Kris Statlander defeated Mercedes Mone to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship at Full Gear.
Statlander beat Mone for the first time in three attempts since last year’s Full Gear event, although Mone dominated much of the opening stages, getting near-falls and wearing her opponent down with submissions in the ring.
She went on to hit 14 consecutive suplexes, one for each belt she holds, continuing after the initial Three Amigos. But Statlander found some space with an up-kick intercepting an attempted frog splash from Mone. However, Mone had left her mark on the champion, finding herself unable to use her left arm to leverage Mone into a successful pinfall.
Statlander hit a Blue Thunderbomb to Mone on the outside of the ring, with Mone barely making the count but still managing to get the better of her opponent when back in the ring. The champion reversed the momentum with a discus lariat, going for a cover but getting reversed into an armbar; Mone kept the wrist control, but Statlander reversed into a ripcord belly-to-belly and locked in the Statement Maker in the middle of the ring. Once again, the arm proved to be an issue and Mone reversed the move into her own Statement Maker, but Statlander rolled out of the move and went to the top rope for an avalanche rib-breaker.
Mone and Statlander exchanged attempted seatbelt pins for respective two-counts the latter dropped the former with a package piledriver, going for a cover only broken by Mone’s hand on the bottom rope. Mone sought for her finisher to and came close to winning the match, but ultimately found herself caught in position for Statlander to hit Night Fever and get the winning pinfall, retaining her title and becoming just the fourth woman to pin Mone since she left WWE.
