wrestling / News

Kris Statlander Wasn’t Sure She Should Be the One to Beat Jade Cargill

June 5, 2023 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
AEW Dynamite Kris Statlander Image Credit: AEW

Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill to capture the TBS Championship at AEW Double or Nothing, and she recently talked about getting the win. Statlander was a guest on Busted Open Radio and talked about the victory and more. You can see a couple of highlights below, per Fightful:

On how she felt about beating Cargill: “Very much what I’ve been saying, where I was nervous and I wasn’t sure if I was the one that deserved to be the one to do it. It’s not just because of how much they built her up. She has such incredible star power, she has such a presence to her. People want to see her. I was putting pressure on myself, thinking like ‘How am I going to live up to the type of person and the type of star that she is. She’s undefeated, she’s brought so many outside eyes to wrestling. She’s done so much, and it’s gonna take a while to realize that I don’t have to be the next Jade. I just have to be Kris Statlander, and I’ve got to make my title reign be mine. I can still go out and do events and do things that she did, but I’m not gonna be Jade.”

On the pressure of being TBS Champion after Cargill’s run: “No one’s gonna be Jade. Jade’s the first-ever TBS Champion, she’s the longest-reigning champion in AEW history, and I think those are two incredible accolades that no one else in the world is going to have. It’s a lot of pressure about just proving that I am the one that was able to step up, and I can step up, and I will. Even though I’ve had to [miss time] because of being injured, I can step right back into the scene and be a champion that people deserve and that people want to see. It’s been just about a week since I’ve been back, and I’ve already technically wrestled four matches, and I am so tired, but it’s everything that I’ve wanted it to be, and I’m just so thankful that everyone has trusted me.”