenance at the same time."

Do Aliens Exist?

When Statlander first rose to prominence in AEW as a member of Best Friends, she had a gimmick that incorporated aliens. She was often billed from The Andromeda Galaxy, so of course, we had to ask her if she thinks aliens exist.

"I hope so," Statlander said. "The thing is, I'm not a skeptic, but there's so many things that can be interpreted in multiple ways. I've never had a personal experience with anything myself, so it's hard for me to fully believe that something has happened without ever experiencing it myself.

"However, there's so many unexplainable things about life and the universe and our planet that we're just uneducated on that it's so small-minded to be like, 'No, there's no way that something like that could happen.'

"This is a never-ending thing that we're part of. How can you say that some things are not possible?"

When asked if she had a favorite alien from science fiction, she didn't hesitate with her answer.

"I love the xenomorphs," she said. "How can you not? I think it's so interesting."

Tag Team Titles

AEW recently announced the creation of Tag Team Championships for the women's division, which has been on the wishlist of many fans for quite some time. Since Stat is the first woman to hold both of AEW's singles titles, we asked if she plans to pursue the tag belts to become the first person to hold all three.

"Absolutely," Statlander said. "One of my trainers [Brian Myers] is a former tag team champion, so tag team wrestling, it's not my bread and butter, but it's something that I hold so near and dear to my heart.

"I love love love a really good tag match more than anything in the world. To be able to carry that legacy from my trainer, and being the first woman to hold all three titles would be the most insane thing to ever happen.

"I love being able to do the first of anything, but I also love being able to do anything at all that I have the privilege of doing.

"We were all there when he ended his losing streak and they won the tag championships. Him and Matt Cardona. All of the students were there when that happened and it was such a really cool moment. It was a really special moment for all of us to be there for that."

Dragon Ball Z

We always conclude our AEW interviews by asking the wrestlers to review a movie or show they've recently watched. Statlander chose to discuss a popular anime series she has recently gotten into.

"I will say I have very recently been becoming a big Dragon Ball Z fan," Statlander said. "I've been watching it all for the first time, introduced to it by my boyfriend, who's been a fan of it for his whole life.

"I've been very entertained by Dragon Ball. Vegeta is my favorite character. We started at the very beginning. We just finished, I forget what the tournament is called, but they won the tournament where they saved the 7th universe's Earth from getting transferred to the 6th universe. It's all titled the same, in my defense.

"We'll watch a few episodes on the way to the gym or on the way to the airport, and then we'll watch the movies that go along, so there's been no pressure to it. It's been the go-to in the house."