Freddie Prinze Jr. Details How AEW Is Doing A Disservice To Kris Statlander

Kris Statlander will forever be recognized as the woman who ended Jade Cargill's 62-match undefeated streak in AEW, a feat she accomplished at Double or Nothing 2023. Yet, some fans and wrestlers alike have criticized AEW's handling of Statlander, especially her run as TBS Champion, which came to an end at Full Gear. On "Wrestling With Freddie," Freddie Prinze Jr. joined the chorus of those critics while analyzing the outcome of Julia Hart capturing the title from Statlander. While doing so, Prinze explained why AEW's creative team did "a disservice" to Statlander during her stint as champion.

"She's a really good wrestler," Prinze said of Statlander. "She just hasn't had any sort of character or gimmick at all. No story, nothing ... 'Just go out there and defend the championship, and then we'll do it again next week.' And that's a disservice to her — all wrestlers deserve a character, and when those characters do well, they deserve a story or multiple stories. That's what longevity is all about." 

To Prinze's point, Statlander had plenty of successful title defenses during her reign as champion, overcoming challenges from the likes of Willow Nightingale, Dr. Britt Baker, Marina Shafir, Skye Blue, Taya Valkyrie, and Mercedes Martinez. However, she was rarely ever afforded any promo time on "AEW Dynamite" or "AEW Collision" to further her character. Statlander originally arrived in AEW as "The Galaxy's Greatest Alien" hailing from the Andromeda Galaxy. She would ultimately change her gimmick in 2022, as she felt the previous gimmick "was never really being fully taken seriously" and that she needed to reinvent herself to make noise in AEW's women's division. To Statlander's credit, she did evolve into her "More Than a Woman" character, dominating everyone in sight with her physicality and brute force. Sadly, she tore her ACL in August 2022, and has since struggled to tap into that specific persona.