Kris Statlander Recalls 'Weird Experience' Of Starting AEW Career During Pandemic Era

Kris Statlander has detailed the difficulties she faced during the pandemic and how AEW helped her get through them.

Statlander looked back at the challenges of wrestling during the pandemic in an interview with "98 Rock Baltimore," particularly at a time when AEW was new, and she was also at the start of her AEW career. What compounded things for her was the injury she suffered during that time period. 

"And then, I was so new in my wrestling career, too. When I got signed, I was three years into wrestling, so I'm just still kinda like — I'm just doing what I need to do. I also had a weird experience where the world shut down, I was doing a couple of shows during the pandemic era and tore my ACL, so I had to get knee surgery. So I was kinda stuck at home for a good amount of time like everybody too. Not only was I stuck at home, I couldn't walk. It was a bit of a rough time for me," she said. 

Statlander tore her ACL in June 2020, which kept her on the sidelines for nine months. But she recovered from that tough phase, crediting AEW and the support she received within the promotion for getting her back on track.

"Luckily, the family environment that we had at AEW, they were welcoming and excited to see me back," added Statlander.

The former AEW Women's World Champion had two ACL injuries in her first few years in the promotion, but she bounced back from them, eventually becoming TBS Champion, before capturing the big one — the AEW Women's World Championship.