"I cried every single day" - AEW star Kris Statlander reflects on her career threatening injury
AEW's Kris Statlander has opened up about the struggles she went through during her time away from the ring due to injury.
Kris Statlander suffered a severe injury to her ACL during a match against Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford on an episode of AEW Dynamite in June 2020. She was teaming up with then Women's Champion Hikaru Shida when the injury occurred.
Into The Danger Zone - #15 - AEW's Kris Statlander (@callmekrisstat) & Chris Danger in DPW! youtu.be/y70zNt0kGps via @YouTube https://t.co/XUi2Y9ZP3z
During her 9 month period on the shelf, Kris Statlander revealed during her appearance on the "Into The Danger Zone" podcast with Chris Denker that her time off was extremely tough on her mental wellbeing. Here's what she had to say:
"It was a very dark time for me. There was like four months straight where I cried every single day like, 'what am I even doing this for? What is happening?' Then I got to come back and I go, 'I'm good.' It was a struggle. I would never wish that upon anybody." (H/T Fightful).
Statlander quickly recovered and made it back into the women's championship picture after her injury. She put up a good fight, but was defeated by Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. at the All Out pay-per-view in September 2021.
Injury wasn't the only obsticle in Kris Statlander's way
The timing of Statlander's injury couldn't have been any worse. The time that she had gotten injured, June 2020, was at the height of the pandemic in the USA. This meant that not only was she injured, but she couldn't be seen by doctors due to restrictions.
"It was during COVID, it was the very height of COVID, and it was like, 'How am I going to get help? How am I going to do anything?' It was such a nightmare. Usually, it's like, go in, get the MRI, get surgery right away. It took almost two months for me to get my surgery. It was a nightmare and so frustrating, the whole process of it, on top of being stuck in the house because of COVID. You can't go out and do anything," Kris Statlander said (H/T Fightful).
After a stop-and-start nature to her AEW career thus far, Statlander will be hoping 2022 is her year.
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Kris Statlander will team up with "Legit" Leyla Hirsch and Red Velvet to take on the team of Renee Michelle, Sofia Castillo and Marina Tucker on this week's edition of AEW Dark. Will Statlander start her year with a win? Tune into All Elite Wrestling's YouTube channel to find out.