Kris Statlander opens up about difference between real-life self and AEW character
There’s a big difference between who Kris Statlander is in real life and the wrestling character she portrays on-screen.
While appearing on the latest episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Statlander opened up about the differences between her wrestling character and real-life personality. The former AEW Women’s World Champion is trying to be a badass in her wrestling career. But outside of the ring, she’s a “dork” of a person who isn’t intimidating at all.
“Normal, not wrestler on TV, me, I’m very shy,” Statlander said. “And when I’m meeting new people, I really don’t speak a lot because I don’t ever want to like interfere with the vibes of other people in a group. And I worry sometimes people might not think I’m friendly for that, but I always try to be friendly.
“I like to keep to myself. I like to be kind of alone a lot of my time. But then at work — big, powerful, strong person. And, you know, I try to be more out there. I try to be bold and daring and scary and stuff like that. But I’m not a scary person. I’m not an intimidating person. I’m such a weird, weird, weird, weird, dork person. And I don’t have any shame. I’m not afraid to admit that.”
Statlander noted that the alien persona she had early on in her career was closer to what her real personality is. However, she feels like she was trying to do too many things at once.
“I think it’s taken me a long time to be like, ‘I don’t care if you think I’m weird. I don’t care if you think I’m cringey in my personal time, because that’s who I am. And I’m not going to apologize for acting weird on my own time,'” she said.
“So I think that’s the biggest thing is that I tried, or I tried to kind of be everybody, be both of them at once when I was Alien Kris early on. Trying to be like, ‘No, I’m just a weird person and I’m going to do embarrassing things, but I’m an alien, so it’s fine. You understand that it’s different.’ But now trying to be a more serious, more of a bad-ass character, so to say. People don’t like when you do weird things. They’re like, ‘That doesn’t make any sense.’ And I’m like, well, I’m sorry, it’s just me. I can’t help it sometimes.”
Statlander was AEW Women’s World Champion before dropping the title to Thekla last month. On Dynamite this Wednesday, Thekla is making her first title defense against Thunder Rosa.
This weekend, Statlander will be in the United Kingdom to defend her Pro Wrestling Eve International Championship against Charlie (the former Dakota Kai). The Wrestle Queendom show is happening in London on Sunday, March 8, which is International Women’s Day.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.