Kris Statlander has had her hands full as the AEW Women's World Champion over the past few months, but she had not yet defended her title since the turn of the new year. That all changed on the January 28 episode of "AEW Dynamite" when she went one-on-one with "The Toxic Spider" Thekla. Despite a lot of animosity between the two and tensions running high heading into the bout, Statlander got the victory and made her first title defense of 2026. Coming out of the break, Statlander got back into the bout, countering Thekla's inverted Tarantula by catapulting her face first into the turnbuckles. Statlander countered the Spear into a Wednesday Night Fever, which was then countered into a roll up for a near fall for the challenger.