SPOILER: Current champion suffers shocking loss one week before AEW WrestleDream

A current champion just suffered a shocking loss. She is set to defend her title at AEW WrestleDream 2025.

Kris Statlander has been on top of the world ever since she won the AEW Women's World Championship at All Out 2025. Since then, she has taken her place atop the women's division. However, she will face her toughest challenger yet when she defends the title against former champion Toni Storm. This week's episode of Collision was pre-taped on October 8.

During the show, Kris Statlander teamed with Toni Storm and Harley Cameron against the Triangle of Madness. In a shocking turn of events, it was the Triangle of Madness that emerged victorious, handing Statlander a loss days before her title defense at WrestleDream.

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AEW star Kris Statlander explained why she didn't join the Death Riders

Two weeks ago, on Dynamite, Kris Statlander had the opportunity to join the Death Riders. However, she attacked Wheeler Yuta and then flipped off Jon Moxley before she escaped through the crowd. Last week, she even teamed with Darby Allin to face the team of Wheeler Yuta and Marina Shafir.

During a recent sit-down interview with Renee Paquette, Kris Statlander explained that she didn't join the Death Riders because they were trying to turn her into something different. She also noted that joining the group didn't do any wonders for Wheeler Yuta's career.

"I don't think that they [Death Riders] understood exactly who I am as a wrestler, and they were trying to turn me into something that I'm not. I don't need to be led by them to be a form of a killer. I can do that on my own. I've proven that on my own. What was the selling point for me really? What was I going to gain? Was being another person just like Yuta? He claims to be look where I'm at but look at him. He gets thrown around and thrown to the wolves and attacked and practically murdered by many people on behalf of Jon Moxley. Doesn't really seem like a fitting place for me. Not that I'm not willing to put my life on the line to defend things that I care about and love and want to see the world burn sometimes but I need to do it for myself and not for someone else."

It will be interesting to see if Death Riders will interfere in Kris Statlander's title defense at AEW WrestleDream 2025.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Sunil Joseph