Riho vs Kris Statlander’s title match has been called off

AEW has announced that the Women’s World Championship match scheduled for Jan. 1 between Riho vs Kris Statlander has been called off.

Riho and Statlander were due to face off for the title in a highly anticipated match on the first AEW Dynamite of 2020. It has now been announced that due to scheduling conflicts for Statlander this has caused the company to cancel the match. She had already been scheduled to wrestle for Bar Wrestling instead.

AEW also stated that Statlander would receive her shot at the championship at the Jan. 8 episode of Dynamite. She will now face the winner of a 4-way match between Riho, Britt Baker, Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida.

However, we are excited to announce that Kris Statlander will face the winner at the #AEW Anniversary edition of Dynamite Wednesday, Jan 8th in Southaven, MS. Tickets for both shows can be found at https://t.co/5WsWwyDkwZ

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) December 27, 2019

This can be seen as nothing more than a huge error in booking. It is understood that last-minute changes happen in wrestling all the time but when a match with importance has to be cancelled because of “prior commitments” it can be disheartening. Bar Wrestling had the following to say:

Losing @callmekrisstat would’ve been a big blow to us not only financially with travel and replacement costs but also quality of talent loss. Thank you to Kris for keeping your bookings next week with @beyondwrestling and with us and to @AEWrestling for caring about independents. https://t.co/gEJLLL7ZjJ

— Bar Wrestling (@BarWrestling) December 27, 2019

Despite this issue, the company has at least given us a mouthwatering good match as the replacement.

This takes us to another topic and that is AEW’s Power Rankings. Their power rankings system is said to be used to determine a number one contender because win/loss records matter. It has been announced that the rankings will indeed reset on Jan. 1. The last rankings of the year had the following order from one to five: Krist Statlander, Britt Baker, Hikaru Shida, Nyla Rose, and Emi Sakura.

#AEW Women's Rankings
As of Wednesday, December 25th, 2019 pic.twitter.com/9RhT6x9iLm

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) December 25, 2019

New 2020 annual records will begin on #AEWDynamite this Wednesday, January 1.

Career #AEW records will be cumulative, and the annual records will reset each calendar year.
The annual records will be increasingly important in the rankings as the new calendar year continues. pic.twitter.com/q8Pky5DZfT

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEWrestling) December 27, 2019

What do you think of the match cancellation and who would you want to see as AEW Women’s World Champion?

Let us know below and as always stay tuned to Diva Dirt for all of your AEW news and updates.