Kris Statlander Wants To Cater To Niche AEW Demographic

AEW star Kris Statlander has been picking up steam as of late, targeting AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill alongside recent AEW addition Athena. But while Statlander is gifted with incredible speed, athleticism, and especially strength, she also has other talents, like using sign language to state her catchphrase "more than a woman" before and after matches.

In an interview with Jaychelle Nicole, Statlander discussed why she likes to use sign language.

"I just wanted to do something different," Statlander said. "I don't actually know anyone that's deaf. I don't have a reason to know ASL. I know once I started doing it, some people were raising questions like '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.' It seems to be getting a really good reaction, which I'm very happy about. I'm not fluent in sign language, but I can do a basic sentence, like 'Do you want water? Are you hungry? My name is Kris.' I can do all that stuff."

Statlander also revealed that while she's been using sign language in AEW, her use of it predates her time with the promotion.

"I originally got the idea to do sign language because on the indies, sometimes if I was the bad guy, I would do an F and a U," Statlander said. "So I'd say an 'FU' during my entrance, and no one knew what it meant, but I 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.

"It's so different, especially if there's a deaf person watching TV and see something like that, instead of having to read the subtitles all the time, so you can actually focus on the action for a moment. I think it's a cool little way to reach out to that (underserved community). They're just not communicated to, the deaf community, as often."