Mercedes Mone Wins TBS Title At AEW Double Or Nothing, Kris Statlander Turns Heel

Mercedes Mone marked her in-ring AEW debut with a victory over Willow Nightingale to win the TBS Championship at Double or Nothing. Both challenger and champion turned up for the rematch of their ill-fated clash last year over the NJPW Strong Women’s Openweight Championship, during which Mone sustained a career-threatening ankle injury and Nightingale picked up the win — albeit with an asterisk. The bout was as physical as it was billed to be, with both targeting one another’s leg joints in spiteful attacks, but it would take some shenanigans before finding its finish. 

Following a Meteora to Willow Nigtingale on the outside, Mercedes Mone continued to shove Kris Statlander and goad her into leaping onto the apron to follow her. As Statlander and Stokely Hathaway wrestled with Aubrey Edwards, Nightingale delivered the Babe With The Powerbomb to score a clear visual pin on her challenger. But the referee was late to the count and Mone managed to kick out. It was then that “The CEO” mustered a comeback capped off with the Mone Maker to score the pinfall and take her revenge. 

As Mone celebrated with her new title, Statlander helped Willow Nightingale to her feet as she was lambasted by Stokely Hathaway. Appearing to defend her friend, Stat pushed Hathaway to the ground. But it would transpire to be a ruse as Statlander laid Nightingale out on the ramp and aligned back with Hathaway to close out the segment.

Mariah May Opens Up About Women She Wants To Face In AEW

While the majority of her attention may be fixed on AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm right now, recent AEW signee Mariah May has taken some time to scope out the rest of the women’s locker room as well. During a recent appearance on “AEW Unrestricted,” May was asked to share some of the names she’s now looking to have future matches with. In response, May revealed two former champions, as well as one current titleholder, as potential opponents.
 
“I really want to wrestle [Hikaru] Shida, Kris Statlander. I want to wrestle everybody, to be honest,” May said. “I think Julia Hart and everything she’s doing is really cool, so I’d definitely love to cross paths with her in the future, not right now. I’m obviously very preoccupied at the minute, but I think, in the future, I’d love to cross paths with her. I think that would be really cool. I can see a lot of things that I feel like are gonna be great matches, but more importantly, great stories, because that’s why I like wrestling too … I learned some Japanese [while in Japan this year], but being that I couldn’t speak Japanese [fluently], when I was telling stories or I was part of storylines in Japan, I really had to tell that story in the ring because I had no other choice. I’m excited to get into that and show what I can do [in AEW now], because that is my favorite part of wrestling — the actual story behind everything.”

As of this writing, May has yet to wrestle a match for All Elite Wrestling. She is, however, involved in a budding storyline with “Timeless” Toni Storm, whom May has regarded as one of her major inspirations. Prior to joining AEW last month, May completed a nine-month tour of Japan, where she emerged as a prominent member of STARDOM’s Club Venus faction.

Julia Hart Pins Skye Blue, Wins TBS Championship In AEW Full Gear Triple Threat

Julia Hart has continued her meteoric rise within AEW, capturing the TBS Championship in an entertaining triple-threat match against Kris Statlander and Skye Blue at the Full Gear pay-per-view event in Los Angeles, California. 

Blue and Hart spent an extended period teaming up to take down their larger opponent, but the House Of Black member was the first to turn, leading to all three competitors landing some high-octane offense. Statlander landed some trademark power moves on both of her challengers, before Hart hit a top-rope moonsault onto Blue for a close near-fall as the champion barely made it into the ring in time to break the pin. Blue would get her own two-count off the back of a Code Blue on the champ, but it was Statlander who regained the momentum with a string of German suplexes on both women.

Down the home stretch, Statlander would nail her Saturday Night Fever piledriver finish, but Hart pushed her out of the way and capitalized on a fallen Blue for a three-count and pinfall, marking her first title victory since joining AEW.

Tony Khan And Kris Statlander Comment On Jade Cargill Potentially Returning To AEW

Jade Cargill has not been seen in AEW since she lost her TBS Championship back at Double Or Nothing, and people have been patiently waiting for her return since that point. The company reportedly started making plans for her back in August and during the post-All Out media scrum, Tony Khan admitted he’s very excited for her to be back.

“I’ve talked to Jade recently, I think hopefully [we] get Jade back in soon,” he said. “Obviously, it was Kris Statlander who put Jade on the shelf, and Jade’s one of the most successful stars ever in AEW, so we will have to stay tuned for when and where Jade might pop up again in the world.”

Statlander is the only person to have defeated Cargill, which brought an end to her 62-match undefeated streak and her TBS Championship run. However, there was controversy in that victory due to the fact that Cargill had already competed beforehand by defeating Taya Valkyrie, and it was Mark Sterling who put out a challenge for another match, not her, which is something Statlander wants to put right.

“As I’ve said before, I am willing to prove that my win over her was not a fluke,” Statlander said. “Whenever she’s ready, I am accepting any challenge from anyone, especially her. I will prove that my win was my win and I truly am the TBS Champion.” 

Since her return, Statlander has not lost in singles action, defending the title regularly, including at All Out this past weekend where she defeated Ruby Soho to continue her run.

Freddie Prinze Jr. Says Jade Cargill’s First AEW Loss Is A Good Thing For Her

Jade Cargill’s undefeated streak and 508-day reign as AEW TBS Championship came to an end at the hands of the returning Kris Statlander last month at Double or Nothing. Cargill lost the title after issuing an open challenge immediately following her successful championship defense against Taya Valkyrie. Actor and former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. thinks the 31-year-old could now benefit from tasting her first defeat in All Elite Wrestling. 

“Jade Cargill has taken her first loss, which I think is going to end up being a good thing,” Prinze Jr. said on the “Wrestling with Freddie” podcast. “Now she can actually get a story on her way back to the title … And I don’t feel that she’s been utilized as well as she could. I’ve definitely seen her promo work get better. I think everyone has seen her work get a little better. Again, they limit what she can do, to a certain degree, to keep her safe and to keep her opponents safe while she’s learning on the job. She’s been doing this, I think, what? Is it two years? Between two and three years, something like that? So it’s not a lot of time.”

“This can be that opportunity that she can fall on hard times,” Prinze Jr. continued. “She can struggle now that she’s lost. I hope to see them do this, I really do. To see her only lose once is not the way to go. I think she has to struggle and have a mental block and a mental challenge that she herself has to come over. And that becomes the story until you can get her someone that will then be the other character in the story. But you can self-motivate. We’re watching Cody Rhodes do it [in WWE]. He doesn’t have someone to wrestle every week, so it can be done. 

“If she lost another match to someone there’s no way she should lose to, then all of a sudden the backstage promo is her yelling at her girls like, ‘Yo, get the bleep away from me right now! Get away from me now!’ Like, something is wrong and she shouldn’t be losing. And she is, ‘Are you injured?’ ‘No, I’m not hurt! Leave me alone!’ Like, whatever. Like, she has to go through some kind of struggle now so that she can, you know, do the metamorphosis into the next version of herself. So I hope that they’re thinking of that.”

Kris Statlander Wants To Face THIS Top Star At AEW All In

Having recently dethroned Jade Cargill to become the AEW TBS Champion, Kris Statlander now has Saraya in her crosshairs for the company’s All In PPV from London’s Wembley Stadium this August.

During a recent appearance on the Haus of Wrestling podcast (via Fightful), Statlander discussed All In, how this will be her first trip to the UK, and was asked about Saraya as someone she’d love to wrestle in front of the huge crowd that’ll be at Wembley Stadium later this summer.

As Stat put it:

“Yeah, if I get the chance to wrestle Saraya at Wembley, I think that would be an amazing thing. I would love to absolutely do that. That’s a lot of pressure, you know. She’s the hometown hero, but I’m the champion. So it’s, like, ‘Oh no’, but I think it would be so much fun. I’d be willing to wrestle anybody at that show, but yeah, I never even thought of that as a possibility. I think that would be so, so cool, though.”

After being out of action since August with an ACL injury, Statlander made her shocking, triumphant return at AEW Double or Night last month. There, she won an impromptu match against Jade Cargill, becoming the TBS Champion and bringing an end to Jade’s mammoth 60-0 undefeated streak.

Statlander has already successfully defended her TBS Title on four occasions, with the 27-year-old New York collecting televised wins over Nyla Rose and Anna Jay AS, and picking up house show victories against Lady Frost and Anna.

AEW All In takes place on Sunday 27 August. Whether we get Statlander vs. Saraya at Wembley Stadium remains to be seen, though one has to imagine that Stat will be featured on the card should she still be TBS Champion at that point in time. Likewise, the Outcasts’ Saraya seems a shoe-in to have a role at All In, with this offering the Brit the first chance to wrestle in her home country since an April 2016 WWE live event.

Kris Statlander Returns, Becomes The New AEW TBS Champion At Double Or Nothing

Last night’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view was a wild ride for Jade Cargill. Cargill had successfully retained the AEW TBS Championship against Taya Valkyrie, making her 60-0. Post-match, Mark Sterling noted that there is “nobody” left to challenge Cargill before Kris Statlander’s music hit.

The two ended up having a match, where Statlander defeated Cargill and became the new AEW TBS Champion. This is the first title that Statlander has held since signing with All Elite Wrestling back in December 2019.

Statlander had been out of action since August 2022 due to a torn ACL and torn meniscus. One of her last matches on AEW TV was on the July 15, 2022, episode of “AEW Ramage,” where she teamed with ROH Women’s World Champion Athena and defeated The Renegade Twins.

Before losing the title, Cargill had held the title since the January 5, 2022, episode of “Dynamite.” She became the first TBS Champion after defeating Ruby Soho in the tournament finals.

Britt Baker Names Her Favorite Women’s Performers In AEW, Thunder Rosa Not Mentioned

While we know Britt Baker isn’t a fan of Thunder Rosa, she does have a few favorite performers on the current All Elite Wrestling women’s roster.

During a recent appearance on the “Swerve City Podcast,” the D.M.D gave some high praise to Willow Nightingale, Anna Jay, Jamie Hayter, and others.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On her admiration for Nightingale: “I’m obsessed with her. She’s my favorite person to watch wrestle right now. She’s having competitive matches. I’m actually envious of Willow because when I watch her, so early on in TV wrestling, she knows who she is. She knows who Willow Nightingale is. For me, that was so hard for me at first to figure out who I was and what was going to click with myself and feel authentic. She’s got it and she’s been on TV how many times? That’s so impressive to me.”

On her other favorites in the AEW roster: “It’s not even that I’m more experienced than this person, it’s just this person has had setback after setback and that’s Kris Statlander. Stat is such a superstar and it’s these injuries just driving everyone insane. Obviously her, it’s heartbreaking for her, but for all of us it’s like, she is it. She is such a rockstar and superstar. Jamie Hayter, she just got a later start to TV than the rest of us, but she’s a rockstar. That’s my main girl. Anna Jay, who is literally a baby, has been learning professional wrestling matches on live TV, she’s so inexperienced, but she’s a star. She’s improving so insanely fast. She’s so hungry to learn. She walks out with Chris Jericho now. For some people, that might get to your head, ‘oh I don’t need to keep working.’ She always wants to work and learn. I have nothing but respect for Anna Jay.”

Kris Statlander Wishes She Could Ditch Part Of Her AEW Gear

Kris Statlander is thriving right now in AEW, proving to be one of the most popular members of the women’s roster, but there is something she’d like to change about her situation: an element of her ring gear.

Back in June 2020, Statlander suffered a high-grade tear of her ACL, which forced her to undergo surgery to fix the issue. Since returning to the company at “AEW Dynamite” back in March, she has been wearing a knee brace, and Statlander told “Jaychele Nicole” that it “is just a precautionary thing.”

The AEW star made it clear that “you’re more likely to re-tear your ACL if you don’t take the proper precautions,” which is why she is continuing to wear the brace whenever she gets into the ring.

“I don’t want to wear it anymore, but I am forced to. I hate it, I hate wearing it,” she said. “… I do have KT tape on under the brace, and then I have the brace on. But those are strictly just to make sure that it doesn’t explode in there again. It’s fine, I am healed. It’s more just to make sure it doesn’t happen again because it’s awful.”

The brace does appear to be bulky, and Statlander admitted that when she is “trying things out a little bit”, it can cause a problem. Though, that could be down to the fact that she believes her “legs might have outgrown the brace.”

“In the match, in the moment, I don’t really think about it and it never really seems to be a problem,” Statlander said. “The only time it’s a problem is if I’m not wearing tall boots because the tall boots help it from sliding down. I was wearing short boots for a little bit and the brace would just slide down my leg every single time, so I have to wear tall boots.”

For Statlander, she prefers to “just focus on the wrestling,” which she has been doing since returning to action with AEW by ditching the alien gimmick. So far, it appears to be connecting with the fans. She has recently been feuding with the TBS Champion Jade Cargill, working alongside Athena in order to target the champ and her Baddies stablemates.

AEW TBS Title Tournament Semi-finals Now Official

The semi-finals of the AEW TBS Title Tournament are now official.

Tonight’s AEW Dynamite on TNT saw Ruby Soho defeat Kris Statlander in a quarter-finals match to advance to the semi-finals.

Soho will now face Nyla Rose in the tournament semi-finals. Rose earned a spot in the semis by defeating Hikaru Shida back on November 17.

The other semi-finals match was previously confirmed to be Thunder Rosa vs. Jade Cargill. Cargill defeated Red Velvet on November 17 to earn her spot in the semis, while Rosa defeated Jamie Hayter on November 24 to advance.

The finals to crown the inaugural AEW TBS Champion will take place during the January 5 edition of AEW Dynamite, which will be the TBS premiere. The match will feature Cargill or Rosa vs. Rose or Soho to crown the first-ever AEW TBS Champion.