No road to glory is without its bumps in the road, but Kris Statlander’s quest to becoming one of AEW’s top women’s stars, and the first woman to hold both the AEW Women’s World Championship and TBS Championship, seemed even harder than it should’ve been. That’s because Statlander was set back by not one, but two torn ACL injuries, one in 2020 and another in 2022. The injuries kept her out a combined 590 days, and some wondered if the injures would hinder Statlander once she returned.
One of those people was Statlander herself. Asked about her two ACL injuries during an appearance on “The Masked Man Show,” Statlander admitted that, upon suffering the injury the first time, she felt like it was “the end of the world,” both due to wrestling being her whole life, and because the injury occurred during COVID, leaving her with little to do. That proved to be a positive in one aspect though, as Statlander said it allowed her to focus solely on her rehab, and getting back into wrestling shape.
As such, despite having the same feeling of despair after suffering her second ACL injury, Statlander was able to use the experience of the first injury to regain confidence and focus, which ultimately helped in her recovery.
“So the second time, when it happened again, I was like ‘It’s the end of the world again. I can’t believe I have to do all this again,'” Statlander said. “But then, I was like ‘Okay, I’ve been through this before I know I can do it again. And again, I just really focused on my rehab and making sure that I would be able to do everything I did before. And I feel like now, having gone through all that, and really learning how to fine tune my training and what not, I feel like I’m a better athlete coming out of my knee surgeries than I was before.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “The Masked Man Show” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription
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