Former Stardom Star Thekla Debuts On AEW Dynamite, Attacks Jamie Hayter (AEW News)
Thekla left Stardom in April, but just made a huge splash on AEW's flagship show.
Say hello to AEW's latest signing. The 'Toxic Spider' Thekla debuted on Wednesday's edition of company flagship show Dynamite and attacked Jamie Hayter during Hayter's in-ring promo. Jamie was cutting a speech on her loss to Mercedes Mone in the final of the women's Owen Hart Foundation tournament at Double Or Nothing this past weekend when Thekla made her mark.
The 32-year old Austrian star left Stardom behind in Japan after multiple years with the promotion. Previously, news had spread that she'd signed with Tony Khan's group approx three weeks ago, but this was her official debut on TV. A few sneaky teasers had aired showing an animated spider, but this was never acknowledged by AEW's announcers.
That did get some fans talking on social media though. People speculated about what the spider could represent, and now they know - it's Thekla.
Play-by-play man Excalibur added context to Thekla's debut by explaining that she'd been fired by Stardom for attacking president Taro Okada. That was an angle designed to justify her exit from the promotion, but it does add an element of danger to her act ahead of this run on the AEW roster.
To add further context to Thekla, something else is worth pointing out. Her ring name is actually pronounced 'Tek-la'. The 'h' is silent, in other words. Either that or Excalibur made a mistake, but that's highly unlikely considering the announcer would've cleared this with the debuting wrestler ahead of time.
You only get one chance to make a first impression, and all that good stuff. Thekla vs. Hayter matches should be incoming very, very soon.