Kris Statlander Reveals The Move Kenny Omega Won't Let Her Do
Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone had "The Galaxy's Greatest Alien" Kris Statlander on a recent episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast, where they talked about Statlander's early work as a stunt double and almost signing with WWE before signing with AEW.
Statlander shared how her alien gimmick originated. The Greatest Alien revealed the character stemmed from her love of science, though she admits to have never seen Star Wars or Star Trek.
"I've never seen either. I'm actually just a really big science nerd believe it or not," Statlander revealed. "I took every single science class that I could in school, like literally every single thing. I took biology, genealogy, marine biology. I even went to summer school for fun just to take a marine biology class, because that's how much I loved it. And in my high school, we actually have a planetarium. So, we would take little kindergarten school field trips to the high school to go to the planetarium, but it was just like so fascinating to me. And for my birthday, I would get at-home science kits because [I'm a] dork."
Statlander chose to sign with AEW over WWE, but she admitted that she was nervous coming into AEW, despite the relaxed atmosphere. She said it was so relaxed, that there was an impression that she had already gotten the job.
"I think I was mostly nervous about making a good impression, but then the second I got there, every single person that was there that I knew, like Aubrey, was just like, 'Oh yeah, you're pretty much hired,' and I was just like, 'Can I wrestle first, before we make this assumption?' I'm terrified," Statlander recalled. "So that's kind of how it was."
Statlander was wrestling on the indies for a few years before signing with AEW. Edwards asked Statlander what the hardest transition was, and she said adjusting to commercial breaks has been a challenge.
"Commercial breaks, I hate that. I hate it," Statlander admitted. "I'm so used to just like [wrestling]. Honestly, TV has definitely helped me like plan out times with calling matches in my head, but trying to incorporate a double-down, or trying to incorporate exactly when to time it all out for that commercial break.
"Then when you're in a commercial break, it feels like 10 minutes as opposed to like the two minutes that it is. So I'm like, 'this whole match has to be in this commercial break. Why is this happening?' That's the biggest struggle is honestly just trying to time your match around commercial breaks for me."
The finisher that Statlander has primarily used is the Big Bang Theory, but she has another finisher called "Area 451". Statlander revealed another move that she has not been allowed to hit, due to Kenny Omega's request.
"Well, I have a move that I haven't been allowed to hit yet, as per Kenny's request," Statlander teased. "Aubrey knows what it is. I'll tell you, Tony, because we don't know when I'll be able to hit this new thing, but my good old Area 451, the 450, I can hit that. Only twice in my life have I ever over-rotated it, [and] bash my face onto the mat. Out of all the times that I've done it, only twice, and I've done it a lot. So, I'll take it."
Statlander talked more about her move set and abilities in-ring. She admitted that a piledriver is an extreme enough move, and stated she is more focused on doing moves that are more unique to her.
"I can do a lot of things, but sometimes I feel like not everybody wants to take everything," Statlander noted. "So, I try to be considerate to them and not force everyone to take all my stupid stuff. Like, I drop people on their head for my finish. That's that's kind of pushing it, already, I like to say. So, I have a bunch of things that I can do."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.