Kris Statlander: The Death Riders Were Trying To Turn Me Into Something I’m Not

Kris Statlander reveals why she rejected the Death Riders.

At AEW All Out last month, Statlander would become the AEW Women’s World Champion by dethroning ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm at the event. Leading up to this win and in the week immediately following, The Death Riders would try to recruit Kris, only for her to vehemently reject them on the September 24th edition of AEW Dynamite.

While speaking to Renee Paquette on The Close Up on AEW’s YouTube channel, Kris Statlander spoke about why she rejected the Death Riders offers to join the faction.

“Like I had said, I have been in a position where other people were trying to be the one to tell me what to do. Where did I end up with it? Failed title matches, some wins, but nothing really of note. I don’t think that they understood exactly who I am as a wrestler. They were trying to turn me into something that I’m not. I don’t need to be led by them to be a form of a killer. I can do that on my own. I’ve proven that on my own. What was the selling point for me really? What was I gonna gain was being another person just like Yuta. He claims to be- look where I’m at, but look at him. He gets thrown around and thrown to the wolves and attacked and practically murdered by many people on behalf of Jon Moxley. So doesn’t really seem like a fitting place for me. that I’m not willing to put my life on the line to defend things that I care about and love and want to see the world burn sometimes, but I need to do it for myself and not for someone else, and certainly not for someone who gives me advice once or twice and thinks that I owe them everything for that.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Statlander noted that she felt ‘weirdly calm’ on the day of her World Title win. You can read more about that here.

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