Clearly Mercedes Martinez, a former ROH Women’s World Champion, was not content with sitting back and waiting for a championship opportunity to be offered to her. All it took was one match on COLLISION, a victory over Kiera Hogan, for Mercedes to let her intentions for Kris Statlander’s TBS Championship be known.
Mercedes, unrelenting even after submitting Kiera, got the attention of Statlander, leading the TBS Champion out to the ring to stop the post-match attack. Unfortunately for Stat, she made the mistake of leaving her belt laying in the ring and turning her back on “The OG Badass”, leaving herself open to be knocked unconscious with a belt shot courtesy of Mercedes. Clearly Martinez plan worked because this Saturday night, for the first time in four years, Kris Statlander and Mercedes will go one-on-one, but this time with the TBS Championship at stake!
Statlander has been exceptional since defeating Jade Cargill for the title at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023, making seven successful defenses in 70 days against the likes of Marina Shafir, Taya Valkyrie, and Nyla Rose, to name a few. With each fight, Statlander seems to be growing stronger, more confident, and in turn the fans more endeared to the woman. Can Mercedes, in just her third AEW match since returning from injury, put a dead stop to the momentum Kris Statlander has built since returning from hers? Will a new TBS Champion be crowned in Greenville, SC?