This match doesn’t fall into the category of being a “dud” because it’s going to be a bad match, because it won’t. It actually has the potential to be a sleeper hit on a card that is centered around the most physically demanding wrestling tournament in North America where only the best performers make it to the final stages. No, the AEW Women’s World Championship match between Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter falls into this category for the simple fact that there really isn’t any heat behind it despite the talent levels of the women involved.

Statlander winning the title at All Out seemed like a genuine surprise as many people thought that Toni Storm would hold the title until Mercedes Mone finally got her act together and managed to win the one belt that she didn’t have. Of course, that isn’t what happened, and since All Out, Statlander has beaten both Storm and Mone on consecutive pay-per-views, but the downside to beating the two biggest stars in the division is that every match that happens afterwards doesn’t carry the same weight. Beating the former champion clean in a one-on-one setting followed by a win over the woman who got the better of her a year earlier sounds like a fool-proof plan to make Statlander the biggest star in the division, but where do you realistically go from there?

Enter Jamie Hayter. She’s a woman whose entire character has essentially become a woman who was champion a few years ago and has dyed her hair ginger. That might seem harsh but outside of feuding with Thekla throughout the summer, she hasn’t actually had a meaningful arc since returning from injury at AEW All In London in August 2024. She’s a phenomenal wrestler and one of the heaviest hitters in AEW, but she hasn’t given fans enough of a reason to get behind her heading into Worlds End. For a woman that was once the AEW Women’s World Champion, she now feels like a filler challenger before Statlander faces someone more interesting.

The all-babyface dynamic of the bout is another thing that works against it as you might have two women who the fans will want to cheer for, but it makes the bout feel less important and a bit more predictable than it would be if Statlander was facing someone like a Thekla, Megan Bayne, or even a Marina Shafir. Granted, Hayter could turn heel afterwards to set up a rematch for the beginning of 2026, but even then that doesn’t seem like the best direction for her. Overall, the match between Statlander and Hayter will certainly be good, but there should be more heat behind it.

Written by Sam Palmer