Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Kris Statlander: AEW Women's Champ, Blood & Guts Match, Jade Cargill, Toni Storm, Bed Of Nails

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Kris Statlander (@callmekrisstat) is a professional wrestler currently signed to AEW. She sits down with Chris Van Vliet at West Coast Creative Studio in Hollywood, CA to discuss winning the AEW Women's Championship and if she felt she was ready, her nickname "The Galaxy's Greatest Alien", her violent match with Willow Nightingale at All Out, landing on a bed of nails in Blood and Guts, her WWE appearance and why it didn't lead to more, bringing Jade Cargill's TBS Title reign to an end, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF  PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris. Oh, how was your recovery? Oh, pretty okay, I think. I had a 100% sleep last night. I've never had 100%. I don't even know how. I even woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Somehow is 100% still.

I've had more 1% than I've had anything in the 90s. I'm pretty sure. No way. Probably, because I, just like with the messed up sleep schedule from flying all the time. There's no. Nothing consistent. I had a 1% the other two weeks ago. But I was sick.

So I was like, oh, wow. Yeah. And then it said I was stressed for 12 hours that day. It's like, normally you're stressed for 15 minutes. Oh. You're going 12 hours. It's a new record. Yeah.

Going in the wrong direction. Look how big and good this looks here. Yeah. Imagine having to carry it everywhere all the time. Well, I mean, it's worse. worse if you didn't have it, right? That's true. Congratulations, champ.

Thank you. Also, I say this all the time. Maybe it's different for you, but I've never met a Chris I don't like. I feel like there's some that I'm okay with or they're like mediocre Chris's. There's definitely some better Chris's and some not so good Chris's. Well, I would like to think they were the good Chris's. Although I'm a Christopher. So far.

Okay. We'll see in an hour. Yeah, we'll see how we feel at the end of this. You are Christopher. I am not a Christopher. I'm a Kristen. Kristen Statlander. Yeah, Kristen E.N.

Yes. Doesn't quite have the same ring. Like as a wrestler name? Kristen Statlander? That's why I use Chris. Makes a lot more sense. Yeah, yeah. As I was telling you before, there was a part,

there's a small time in my life before I was born that I was almost named Christora. So the story. Christora. How do you even spell that? K-R-I-S-T-O-R-A. Okay. I think. My mom wanted to do a little fun thing where she combined my grandma and my great-grandma's names.

But my mom, her name is Florence, and they thought they, that she was named after my great-grandma, whose name ended up being Flora. And my grandma is Christine. So that's where Christora came from. So that was almost my name. And I found that out like a year ago. And I was like, I wish you told me because that would have been a great, just a one-name wrestling name. Christora. Christora.

Yeah. Unique. No one else has ever heard of that name before. That could have been me. But now I'm just Chris. You still might have just gone by Chris, though. Maybe. We'll never know.

We'll never know. I'll never know. How does it feel being the AEW women's world champ? Oh, man. It's tiring, but it's a good tiring. Tiring in what way? Like it's, it's, you, you're blessed to be busy because you get to do so much all the time. You get to travel the world and experience so many things.

And then you get the pressure of getting to put on all these exciting, extravagant marquee matches and whatnot. And it's, wrestling is like the, the form of wrestling is my favorite thing to do out of everything in the wrestling business. So getting to be put on, put in the position. to put on those types of matches is the most rewarding thing, I think, about being a champion. You hear people talk about the champion schedule. Do you feel like you're on the champion schedule right now? Honestly, it's pretty similar to a standard schedule. Yeah, I feel like...

Because champion schedule is you're often in the main event or near the main event. You're doing a lot more like this. You're doing press. You're flying in a day early, maybe staying a day late. Is there a lot more of that now that you have the gold? Sometimes, but I also was doing a lot of media without having a championship also. And even if you don't have the gold, you have to be there all the time in case you're needed to do something or you have to step up and perform. And you've got to challenge for the belts and work your way up the ladder to get to the championship.

So as much as you're there trying to strive to get to the top, and then when you're at the top, you've got to be peak performance all the time. and you have to be there in case anybody needs you because you are the face of everything. So it's kind of, there's really no downtime to it. A lot of fans would say that this was a long time coming, right? About six years into AEW. Yeah. You became the AEW Women's Champ. Yeah.

I guess I kind of agree. I feel like you shouldn't always necessarily need to brand yourself as a champion in order to be worthy of. having this memorable career, so to speak. I feel like actually winning the championship kind of came at a really weird time for me, though. Like it almost didn't feel like it was the right time because the way Tony Storm went about making the match was like, you, you, you, let's go do it.

And we're like, okay. So it's kind of like taking advantage of an opportunity. Meanwhile, I was still getting harassed by the death riders and trying to sneak my way out of dealing with them. And then, you know, up and down situation with Willow. And then, like, me and Harley were kind of a thing. It was like a really, really weird time where I was very unsure of what I wanted to do and what path I wanted to take.

And now I'm in this opportunity to win this belt. I've never gotten a chance to win. And I haven't wrestled four in four years at this point. So it's like I'm not going to not take the opportunity just because in my mind, things are all over the place. But at the same time, it felt really weird. It was just kind of like, well, I guess we're here. So, okay.

And now it's just kind of been an uphill battle trying to cement myself and find myself while also putting myself and showing everyone who I am as the world champion. So it's been a really odd time for me. Did you feel you weren't ready to win the championship? No. I felt I was ready. It's really more just like a mental of like, I don't know if everyone, is ready to see me in this position, if that makes sense.

Because I feel like fans were always, they're like hesitant to like me a little bit still because of the fact that I turned on one of my best friends, and I punched Orange Cassidy in the face, and I murdered Willow for a good couple of months. So it's hard to kind of be, and then I was like, no, guys, I messed up. And now I'm going to try and be better. And everyone's like, okay, but why?

And I'm like, trust me. I know what I'm doing. I feel bad. And I never really did anything to gain everyone's trust back. So it's more so I feel like people are happy for me. They think that I deserve it. But they don't, people can be like, oh, I'm happy for this person. They deserve it. Blah, blah, blah. And then don't really care what happens after they get to the top. So now I'm trying to, you know, rebuild my friendships and prove to everyone that I'm worthy of being a champion and also keep telling myself like, no, you deserve to be here. You're ready for this. It's fine. You don't have to worry about it. But I have a lot of emotions in my head about this. So it's been a little bit of an internal battle, even though I feel very confident in my abilities. Well, all eyes are on you when you're

the champion. I love this quote. The higher up the mountain you get, the windier gets. It's true, right? When you're standing at the top of the mountain, all lies are on you. And it's very windy. And there's a lot of, you know, a lot of attention. Yes. I agree. So your 10 years now, this year, 26, marks 10 years in the business for you. Who are you now versus who were you when you debuted in 2016? Okay. Well, now I am the world champion. I am the cosmic killer. I am Chris Datlander. I will be many of things, a former TBS champion, a current world champion. First to hold both of those titles. First to hold both.

I was a Grand Slam champion for a quick second. And then they said, tag titles. That I was like, no, not the Grand Slam anymore. But it's fine. Not yet, not yet. There's plenty of time. And I won the first ever positions to be, or I won the number one spot in both of the only ever women's gauntlet matches. I was in the first blood and guts match. I've had quite a few

amount of things that I have done. Recovery from injuries, blah, blah, blah, blah. Travel the world, yes, all these great things. But earlier on, first ever debut, Chris, I remember I was wearing one of my old gymnastics leotards from my competitions. And it's like, oh, you do a gymnast, be a gymnast. And I was like, okay. I was very unsure of myself. And I had a different name that I was told was not good. And they were like, your real name is cool. So just use your real name.

So I was like, fine. Great. And just a person trying to figure out what wrestling was. Because I didn't watch wrestling growing up. I really only ever, I valeted prior to it for like two years. And the couple of matches I was ringside for was. was all I ever watched of wrestling. So I was kind of just this girl in a match

trying to figure out how to win it, basically. So how did wrestling find you? I met friends who were wrestlers. And when I was doing my stunt double trading at the time when I was 18, they were like, that's similar. Come valet us. And I was like, sure, I don't know what that is, but okay.

So I would go and they would just kind of give me a quick rundown of like how to be a manager. and I was like, okay. And then I would just leave and I'd be like, I don't know what I'm doing here. So did you have a general idea of wrestling growing up? No. My dad was a fan, actually, but I never really watched it. He, like, tried to show me a couple of things,

but then he kind of grew out, or he stopped really watching it because I wasn't really paying attention to it. He was just busy. Everybody gets busy. And then it eventually just found its way back to me. And I didn't even realize that it was like a weird full circle thing until after I had started training. So what's the moment when you fell in love with wrestling? I kind of fell in love with it when I realized I could do a lot of what the in-ring stuff was when I was still kind of valeting.

I think that's kind of when I was like, oh, I want to try that. I want to give it a go. And then I started my in-ring training. And it definitely wasn't like a one-moment hit. And I was like, this is what I want to do. It was a very gradual, a slow fall, if you will, in love with it. And I, what happened? What did I do?

I started my in-ring training. And then three months into training, I broke my heel. Split my heel bone right in half. And then I sat in my watch training every day for the two months that I was out. And then when I got back in the ring right after, that I was able to pick things up a lot quicker. I feel like that's kind of when, one, people really started taking me under their wing because they saw how much that I cared about it. And that's kind of when I, when people started like helping me a little bit more is when I realized I was like, oh, this is actually something I can

actually do and pursue, especially now that people want to see me succeed at it. And then it just kind of came to come, it became something that I kind of just never really knew where it would take me. I just sort of was like, let's just see where it goes. And now, here we are. What's the overall feeling you have about wrestling now? Like, you're in it. Yes. You're at the top now. Oh, man, it's, uh, I don't want to say it's a love-hate relationship because you love it so much, you care about it so much. You want to do everything that you can for it, but it also hurts. And sometimes you don't get to do everything that you want to do. And sometimes, uh, you know, you have to travel and you have to leave all the time. And it's hard to, it's hard to be everywhere at once

and get to nourish all sides of your life that you want to. But it's so rewarding the fact that I get to do silly little things and kind of be an intense, little intense, scary characters sometimes and people like me for it. And then it's a very surreal thing. I can't, I can't believe that I get paid to do any of this. But I love wrestling. I feel like wrestling doesn't always love everybody back just because of the injuries and the travel and the schedule. And I feel like people fans sometimes don't always appreciate what we do. And I wish more people understood how much that we care and how much we want to do and don't always get the chance to do.

It does. And I think it's fascinating that someone might only see a promo segment on Wednesday, or they might just see a 10 or 15 minute match. And that's it for the week. And they don't see all the time and the effort and the travel and the blood and the sweat and the tears that goes into it the rest of the week and the other six and a half, six and three quarter days. And I think that that's a really interesting thing is like, for better or for worse, they just see what you show them on TV. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, I'm very indifferent as to how much of like a behind the scenes thing I feel like people should see because half the time I'm like, they don't need to know my business. But also I'm like, if only you knew everything that I do to try and get there, to try and do the best that I can.

It's a weird back and forth where I'm like, don't, don't bother me. But also I'm like, I wish I could tell you. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. Soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Klinemberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking. I think you can feel the intensity. All the guys are wanting to really stake their claim,

and they want to be on that World Cup roster. There's no doubt about it. Hosting the World Cup on the home soil comes with its pressures, but we're just really excited just as the people are. The U.S. Soccer podcast, presented by Henco, follow and listen on your favorite platform. What are you driven by? Is it to be the best?

I guess so. It's hard to ever want to be like, oh, I'm going to be number one at everything because I feel like I don't always try to be that person, but I want to be someone that shows people that they can be more than they think that they can. Wrestling is also so subjective, right? Yeah. Like what your version of the best may be, may be different from mine. Exactly. Yeah. I always want to be like the best version of myself and like add more assets to like my abilities.

But I don't ever think of that as like, oh, I'm the best that there is. I'm more so like, this is me just making myself more versatile and more useful for however I can be used. So I think that's more important than just being like I'm top of the top. Do you have a moment during the week to step back and appreciate where you're at right now? Because you're go, go, go at this stage. I definitely try to. I don't take anything for granted. But I also feel like I could do so much more.

And I always feel like I'm never doing enough. So it's hard to kind of be like, I've done. Like you can relax. You're okay. Because I'm also like, there's so much more to do. I need to do more. I have to do more. People expect more of me. So it's hard to find that balance of being like, no, you're good. And also being like, it's okay. Let's motivate you a little bit more.

I feel like I'm literally never doing enough. I feel like you really won fans over. I'm going to say about a year ago with your promos. And maybe because it was just you weren't given a lot of promo time before that. But did you feel the shift starting to happen? I think so. I really do work really hard at my promos. And a lot of times I actually, am coming up with some things myself. And I feel like being able to get my voice into them a little bit more has helped me actually, you know, speak more like how I would and do the promos that I want to and talk the way I want to. And I feel like, well, what, I wasn't getting a lot of promo time. And, you know, I wasn't the best at them. I wouldn't, I probably wouldn't have given me a lot of promos either. But I do.

really do try very hard to become a better speaker. And I'm still figuring it out. I'm still learning it. But I feel like I'm starting to pick it up a little bit better. So I wish people would give grace that not everyone is perfect right away. And I wish a lot of people could just, you know, you get on the mic in front of all these people. And you got a perfect promo. I want to see you do it right now in front of everybody. Sometimes you really just want to say that to some people, but you can't. And it's hard to put yourself out there all the time and just accept the criticism and just be like, I get it. They hate me. They think I'm terrible. And there's nothing I can do about it besides just keep trying to be better. Just keep my head down and, you know, learn to talk

better. So where does your inspiration come from for promos? Is it from within wrestling? Is it from movies or speeches? I'm more of a movie inspired because I mean, I, I, uh, I watched movies sometimes. in my head, I'm like, man, sitting there in that dialogue, having to perform that monologue with so much passion, I can't, I mean, I could imagine it. But I'm just like, the mindset of doing that is, like, incredible. And I think I hear a lot of speeches, and I love very, like, powerful, but telling you exactly what needs to be said is kind of the vibe that I go for. I like to do a lot of, I've been I write a lot of things in my head and then I'm like, I don't know if any of this makes sense.

I don't know if this will ever work, but at least I'm doing something. And if I write it out, then I feel like people can hear my voice a little bit more. I like to kind of make a lot of, what's like metaphors when I write, where it's like, I don't like to say the exact thing, but get a fun way of saying it.

I feel like I take a lot of inspiration from like sci-fi movies and a lot of sci-fi and action stuff on those heroic or those villainous monologues where they're like, oh, you've crossed my path. Well, now guess what? Your day is common. Blah, blah, blah. Like stuff like that is where it's powerful and it makes you react because you're like, well, well, damn, I got to do something about this right now.

And that's kind of the vibe I go for. A lot of times, wrestling promos, you don't get a whole lot of time to kind of have that whole experience. So I'm working on saying what I want to say and how to say it, but in a shorter amount of time, because that's what this business requires. So if your name is Chris Stalander and your character's name is also Chris Stalander, how are they different and how are they similar? Well, Chris Stattlander, the non-wrestler, it's spelled S-T-A-D-T-L-A-N-D-R. So that's really a big difference. I also feel like normal, not wrestler on TV, me, I'm very shy.

And when I'm meeting new people, I really don't speak a lot because I don't ever want to interfere with the vibes of other people in a group. And I worry sometimes people might not think I'm friendly for that, but I always try to be friendly. I like to keep to myself. I like to be kind of alone a lot of my time. But then at work, big, powerful, strong person. And, you know, I try to be more out there. I try to be bold and daring and scary and stuff like that. But I'm not a scary person. I'm not an intimidating person. I'm such a weird, weird, weird, weird, dork person. And I don't have any shame. I'm not afraid to admit that. And I think it's taking me a long time to be like, I don't care if you think I'm weird. I don't care if you think I'm cringy in my personal time because that's who I am. And I'm not going to apologize for acting weird on my own time. So I think that's the biggest thing is that I tried or I tried to kind of be everybody, be both of them at once when I was alien Chris early on,

trying to be like, no, I'm just a weird person and I'm going to do embarrassing things. But I'm an alien. So it's fine. You understand that it's different. but now trying to be a more serious, more a badass character, so to say. People don't like when you do weird things. They're like, that doesn't make any sense. And I'm like, well, I'm sorry.

It's just me. I can't help it sometimes. You were the Galaxy's Greatest Alien. Yes. Are you still an alien? Well, I've never said I wasn't. And I think that says enough as it is. When I went from Galaxy's Greatest Alien to more than a woman,

I did that purposefully because I like the undertone of being more than a woman. So it's like a little bit different or more than just the ordinary sort of. And then now doing Cosmic Killer is kind of like cosmic is just, it means large and like of great proportions and stuff like that. It doesn't necessarily mean space. So it's still kind of like underlying tones of everything without having to be like alien. Oh my God. Out of this world, you know. Can we talk about your pets at home?

Yes. Okay, so you've got a bearded dragon. Correct. What is your bearded dragon's name? Boots. Boots. I could talk about reptiles for the next hour. Please.

I worked in the fish and reptile department at a pet store in high school. So I can talk about bearded dragons and crested geckos and all this stuff. Mailed chameleons. My first pet was actually a fish. It was this tiny little, like, neon gullons. guppy thing. Oh, yeah. Okay. And its name was Stuart, like Stuart Little, and it died the day that I got it. And then my sister had... The transfer of the water always... I think it was that. I was a child. It wasn't my fault. It was my incompetent parents. Just kidding. I love them so much. Poor guppy. I don't remember

it was a guppy. It was just this tiny little neon thing, though. But then my sisters had babies, so I was like... Oh, well, that would be a guppy. Well, that's... Hers was, not mine. Oh, okay. So, I don't, I don't remember. So how old is boots? Boots is turning five this year, I believe. Does boots eat a lot of crickets? No, we don't do crickets because crickets are annoying, and they actually don't have that much protein in this. And they escape a lot, too, right?

Exactly, yeah. And then they're in your house somewhere. Yeah, I do a mix of dubia roaches and superworms, and then occasionally the hornworms. Oh, okay. Those are disgusting to watch them eat. Like a treat. Yeah, those are maybe like once a week, because those are, they're. They're high and fat.

But, you know. Who are Boots's roommates? So Boots has a roommate, a younger sister named Minnie Wheat, and she's my pigeon. Mini Wheat. Yes. So I didn't name her that. That was a name that was given to her by the rescue. Her parents were cornflake and shirio.

And I felt like I kind of had to keep mini wheat. I call her a little moo-moo a lot, though. Because Boots gets called Boo Boo Boo or Boo or Booty. and then Mini Week gets moo a lot. But you rescued a pigeon? Yes. I got her from a rescue right outside of Chicago, and they were going to send her to me,

but then it was around wintertime, so it wasn't, they couldn't send her through the mail because they have a whole special process that they work with the U.S. Postal Service. It's a safe process. They do it in a very humane way. And, but they couldn't do that because the winter was so bad. They didn't want to risk any delays or it being too cold.

So, and I can't really, you know, with the work schedule, it's hard to take off of work and wait for a package in the mail to come. So I have a live bird. Yes. So on a Saturday, they were like, can you meet us tomorrow in Elkhart, Indiana at noon? And I was like, yeah. And then 10 p.m. I left. I drove overnight. I met up with this person in a Culver's parking lot in Elkhart, Indiana.

They handed me my pigeon and I was like, okay. And then I drove home. It was like a 10-hour drive each way. I got home at 11 p.m. that night. What a fun drive, though. It really wasn't that bad. She was probably not the biggest fan of it. She was like, what is happening?

But I do, I don't mind doing long drives by myself, especially like through mountains and, like, scenic routes and stuff. I think it's really pretty and peaceful. but I was tired and it was a long day. But she was worth it. And you've got a dog as well. Technically, my dog is with my parents. But yes, he's a Shiba, you knew, named Dino of the Flintstone fame.

Yes. That was my idea. Boots, Dino, and Miniweed. Yeah, that's them. Amazing. Those are my guys. I love this so much. Yeah.

Any more on the way? Oh, man. I've been wanting to get another dog, but I, uh... I can't. I don't have the time or the space, really. My tiny little pigeon, she has an exiled dog cage as her little enclosure for when she's sleeping because she needs space to walk around. So she takes up more room. And then with the lizard, obviously, they have their giant tank and stuff. So it's, they take a lot. These tiny little things take up so much room. Yeah. All right. Back to wrestling, if that's okay. I guess.

We have to talk about this wild match at all out with Willow. Yes. What was the most painful thing in this match? Um, I know what you're expecting me to say. And you know what? This wasn't a physical pain thing. This is like an emotional pain thing. At one point in the match, I, uh, we took out the, uh, like, kind of chains where we tied

ourselves to each other. And I tied hers to her. and I was having trouble tying mine to me. And I just headbutted her to kind of just keep her down. And I was like, I'm so sorry because that wasn't an initial idea of something that might happen. So I was probably the worst thing that I did. I was like, oh, I had to just keep you down. And that one was not, that wasn't my favorite thing I've ever done.

But, you know, you got to eat up the time somehow while I was. struggling with my wrist. So that one probably hurt me the most emotionally. What was the overall just idea you guys had going into that match? Because it was violent.

Yeah, I think we really wanted to just push the boundary of what we've been allowed to do. We got really lucky that we were able to do a light tube spot because that's not something with fans around and the glass

it's very dangerous. But doing it on the stage and kind of a way from the fans. That was a, that was a good way to kind of cover our bases. Also, probably won't be able to do that any time in the future, just because it's, it's shatter risk. And we don't want to put any fans in harm's way at all. Was that your first time taking light tubes to the head? Yes, actually. Yeah. And it was not as bad as I thought. It did kind of burn a little bit, but, you know, how many... It didn't look fun. There's a lot of things in wrestling that don't look very fun.

Obviously, I'm sure the other spot you're thinking of is the splits on the thumbtacks. I will say I was thinking about that for months. I was so, I had that spot in my head for months. I wanted to do it so bad. And it really wasn't that bad because it was mostly my thigh. So we're good. We're good. But I think it's just the visual of that.

Yeah. Right? Because you're going in for the offense. Yes, for a scissor kick. Yeah. Yeah. And then she moves. And then it's.

my plans. I sacrifice my loin for the fans. Tax in general seem like it'd be pretty painful. Yeah, it's not fun. It's not as bad as you would think. I think the worst tack thing, I actually did it to Marino where I barefoot dropped her onto the tax. That's probably the most painful tack thing you could probably take. And I didn't even do that one. So, who is. To a To do her, I guess. In that blood and guts match, you pull out a bed of nails. She did. Okay, a bed of nails gets pulled out.

Yes. And you land on it hard. Yeah. Yeah. Again, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It looked like the photo you posted later looked bad. Yeah. I think I still have some scars on my lower back from it, but I like scars, so I was like, yes.

What do you mean you like scars? I think they're cool. I've been dying to get a fan. face scar, have something happen, get a nice cool face scar. That's my wish. That's my dream. You know somebody's going to clip this when that ends up happening. Yeah, and I welcome it. Like, what do you, in an ideal world, what would you like? What kind of face scar are we talking? Oh, man. I don't know. Any really, just like a noticeable one that's going to be there forever. You want to like split your eyebrow? Yeah, I like the eyebrow split. I also think, I don't know.

I was trading one time and I accidentally got clipped in the face with someone's tooth. And I had a little scratch on the side of my note. And I was like, let me just keep picking out the scab to make a scar. But it was like a really small one. So it wasn't enough. I have, I have a small scar on my lip because I have my lip ring split my lip one time. But it's really only noticeable to me because my lip ring covers it. It's not cool enough. I need a big scar. I want to look deformed. What an interesting wish. I know. I know. I just think, I think they're cool. I, I, like I said, I'm an odd. I can't help it.

I think it's fun. Well, look, I think overall you have to be in a different headspace to be a pro wrestler. Yes. Like just for this to be your vocation, I think you have to have a certain relationship with fear, a certain relationship with pain. Yes. To know that you're going to do it every single time you go out there. Yeah.

Yeah, you kind of get used to it. And I think I tell this to all the people that ask you out the hardcore matches and whatnot. I'm always like, we're definitely a bunch of sick little freaks that we get so much joy out of like that visceral reaction of making other people squeal and whatnot. And we're like, yeah, you didn't expect that coming. Because, I mean, it hurts, but it's also like, I can do that. And then I can walk away sometimes. How do you feel about seeing blood, seeing your own blood in a match? It doesn't bother me. I really don't get grossed out too easily. I, uh, I don't know why. But I, um, I did do, uh, I was a massage therapist for a short time before.

I got signed. And when we were in massage therapy school, in our anatomy classes, we would, they usually offer a chance to go to a cadaver lab and you get to like kind of dissect a body. But they weren't offering it the year that I was going. So I didn't get to do it. But I was like, that's really interesting to me. And I've always wanted to like, I've always considered like donating my body to science. And I was, I considered donating my brain to Chris Nguinsky's the brain fund and whatnot. I think he said they have too many brains at this point. So I don't know.

Wow. But. Because he's studying the effects of CT. Exactly. Yeah. So I actually have been considering donating my brain also post-mortem. And hopefully that's a long time from now. Yeah.

We'll see. Who knows? But I don't know. I've always just been interested in like science and like, I don't know. I just don't really get grossed out too easily. and then also having a bunch of like exotic, exotic animals and whatnot. It's like there's poop everywhere and whatnot. It's like you just kind of have the deal with things.

I don't know. Wrestling is also disgusting. We're all sweating on each other and spitting on each other and bleeding on each other. You're kind of just like, well, I'll shower and move on. What's been the most painful thing for you in the ring? Technically outside the ring, I was supposed to take like an April. print power bomb, but I think the person kind of lost balance one time, and they kind of missed the apron, and I went head first onto a hardwood floor. That one was not fun, but I watched the

clip back now, and I think it's hilarious. And then another, this wasn't really painful, but this was just a good new experience for me in my singles match with Tony Storm for the title after I had run it. She had me in her chicken wing submission, and I passed out for real in the match. For like just a second. Yeah. And I like, I came to you in the match and I was like, okay, let's keep it moving. Did you realize you were out? Yeah, right away, I knew.

I didn't realize I was fading it, but I kind of like, I slowly came back to you. And I was like, oh, damn, let's keep it moving. Did you realize how long you were out for? I think it was just like a second or two. But like in the moment, you might be like, what I missed. We were sitting there selling it. I kind of like, I didn't like lose my bearings too much, but it was like just, it was like, I think I, like, faded out and, like, kind of got my breath back, like, right away.

So I didn't, like, go completely, completely out. But it was definitely, like, a second where I was like, oops, that's not supposed to happen. I should have been fighting out of that harder. But, yeah, I was okay afterwards, though. But I didn't, she didn't even realize it. But I told her, I was like, she was like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. And I was like, no, it's great because it's real. It works.

If you're ever in a fight, you're good. Who do you feel like you've had the best chemistry with? I feel so weird about this chemistry question. I've actually gone this a few times because I don't ever really look for chemistry with someone. I look for myself being the best performer for my opponent. And I feel like kind of putting that pressure on myself to be that person for them kind of just helps me mesh with a lot more people than as opposed to. to being like, well, I'm just going to do whatever I need to do and then hope that everyone is on the

same page. I think my, and I'm not saying I'm the only one that does it, but I feel like my approach is a little bit more like, let me be there for you. Very giving. Yeah, I try to be. And I feel like that kind of helps with general. I know a lot of people are probably going to say Mercedes. And, you know, I love working with her. She's, she's motivated me in ways that I could never explain because of just her talent and her passion for wrestling also. But I don't know, I feel like I try my best to work well with a lot of people and to be someone that people want to work with. So that's more rewarding to me than, you know, any title really could be.

The fact that, like, people want to work with me is very special. Well, it sounds like when you're giving, you're bringing out the best in them and hopefully vice versa. I think my goal is, a lot of people before big performances, they're very stress and panic and stuff. And I try my best to always keep my cool and be like, it's going to be okay.

We're killing it. We're great. We're here for a reason. And I try to be a very calm person. Even if I'm stressed myself, I try to just be a nice neutral grounding person so that everyone that I'm with knows, they're like, okay, she's calm.

So at least she's probably got it in my head. I'm like, oh my God. But I always try to, look out the best for whoever else I'm in there with. So if we found you five or ten minutes before one of your matches or backstage, what are you doing? Maybe stretching, maybe kind of cracking jokes. I'm really, I try to be very chill.

I might need a second to like kind of talk through things in my head, but I, I'm very chill and I'll joke and would do whatever. I'm like, yeah. I don't, yeah, you won't, you won't see me doing like any sort of like pre-match meditation or anything. I'm very like, let's go out there and do it. This match with Jade Cargo, she goes into which she's 16-0. Yeah. She has the streak. She's undefeated. You end up beating her. It's a huge moment. You become the TBS champion. Yes. Talk me through this match. Well, it was my first match after my second knee surgery, getting thrown into that, you know, a title match and trying to

defeat the undefeated big task ahead of me. And my goal was really to, you know, just do the unimaginable and pin her. And I did that. I think a lot more things in my head was like, don't trip on your entrance and blah, blah, blah. And I did kind of lose my balance on my entrance. And I was like, great, this is off to a great start. But it all happened so fast that by the time I was like holding the belt, I was like, where am I? What just happened? You know, similar feeling to when I won this one, too. Both of my title reins were very much like, well, I guess we're here. I did it. So, yeah, my goal was just to, you know, do the impossible, I think. And what a position you're put in there of like, Jake Cargill is on this, has this huge momentum going into it. Yeah. And you're the one

who's chosen to enter streak. Yeah. I, uh, I don't. I don't. know why I get put into these positions sometimes. I'm like, well, if you say so, if you insist, I'll do it. I'll do my best. But sometimes I do doubt and I question why I've been the one to kind to be thankful enough to be put in these positions. Because I'm always very, not self-deprecating, but I'm very hard on myself. And I know that I can always strive to be better. And I know that there's always more that I can do and more ways to improve. So I do question myself a lot because sometimes it feels like unreal how often, or not how often, but how many opportunities I've been given.

And I feel like I do my best to take advantage of them. But it's hard to just be like, well, yeah, I deserve this. And in my head, I'm like, why? Why am I here? In 2019, the same year when you made your AEW debut, you also made your WW debut. Yes. On Smackdown. Yeah.

You just went by Kristen on that episode of Smackdown. Yes. Yeah. Why were you just Kristen? Well, originally the team name was supposed to be the Brooklyn Pizza Connection, and we were supposed to be named saucy and cheesy. Were you going to be saucy or cheesy? I don't know. We never got that far, but those were the options. Then it was the Brooklyn Bells and then just used our first names. But I was like, kind of would have been iconic to have been either saucy or cheesy. My only match there was a tag title match. So what a way to go in and go out right away. But yeah, but then now I have tag titles at AEW to go for. And maybe I'll be saucy or cheesy or garlic or, or, uh, oregano or something like that.

How did that opportunity with WWE come about? I had done some extra work a few times. What are some other segments we might have seen you in? I really don't think any. I didn't really do anything. I was there quite a few times and I never really got the opportunity to do anything. But that week, everything was in the New York, New Jersey area. Was it some?

I don't. It wasn't. I always lose. track of like what timeline it was. But yeah, it was, yeah, it was in that area. And I remember on Friday, I was doing an independent show and I did a moon salt and I'm pretty sure I broke my toe. And then the next day I had to do three matches because the mania weeks used to be so, just so much wrestling. And then I, yeah, so I'm pretty sure I broke my toe Friday. I had to wrestle three matches on

Saturday. And then Sunday I did extra work. I did extra work for WrestleMania where I watched one of my trainers, Brian Myers. He ended his losing streak. So we, all of us students got to be there for that. So that was a really

cool moment. And then yeah, we, uh, and then I wrestled on Smackdown with a possibly broken foot. Um, I don't know. I think, uh, just the opportunities of my trainer working there at the time was kind of what gave us a little bit of a chance to kind of get our foot in the door.

And was that just extra work or was there a conversation after that match? No, it's just, just extra work. Yeah. And then it was a few months later, how did the opportunity with AEW come about? I got an email and I was like, okay, I'll go. Sounds great. And then I was very fortunate when I showed up to AEW just as an extra work. They brought me in.

I got the dark batch. and we had done training before in the ring. And before I even did my dark match, I remember people being like, did anyone talk to you about your contract? And I was like, I don't even do anything. Are you sure? And then we had gotten into the talks of doing it, of, you know, turning it into me being a part of the roster.

But I just remember showing up and I was like, why do you want me here? I didn't even do anything yet. So yeah, that's kind of how it worked out. Just getting the emails and just working hard. I remember that day, or the day that I got my first opportunity with AEW, I was doing like six shows a week at the time on the Indies. And I was tired. I, like, three weeks in a row, I did like six shows.

And I was. How do you even do that many shows? It's usually just weekend bookings. I would do, I think one place had like a weekly Friday or like a weekly Thursday show. a Friday show. I think Saturday I did like a double I did like a double duty where I went I did a match and then yeah I went to the straight to another one do a Sunday matinee show uh Monday I don't I don't even remember it was like I was doing a lot of stuff like that where it's like oh there's a weekly weekly opportunity here and there's I don't know how I did it I was tired and now I wrestle

once a week maybe and now I'm like oh my god that's a hard day. But you're also flying in every single time, flying home. Yeah, I remember one time on The Independence. I did a show up in Maine and then drove home from Maine back to New York. And I knew I had a show the next day. And I was like, okay, great. I have some time to sleep. It's like five of the morning that I got home.

And then I looked at the show and it was a matinee show on a Saturday. And I was like, what? So I literally stayed up. I went to the gym. I showered and then I had to drive like two and a half hours to New Jersey to do like a show that started at noon. And I was like, oh my God. But that was my own fault because I didn't realize it was a matinee show on a Saturday, which is not usually what happens. Usually if you do two shows on a Saturday, it's like you go on first at one and then you go on towards the end.

And it's like within like an hour or two of a drive. So I was just just not prepared for that. Think about this, both the AEW world champion and the AEW women's world champion, both from Long Island. Yeah. Both trained to create a pro. Both trained by Brian Myers. Mm-hmm. And unfortunately, Max was there my first day of training.

Unfortunately. Yeah. I've known him literally my whole career. I'm so sorry. Ah, it's okay. He's our scumbag. Whatever. But think about that.

Like, I don't know if that's, not that I can think of, that that, that, that, that, happened before. Yeah, it just goes to show that, like, where you're, where you train and, like, the people that you surround yourself with really do make a difference because creator pro was such, such a family environment. And we really cared about seeing each other succeed. And I think that's kind of like why a lot of us are thriving and, you know, making the most of our careers now, either in AW or elsewhere.

I'm always so proud of seeing everybody that I've ever trained with or that started to train after me or before me. Just knowing that they kind of helped me and I feel like we got a chance to do anything together means a lot to me. Is there one piece of advice or one lesson from Brian Myers that kind of rattles around in your head every time you go out there? Oh, man. Brian was always very chill as a trainer and we all loved him for that. I feel like he was just very big on and I feel like

a common thing is like don't ever stop learning and don't ever stop training I remember him and Pat my other trainer Pat Buck who I'm very fortunate

he gets to you know help us out a lot at AEW now as well I remember after my debut they came up to me and they were like whatever you do just don't stop training

and don't give up and I was like I got you no matter what, I will always keep my promise and I will always keep working hard. That, like, beginner's mentality? Yes, yeah. Or even just like, just because you're able to do things in your debut, like, just know that, like, you're not at the top of your game and there's so much to do.

Just because you're getting opportunities doesn't mean that you're the best. So they kind of reinforced in me that, like, there's always more to learn and that, like, you can always be at the top of your game and still don't be afraid to, like, expand your skill set. You have music notes tattooed on your, I think it's your left arm, right? Yes, I do. Is this an actual song? It actually is, yes. So what is this?

I always wondered this. And is that mini wheat there? It is mini wheat, yeah. Tattoo of the pigeon right there. I love it. Yeah, my little girl. So this song is, it doesn't really have like that much sentimental value, but in chorus one year, we did a medley of Jekyll and Hyde. And my mom, when I would practice my songs at home, my mom always, my mom's a music teacher also.

So music's a very, like, important thing. And it's, like, very special in our household. And this song, this is the moment from that musical, Jekyll and Hyde. It always makes her cry. So it's the first line of that song. That's sweet. Yeah. And that song, so it's like, it's about, like, seizing opportunities and stuff like that.

So I think just like the melody made her emotional. I don't think the actual song itself had anything to do with it. but, you know, band nerds, they just like sounds. Which was your first tattoo? I have a tattoo on my hip that's so, it's so, I actually got it when I was 16. How'd you make that happen? My parents drove me to Pennsylvania and get it done. I had to really convince them.

How supportive? That's amazing now. They were very, they were very thankful, or I'm very thankful that they were letting me do that. In Pennsylvania, it is legal with parental supervision, I will say, at 16. And it's this lame-ass, pain is weakness leaving the body. But I remember I would think about it all the time in gymnastics growing up. So I was like, this is really special to me and it's important and blah, blah, blah. And they were like, fine, okay. And that was my first tattoo.

But I had it in a spot that's hidden because I couldn't have it seen in gymnastics because my leotards and stuff. Does this phrase still apply to wrestling, you think? Pain is weakness leaving the body? Yeah, it applies to a lot of things. But I will say I don't always feel stronger after getting hurt. Sometimes I do. But, you know, after a hard bump in a match, I don't get back up and feel, oh, I feel great now. So don't take it too literally.

Well, you mentioned earlier you injured your knee twice. I can't even imagine, like, when you get the diagnosis. I'm sure you already know something's very wrong, but you get the diagnosis of a. You're Tore your ACL. That's such an uphill battle from there of like, now you're at. out. The thing that you love doing, you can't do for how long is it? Both of mine were about like nine to ten months, I think. Almost a year. Yeah. So how do you deal with that like, all right, now I got to rehab this. My job now becomes like get back into the ring. But it's also like

the thing that you love doing, you can't. Yeah. The first one was a huge mental battle for me because that was my first major, major injury. And it's also during COVID. So there was not like anything I could do to distract myself. But I was very fortunate that I was able to travel quite a bit for work, because we were based out of Jacksonville at the time. So I was able to travel quite a bit to go to work and get to rehab actually on the inner field of like the Jaguar Stadium and stuff. So by the time I was coming back, they were running me through football drills. I was, we didn't have anything else to do. We were like, all right, go crazy. But that was such a huge mental battle. I remember the doubts

of being like, they're doing fine. They don't need me and blah, blah, blah. And then people being like, no, we love you. Come back. You're fine. And I was like, I don't know. They don't need me. But then eventually getting past all that stuff and finally being able to do stuff again was an incredibly rewarding feeling. And the second one happened.

And then I was like, we thought it was just a hyper extension injury at first because I was able to walk. There was no swelling or anything. So we were hopeful. And then I found out it was a complete terror. And I remember I cried for like two hours. And then I was like, all right, lock in.

You've done this. Do it again. There's no, you know what you can accomplish after this. So it was a lot more like, it was almost more motivating for me because it was like, you know what you're doing. You did this before. You're fine. You know that you'll be able to come back and be better than before.

So it kind of really like reframed my whole mindset around my training like outside of wrestling. Does it make you second guess anything in the ring? No. I came back or I recovered and rehabbed with the mindset of not being held back by anything and not having any reservations because I never wanted my injuries to change the way that I perform. And that was really important for me because I honestly think now I'm a better athlete post my knee surgeries than I ever was growing up.

Even though I did gymnastics, I wasn't like the best gymnast. dealing with, you know, puberty and growth spurts and blah, blah, blah, and figuring out all that biological stuff. That was tough in its own. And then really, like, dialing in on my training, my rehab and, like, reframing my mindset kind of really helped, help me realize that, like, why would this hold me back? And now I'm like, I have genetically modified knees and I have surgically prepared. I would always say new knees, no restrictions as my motto for no reason. I feel like you're really intense in the ring. Like, I feel like it's a flip that gets switched. I don't know. But how would you describe your style in the ring? I guess it's kind of intense.

It's just kind of also always the way that I was taught to wrestle. I also, on the independence, I did a lot of intergender wrestling. And I'm so thankful. for that because I feel like that's really where I learned how to not just, you know, I learned how to take things to a different level and I had to perform differently against big dudes as opposed to girls my size are smaller than me because I mean, even like on the AW roster, people think that I'm a giant because a lot of our roster is relatively short and I look huge on television and that people meet me and they're like, oh, you're not that tall. And I was like, I never said I was tall. It's just these girls are small. And it completely changes how you do everything.

And I never wanted to not be able to do something no matter who I'm in the ring with. And I guess I am kind of intense, but also at the same time, you kind of have to be if you want to get to the top of the food chain. So I don't know. I don't mind taking a few hits here or there. What a fearless moment when you're face to face with John Moxley And then you flip them the double birds Yeah, yeah, I did that And then ran away I had to protect my little Harley

Yeah, yeah She was in danger I had to protect her, but it's a cool moment Yeah, yeah, I could beat him up Sure On the record John Moxley, watch your back You've had some intergener matches

Exactly, it could happen Exactly, so If someone is playing WWE 2K20, I know you did motion capture for this. Yes. Where can we see some of your work in this game? Oh, man, I'm trying to remember what I did. I think I might have, I can only really remember like certain entrances. You did some of the entrances?

I did Molly Holly's entrance. I think I did China's entrance. I might have done Ria's entrance. So if any of these are not good and you're watching this, I'm so sorry. I apologize. I move a lot better now. This is prior to my knee surgeries. I'm sorry if I did a bad job of your motion capture. But we also, we recreated a lot of like four horsewoman spots. You'll see me taking a pin in a lot of those. So I really can't remember a lot of like what I did spot or move wise specifically. I think I took China's power bomb. Oh, yeah. I took that. You took it?

Yes. I think my first day of motion capture, I did like table spots. You just got put through a bunch of tables? Yeah. Yeah. Are they putting crash pads in between? Yes, yeah. They protect you.

It's very safe. I think there was at one point I was in a figure four and I got pulled out of the ring while in a figure four. and I take a floor bump with it. Yeah, I took the floor bump with it. I did it a couple of times, but I really can't remember a lot of the stuff that I did. Were you doing this with the L.A. night? Because I remember he was telling me he.

Yeah, he's the one that gave me the power bomb actually. Oh, wow. Because we didn't have any girls that were big enough to do it. So he kind of body-wise had to do it. And I took it, yeah. So he was China in this. Yes. Wow.

Yeah, but I did the entrance. He told me he was like learning. these entrances and just like, he was so proud that he nailed them. Yes, yeah. I actually did Brian's entrance one time. My trainers, I did, and I sent him a video and he was like, what the heck is it? And I was like, I'm you. So like before they hit record, are you sitting there, like watching it on your phone going, okay. Yeah, we kind of watch it and we kind of go through it a few times and see if it's like, it's kind of tricky, but it's also fun to kind of replicate a little bit. And then years later, you're yourself.

Yeah, here I am. In the AEW video game. Pretty cool. Yeah. Oh, I also did my, I did my finisher by my Saturday Night fever in the motion capture. So if that's in the game and you can use that, that's because of me. Oh. Yes.

It's a pretty sick finisher. Thank you. It works every time. It's such a nice name for such a move that it looks so devastating. Yeah. Saturday night's fever. Saturday night or, you know, if it's on a Wednesday, It's Wednesday night fever.

I like to, you know, have fun with it. How did you come up with it? Begis. I use more than a woman by the Beegis as my entrance song. Sure, but the Bejys aren't doing that move. No, but I just needed a name that sounded cool and I wanted Beegis related. And more so, like, night fever sounds like, it's like, oh, it's sickening and blah, blah, blah, blah. Not necessarily disco-y.

So that's kind of where I took the inspiration from. And then also when I wasn't doing Galaxy's Greatest, and I went to more than a woman, again, with like the BG's relation to that. That's, I wanted to switch it because originally it was called Big Bang Theory. And I wanted to kind of switch it because of get away from all the spacey stuff a little bit. So that's where Night Fever came from. But the move itself, how'd you come up with that? I think I actually stole it from motion capture.

Yeah, I think I watched them do it. I did it there. And then I started doing it as my finisher. Another move that I stole from motion capture I do this like fisherman spinning driver I sold it from OCAP also but you don't see a lot of people doing it

so great ideas there So when you're talking about cosmic stuff Galaxy's greatest alien Big Bang Theory You love space Yes I have my whole This jacket is actually attached to my shirt so I can't take my jacket off

But I have my What? Space sleeve, yeah Wow So I'm sure you've seen it. Of course. We've all seen it. Show them right here.

You've seen me without sleeves. But fascinated by space? Yes. I am as well. Yeah. Actually, this is a very rare thing, I feel. But when I was in elementary school, we would take field trips to my high school because my high school had a planetarium. Oh, man.

Yeah. That's cool. So I got introduced to a lot of space stuff very early on because of that. And I think that's kind of where my fascination started. It's fascinating thinking about our place in the galaxy universe, whatever. Like, are we, we're really just spinning around on a rock in this infinite world? Around a ball of fire. It's crazy.

It is. It's different. It's just crazy to think, like, are we really just this tiny little grain of sand? Yeah, and this tiny little grain of sand is hurting themselves for other grain of sand's pleasure. So just think about that. What is the thing that you're most proud of in your wrestling career? I think honestly what I was mentioning earlier about like being someone that people want to work with, I think that's something I'm most proud of because, you know, you can accomplish so many accolades and do so much.

But if you don't have a good time with the people that you work with and you don't have fun creating, the art of wrestling or creating the magic that you do and you can't enjoy that with yourself and with the person that you're doing it with, then it's kind of like, what does it mean? You know, I think wrestling is more special for the people that it brings together and not necessarily like the cool things you can do, even though it's great to be able to accomplish some cool things. And I, and I'm honored to have done so much. It means more to me to, you know, share those opportunities with other people also.

Well, you have accomplished a lot. Oh, thank you. I'm busy. And again, congratulations on this. Thank you for making this happen. Of course. Thank you. We talked about doing this in 2020. I know, I know. And then I got deathly ill.

It's okay. It's okay. And then the world shut down like two weeks later. Yeah. So much better timing now that you are the AW women's champion. Yes, the Chris's have a line. Chris with a C and Chris with a K. That's what they call us.

They do now. I will end this with the question I ask everybody because Chris gratitude is such a huge thing for me. What are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? Okay. My animals, my family, and my job. I do have a stance I want to take real quick. Sure. Okay.

So I have this theory about airplane seats. And I've been needing a good platform to air this. airlines, if you take me up on this, I just want like 2% credit and like 2% of the proceeds that you get from this. I can't wait to hear this. So it's such a stupid thing. And there's probably going to be so many people in the comments calling me an idiot that I bet how why this logistically doesn't work.

But airplane seats are so uncomfortable and they're so like 90 degree upright. And everyone's like, it's so crowded and blah, blah, blah. And as someone that flies all the time and can barely stand up half the time, if all the seats are just turned like 20 degrees reclined, you're not. taking up any more space in the airplane, but you give people a more comfortable angle to sleep at or to sit at. So that's my thing. Got your trash seats, reposition them at 20 degrees reclined or inclined, depending on who you're talking to, and everyone will be more comfortable. Don't you feel like when someone reclines, like as soon as the plane takes off?

That's kind of a jerk. I never reclines. ever reclined my seat either. And that's what I'm saying. If it's just automatically slightly reclined, no one's upset. But as like as soon as that like the ding, they recline immediately. And you're like, oh. Yeah. Okay. All right. The only time I do it is when I'm on international flights. But that's, that's different. That's expected. For right into my lap, I'm like, please. But on a flight that long, people are sleeping. Yes. It's eight, 10, 12 hours, maybe longer. This is what I'm saying. Slow 20 degrees. 20 to 30 degrees, just automatically.

What about the last row? Because the last row is right up against that wall. Get rid of it. Get rid of that last row. Ah, but they need those extra six seats to make revenue. Well, airplanes are just about making money. Cramming as many people in there as possible.

My theory is about my comfort. This is all I care about. I'm uncomfortable. My back hurts all the time. A lot of people travel all the time for work. If you could just throw us a bone, to just have your seats automatically reclined. And then also half the time, the button doesn't even work.

You can't even recline your seat when you're uncomfortable. So airplanes. Sounds like Seinfeld. Listen to me. I'm a big deal. I travel a lot. I know what I'm talking about. Just recline your seats.

And if you want to shame me in the comments for having a stupid theory, fine. I accept it. I'm not an engineer. I just want to be able to stand without pain. You have long legs? I do. And then I also wear platform shoes because everyone thinks I'm tall. And now I have this insecure persona that I have to keep up with. So. Window or aisle?

Window. So you can lean up against it? Yeah. Yeah. Because I don't want to, I don't know, people always hit me. I have long arms. They always hit my elbows. And also, I don't want to be bothered to get up for people, for the bathroom. The only time I'll do an aisle is on a international flight. I was a window person forever. And then I was on a flight from, like, like New York's ally, so six-hour flight. And the person next to me in the middle seat fell asleep for the entire time. And I had to pee so bad. So I was like, and they didn't wake up.

Yeah. And I'm like, I was like slightly nudging them, didn't wake up. So then I got the attention of the person who was sitting in the aisle. And I was like, hey, like if you get up, I'll crawl over them. Yeah. So here I am crawling over a grown person stepping from my seat to the aisle seat just so I could go to the bath and they still didn't wake up. Well, that's great. Then I crawled over them on the way back and they still didn't wake up. I mean, and then I said I'm never sitting in a window seat ever again. That's more ideal though. I had a person crawl over me because I didn't take my seatbelt off in time to get up in the aisle. And I was like, well, I could get up. And they were like, oh, can I go? And I was like, yeah, sure. And they were like, whoa. I was like. I was like.

excuse me, hello. Yeah. Please. Contain yourself. They really had to go. No, they were going into their seat. I sat in the aisle first and they were just trying to get to their seat. They didn't even give me the chance to stand up.

I was like, oh, sorry, I was in your way. Patience. Yeah. A little bit of patience. Go a long way. Yeah. Well, your take is out there. Yeah.

So let me know what you think. Hit me up. We could have talked about reptiles for an hour. we could have talked about airline travel for an hour. Yeah, there's a lot of things. You know what's great about the world is that there's so many things in it. I like wrestling.

So tune in to all-le-rest. That's the great thing about the world. People can love lots of things. People can not like lots of things. Exactly. That's what makes the world go round. Yes. Chris, thank you again.

Hey, Chris, thank you. Chris with the C and a K. That's us. That's it. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

warned.