Posts Tagged ‘The Best Friends’

Kris Statlander On Mixed Tags, Intergender Matches, Being More Than A Woman (Exclusive)

AEW star Kris Statlander spoke with SEScoops correspondent Jaychele Nicole this week.

Since AEW Double Or Nothing, we have seen Statlander pair up with Athena and sometimes other women in the division to take on Jade Cargull and The Baddies. Kris Statlander has long been a crowd favorite. Particularly in her Owen Hart Tournament match with Ruby Soho, Statlander was able to turn the crowd around and gain overwhelming support during the match. 

Kris Statlander On Mixed Tag Team & Intergender Matches

On the January 19 edition of AEW Dynamite, we saw Kris Statlander pair up with Orange Cassidy to take on Adam Cole and Dr. Britt Baker DMD in a mixed tag team match. This was one of the few mixed tag team matches that we have seen in AEW. 

Kris Statlander spoke with Jaychele Nicole about the possibility of there being more mixed tag team matches in AEW and her desire to participate in them. 

Statlander said, “Yeah, absolutely. I would love to. If anyone has been following my career since before AEW, they knew that at one point, the majority of my matches were intergender matches. So, I know that I can hang with the guys and be better than them. And I’m bigger than some not going to be humble about it. I’m bigger than some of the guys. Not necessarily on the roster. But you know, just in general. And, like, it’s a lot of what made me so different. And it’s like, if I didn’t have all those intergender matches, it wouldn’t have got me to the level that I’m at today.

So, as much as some people like don’t like it because of the ‘domestic violence’ it kind of ‘insinuates’. It’s like we’re wrestlers. If I take a suplex from Nyla versus I take a suplex from Orange Cassidy, it’s still a suplex, like it’s still wrestling. That’s kind of like people have to remember, like, we’re trained professional wrestlers. Most of the time when we’re in training we’re training with more guys than we are girls, unless you find an all girls wrestling school, which you most likely won’t. This just got very intergender preachy and I apologize, but yes, I would love to participate and do more mixed tag and intergender maybe, but that’s probably not gonna happen. Yeah, intergender probably not.”

Kris Statlander had participated in many intergender matches prior to joining AEW. She has had matches with the likes of John Silver, Orange Cassidy, Nick Gage, MJF and many others. 

Kris Statlander’s ‘More Than A Woman Branding’

Statlander has recently transitioned to brand herself as ‘More Than A Woman.’ During her feud with Leyla Hirsch, Kris debuted new music, new hair, and a new titantron. Her merchandise now describes her as ‘More Than A Woman.’ At the beginning of her matches, Kris signs ‘More Than A Woman’ in American Sign Language. 

When asked about where the ‘More Than A Woman’ branding came from, Stalander had this to say, “It came from the song. Not the Aliyah one, the Bee Gees one. Yeah, I had the Bee Gees version of the more than a woman song as my entrance on the Indies for a while because it was just so different. And it was just so fun. And it was one of those like, everyone knew it. Just got a crowd in a good mood before a match and stuff. Like it’s like just one of those, like, feel good songs.

And then, when I was doing the alien thing, still, I would be like, ‘Oh, she’s more than a woman because she’s an alien.’ And now it’s more than a woman leaves what I am up to interpretation by the audience now. So, it’s kind of like I can be whatever you want to be. Or whatever, however you want to perceive me is whatever you want, because being more than a woman as being more than what meets the eye and stuff like that. So I took it from the song, but then I made it more deep than it is.”

Kris Statlander’s Use of ASL

Statlander also commented about the reasoning behind her using ASL to communicate her ‘More Than A Woman’ message before her matches. 

“I think it was something that I wanted to do something different, I don’t actually know anyone that’s deaf. I don’t have a reason to know ASL. Once I started doing it, some people were raising questions about do I have a reason to use it in my life? And I don’t, I just thought it was something useful to learn. It’s kind of an underappreciated language. So, I figured, why not try something different? And it seems to be getting a really good reaction. I’m not fluent in sign language. But I could do a basic sentence like, ‘Do you want water? Are you hungry? My name is Kris.’ Like, I can do all that stuff.

But, I originally got the idea to do some side language because on the Indies, sometimes if I was a bad guy, I would do like an F and a U. So, I’d say FU to my opponent and like no one knew what it meant, butI did and it was funny to me. So, sometimes I would do that. And that’s kind of where I got the idea to find a way to incorporate sign language a little bit more just because it’s so different. And especially like if there is a deaf person watching TV, and they actually see something like that instead of just having to read the subtitles all the time. So, you can actually like focus on the action for a moment. I think it’s a cool little way to reach out to that underserved community,” she said.

If you use the quotes above, please credit the original course with a h/t and link back to SEScoops for the transcription. 

Kris Statlander On Jade Cargill & The Baddies, Slapping Stokely, Working With Willow (Exclusive)

AEW star Kris Statlander spoke with SEScoops correspondent Jaychele Nicole this week.

Since AEW Double Or Nothing, we have seen Statlander pair up with Athena and sometimes other women in the division to take on Jade Cargill and The Baddies. Kris Statlander has long been a crowd favorite. Particularly in her Owen Hart Tournament match with Ruby Soho, Statlander was able to turn the crowd around and gain overwhelming support during the match. 

Kris Statlander’s Feud With Red Velvet

Kris has been in a feud with Red Velvet who she has a long history with. Prior to Kris’ recent character change, she teamed with Red Velvet and Leyla Hirsch a few times. Leyla would eventually turn on Kris and Velvet, which led to Statlander’s character change. When Hikaru Shida needed to be replaced in the Women’s Owen Hart tournament, Statlander took her place and defeated Red Velvet to advance. They also faced off on the June 10 edition of AEW Rampage where Statlander once again defeated Velvet.

Kris Statlander commented on the possibility of her feud with Red Velvet continuing despite the history of their friendship.

Stalander said, “Uh, it might. If it is, I am not complaining because she’s small and she’s very easy to throw. And you know, when we were friends I loved her to death and you know, everyone goes their separate ways sometimes friends don’t last forever, unfortunately. But I don’t mind if she’s someone that I have to see all the time.”

Statlander On Slapping The Back Of Stokely Hathaway’s Head

Statlander recently slapped Jade Cargill’s publicist Stokely Hathaway on the June 17 edition of Rampage. Following Willow Nightingale’s match with Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship, Kris Statlander came out to help rescue Willow and Athena from the beatdown that they were receiving from Jade and The Baddies (Kiera Hogan and Red Velvet). While running down to the ring, Statlander slapped Stokely on the back of the head before getting into the ring. 

Statlander had the following to say about slapping Stokely, “I mean, I saw him as I was getting ready to run out. I saw him walking down there. And I was like, ‘Oh, he deserves it because he’s annoying that he had it coming.’ So, I guess you can say, sort of planned it as in like, we all want to. But, just when the opportunity arrives. Oh, it was gonna happen for sure.”

Statlander On Working With Willow Nightingale

Statlander and Athena said on the June 22 that they had Willow Nightingale in their corner when taking on Jade and The Baddies. Willow has been a big crowd favorite and has received great reactions during her AEW appearances. Willow took on Mercedes Martinez at ROH Supercard of Honor for the Interim ROH Women’s Championship back in April. Since they, Willow has been fighting off Jade and The Baddies. 

Statlander spoke about the possibility of Willow joining her and Athena and Willow being on TV more.

“I hope so considering that we said that we had her on our side. So, it’d be great if she were able to join us. So yeah, I really hope that you know if there ever comes a time to do maybe we gotta take down Jade and The Baddies all together as a group. I do hope that she’s one that’s on our side. She’s someone that I’ve known for a very long time, way before AEW, so I love working with her,” Statlander commented.

The Possibility Of Kris Statlander Vs Jade Cargill

Kris Statlander vs Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship is a match that has been long hyped up. Many believe that Kris Statlander may be the first person to defeat Jade Cargill, and that she will be the one to take the belt away from Jade. Especially during her recent feud with Jade and The Baddies, many believes that the booking around the TBS Championship may be working towards having Kris finally challenge Jade. These two have never faced each other one on one.

When asked about the possibility of facing Jade and what fans could expect from the match, Kris said, “I’m gonna say you’re gonna see Jade’s toughest challenge ever. Yet. Ever, maybe, we’ll see. But um, I appreciate everyone that’s supporting the idea of me being the first one to beat her. That would be really cool, but we gotta get the match booked first. So don’t don’t get your hopes up until we see that graphic. Okay. That’s all I’m gonna say is, if it happens, it happens if it doesn’t. Don’t get your panties in a twist over it. Life goes on. I’ll get something one day, maybe one day will be my time to shine, but if not.”

If you use the quotes above, please credit the original course with a h/t and link back to SEScoops for the transcription. 

Ortiz Talks Jerry Lynn Being The Agent for The Parking Lot Fight

AEW’s Santana & Ortiz recently appeared on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. The former LAX discussed a number of topics on the show, including this week’s Parking Lot Fight match that took place against Best Friends on AEW Dynamite.

“All thanks to Jerry Lynn, he agented the match” Ortiz began on the show. “I mean Jerry Lynn has all the experience in the world when it comes to these type of matches. And yeah, he definitely gave us the guidance because we came with a bunch of crazy ideas, as you could imagine.”

Ortiz on Lynn’s Influence

“We were just like, ‘oh, let’s do this, this, this, this and this. Jerry harped on that he doesn’t want the match to be like ‘building furniture'” Ortiz continued. “You know what I mean? Where the guys are trying to build all these crazy extravagant things to put people through or whatever the case is.”

Ortiz would then discuss how Jerry Lynn wanted the match to be laid out. “So, Jerry kept harping on that he wants the bout to flow, which I think we accomplished in the match. And, I mean, we were pretty much all on the same page. We all wanted to, for lack of a better term, murder each other.”

“We were down for whatever and Santana also had that talk where it was just like ‘hey guys, listen. We’re going out there and this is a fight to us.’ At the end of the day? We’ll be fine. But let’s go out there with that mentality, because if we don’t have that mindset? Like this is a real fight? It’s not gonna come across on the screen.”

Did you enjoy the Parking Lot Fight on this week’s episode of Dynamite? Let us know in the comments

AEW Rankings Released, Best Friends Ranked #1

AEW has released new top-5 rankings for its men’s, women’s, and tag-team division.

AEW Men’s Single’s Rankings

Champion: Jon Moxley (10-0)

  1. Cody (9-1) 
  2. Lance Archer (5-0)
  3. Brodie Lee (5-0) (+1)
  4. Kenny Omega (4-0) (-1)
  5. Darby Allin (6-3)

#3 Brodie Lee moved up one spot this week in the rankings. Lee moves ahead of #4 Kenny Omega after defeating Christopher Daniels on Dynamite this week. He’ll go on to face Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing this weekend.

#1 Cody and #2 Lance Archer will clash this weekend for the inaugural TNT title. Neither wrestled this week but they were involved in segments with each other.

#4 Kenny Omega teamed with Matt Hardy on Dynamite and defeated Proud and Powerful.

#5 Darby Allin picked up a win over Serpentico in the main event of Dark last night. Taz was on commentary for the match and again stated that he could help Darby.

94b54e f1353ec0229540bb98511c0aa0d41094mv2

AEW Women’s Division

Champion: Nyla Rose (5-1)

  1. Hikaru Shida (9-1)
  2. Kris Statlander (3-4)
  3. Britt Baker (4-4)
  4. Yuka Sakazaki (1-1)
  5. Riho (3-3)

There was no movement in the women’s single’s division this week but #1 Hikaru Shida picked up two victories and maintained her top spot in the rankings. Shida defeated #2 Kris Statlander, #3 Britt Baker and the unranked Penelope Ford in a fatal 4-way match. She also defeated Dani Jordyn on Dark. Shida will face Nyla Rose for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Double or Nothing.

Also scheduled for Double or Nothing will be #2 Kris Statlander vs #3 Britt Baker.

94b54e ee1d9e32bc8243c1ba468af4f56bbba7mv2

AEW Tag Team Division

Champions: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (6-0)

  1. Best Friends (7-3) (+1)
  2. The Dark Order (5-0) (-1)
  3. Private Party (4-1) (+2)
  4. The Young Bucks (2-2)(-1)
  5. Jurassic Express (3-1) (-1)

#1 The Best Friends move into the top-contender spot for the AEW tag titles. They defeated #5 Jurassic Express on Dynamite, dropping that team one spot in the rankings.

#3 Private Party moved up 2 spots after picking up a win over Mike Reed & Ryan Rembrandt on Dark.

#4 the Young Bucks drop a spot in the rankings. They have been competing on the BTE compound rather than on Dark or Dynamite as of late. #2 Evil Uno and Grayson are unable to travel to tapings due to travel restrictions between Canada and the US.

94b54e ba0e2201f0ae44e5948da80338925dbdmv2