| Kris Statlander | |
|---|---|
 Statlander in 2022 | |
| Birth name | Kristen Stadtlander [1] |
| Born | August 7, 1995 [1] West Islip, New York, U.S. [1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | |
| Billed from | |
| Trained by | |
| Debut | November 2016 [5] |
Kristen Stadtlander (born August 7, 1995) is an American professional wrestler and stuntwoman. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she performs under the ring name Kris Statlander and is a former one-time AEW TBS Champion.
Stadtlander was born in West Islip, New York on Long Island, New York. [1] Her father is a car mechanic and her mother is a high school music teacher. [6] [7] [8] She has an older sister. [6] She attended college in New Jersey, but left after one year to train as a stunt double at Hollywood Stunts in Brooklyn, New York. [9] [4]
Statlander began her professional wrestling training under Pat Buck and Brian Myers at the Create A Pro Wrestling Academy in Hicksville, New York in 2016. [10] Statlander later became the first female graduate of the academy. [11] She made her professional wrestling debut in November 2016, initially under the ring name "Liza Verio". [2] [5] Statlander made an appearance for WWE on an episode of SmackDown Live that aired on April 9, 2019, teaming with Karissa, named "The Brooklyn Belles", in a losing effort against the then-WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. [12] In June that same year, she competed at an event for the promotion Beyond Wrestling in an intergender match against Joey Janela in a losing effort. [13]
Statlander made her debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on November 19, 2019, competing in a tag team match alongside Big Swole against Riho and Britt Baker on Dark , where Statlander and Swole were defeated. [14] At the Thanksgiving Eve special episode on November 27, Statlander teamed up with Hikaru Shida to take on Emi Sakura and Bea Priestly in a losing effort. [15] In December, AEW announced that Statlander had signed with the promotion. [16] Following her signing, she defeated Baker on the December 18 episode of Dynamite to become the No. 1 contender for the AEW Women's World Championship. [17] [18] Statlander competed against Riho for the AEW Women's World title on the January 8, 2020, episode of Dynamite, where she was defeated due to interferences by Brandi Rhodes, Awesome Kong, Mel, and the debuting Luther. [19] She received another opportunity to compete for the title on February 29, 2020, at Revolution, this time against new champion Nyla Rose, where she was once again defeated. [20] In June 2020, Statlander suffered an ACL injury in her left leg during an episode of Dynamite. [21]
Statlander returned from injury alongside Trent Beretta on March 31, 2021, helping Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy defeat Miro and Kip Sabian on Dynamite. [22] In September at All Out, she challenged Baker for the AEW Women's World Championship but was unsuccessful. [23] In November, Statlander–along with Trent, Taylor, Cassidy, and Wheeler Yuta–joined the New Japan Pro-Wrestling-based stable Chaos. [24] In August 2022, Statlander suffered a completely torn ACL and lateral meniscus in her right leg during a match on Dark and stated she would need take time out to recover. [25]
Statlander returned at Double or Nothing in May 2023, appearing after a match between then-AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill and Taya Valkyrie in which Cargill retained her title. She answered Cargill's open challenge to an impromptu match and won, ending Cargill's 60-match undefeated streak and obtaining the AEW TBS Championship. [26] Over the coming months, Statlander would defend the championship against the likes of Nyla Rose, Anna Jay, Taya Valkyrie among others. [27] [28] [29] [30] At All Out she succsessfully defended the championship against Ruby Soho, [31] and against a returning Jade Cargill on the September 13 episode of Rampage. [32] Statlander soon began a feud with Julia Hart, which also involved Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale, which led to a match at WrestleDream against Hart, in which Statlander successfully defended the AEW TBS Championship. [33] Statlander would go on to successfully defend the championship against Blue on the October 14 episode of Collision and against Nightingale at Battle of the Belts VIII. [34] [35] At Full Gear Statlander lost the AEW TBS Championship to Hart, in a match also involving Skye Blue, which ended when Hart pinned Blue, ending her reign at 174 days. [36] After the loss, Stokely Hathaway would seek a parternship with Statlander and Nightingale, although at first he was turned away, his offer was later accepted. [37] On the Worlds End: Zero Hour show, which took place in both women's native New York, Statlander was defeated by Nightingale. [38] At Revolution 2024: Zero Hour on March 3, Statlander and Nightingale defeated Blue and Hart. [39]
On May 26, at Double or Nothing, After Nightingale was defeated by Mercedes Moné, Stokely Hathaway berated Nightingale until Statlander pushed him over, seemingly terminating his role as their manager. Moments later, on the ramp Statlander attacked Nightingale and aligned herself with Hathaway once again, revealing the prior events to be a ruse. [40] As a result of the attack Statlander turned heel for the first time since her time on the independent circuit. [41] Statlander competed in the Owen Hart Cup, defeating Nyla Rose in the first round but losing to Nightingale in the second. [42] [43] At the All In: Zero Hour show on August 25, Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Statlander and Hathaway in a mixed tag team match, which the winner would chose the stipulation of their match at All Out, with Nightingale choosing their match to be a Chicago street fight. [44] [45] The match was meant to be for the CMLL World Women's Championship but that stipulation was abandoned due to CMLL] not allowing titles to be defended in street fights. [46] At All Out on September 7, Statlander defeated Nightingale, seemingly ending the feud. [47]
After defeating Nightingale, Statlander quietly parted ways with Hathaway, with the kayfabe reason for the split being Statlander had invoiced Hathaway a large sum of money to make up for physical therapy, emotional damages and losing her shot at the CMLL World Women's Championship, though this was never acknowledged on AEW programming. [48] [49] [50] As a result of the split, Statlander quietly returned to being a babyface. On the October 4 episode of Rampage Statlander began a feud with TBS Champion Mercedes Moné. [51] [52] On October 30, at Fright Night Dynamite, Statlander defeated Moné's bodyguard Kamille before she was attacked by Moné. [53] A match was set between the two for Full Gear on November 23 for the TBS Championship shortly afterwards. At the event on November 23, Statlander failed to recapute the TBS Championship. [54] [55]
Statlander originally employed an alien gimmick, [56] which she attributed to her being "a big science nerd". [57] Under this character, she was nicknamed "The Galaxy's Greatest Alien" and billed as having come from the Andromeda Galaxy. [3] [18] Statlander changed her gimmick in 2022 since she felt that with the previous gimmick "I was never really being fully taken seriously", calling the previous character as "too fun, too lovable, I guess, too goofy and easygoing". [58]
Statlander uses a 450° splash and an inverted piledriver as finishers, respectively called Area 451 and the Big Bang Theory. With her change in gimmick, Big Bang Theory was renamed Night Fever depending what night of the week the finisher takes place on [Note 1] until she turned heel in 2024 where it was renamed Staturday Night Fever. [59] After she returned to being a babyface later in the year, the name was reverted depending which night it takes place on. [60] The name is a reference to "More Than a Woman" by the Bee Gees, which she had used as her theme early in her career. [61] [62] Also in 2024, she began to use a discus lariat as both a signature and finishing move. [63]
Stadtlander is a vegetarian. [64] She was formerly in a relationship with independent wrestler Mason Burnett, who is best known as Caleb Konley. [65] [66] Statlander has a Shiba Inu named Dino, which resides with Stadtlander's parents in Long Island. [67] In addition, Stadtlander has a bearded dragon named Boots, which she formerly shared with Burnett. [68] She resided in Charlotte, North Carolina with Burnett but has since moved into a separate house in the Charlotte area since their break up. [69]
Stadtlander revealed in 2024 that she is a licensed massage therapist. [70]
She appeared as an uncredited stuntwoman extra in the series finale of MTV's Ladylike in 2016. [71] In 2019, she provided motion capture for WWE 2K20 . [72] In 2022, Statlander along with Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor appeared in the third season of Netflix's Floor is Lava . [73]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Ladylike | Uncredited; stuntwoman | Series finale [71] |
| 2021 | Rhodes to the Top | Herself | |
| 2022 | Floor Is Lava | Herself |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-2022 | Being The Elite | Herself | Series regular |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | WWE 2K20 | Motion capture only [74] | |
| 2023 | AEW Fight Forever | Herself | |
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Vox and Kris Statlander (career) | Jeremy Leary and Skylar (hair) | Portland, Maine | Limitless Know Your Enemy | September 6, 2019 | [86] |
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