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Into the Toxic Spider-Verse: Thekla's Next Chapter

Chris Ruiz

Chris Ruiz

— 3 min read
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AEW star Thekla with red entrance gear and sunglasses has her arms outstretched in front of a grungy, purple Spider-Punk themed background with the KaSLam! logo in the lower right
Photograph used courtesy of Stardom Co., Ltd

"Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go. Nah. I’mma do my own thing." - Miles Morales, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" (2023)

Since her debut on May 28th, 2025, Thekla has spun a web of malice and mat mastery the likes of which All Elite Wrestling has never seen, and she's done it her way. Equal parts unruly and unbothered, "The Toxic Spider" ascended the ranks of AEW's women's division with relative ease; unseating the AEW Women's World Champion, Kris Statlander, a mere nine months after her arrival.

Unlike Miles Morales, Thekla has no interest in being a hero. In fact, she loathes them. From STARDOM to AEW, she's been on a crusade to prove that wholesomeness, friendship, and popularity have no place in the squared circle.

Despite her five-month reign coming down at the hands of Willow Nightingale at Redemption, this spider is far from washed out, but she was noticeably absent from both Dynamite and Collision last week. It's been even longer since the sickos have seen her Triangle of Madness teammates, Julia Hart and Skye Blue. Their last AEW appearance was on the July 22nd episode of Dynamite, where they failed to capture the Women's World Tag Team Championship from Divine Dominion. Since then, all three women have been busy with their hostile takeover of STARDOM, but I can't help but wonder what'll be on their agenda when they return refreshed and refocused.

Despite being a heel, Thekla's authenticity makes it difficult to dislike her, and her arguably-unrivaled presence has inadvertently cast a shadow over Hart and Blue. Winning the Artist of Stardom Championship has certainly helped elevate all three women more evenly, but I think it's only a matter of time before AEW pulls the trigger on The Triangle of Madness becoming a duo of dissension. Both Julia Hart, a former TBS Champion, and Skye Blue were in AEW paying dues long before the spicy margarita-sipping spider arrived and assumed a leadership role over them, so the story writes itself.

Thekla's disdain for do-gooders be damned, because if The Sisters of Sin cast her out, she might be thrusted into the role of pro wrestling's next big antihero. For many who've been enamored with her since she showed up in AEW, she already is.

🕸 🕸 🕸 DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE SPIDER-VERSE FILMS 🕸 🕸 🕸


With the blockbusting release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" behind us, the next web-slinging watch to swing into theaters will be "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse"; the culmination of Sony Pictures Animation's Miles Morales-centered trilogy (otherwise known as the best Spidey films of all time, for those of us with good taste).

With a release date of June 18th, 2027 firmly set - more than three years after they initially planned - Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and David Callaham will finally deliver the outcome of the brain-glitching cliffhanger from "Across the Spider-Verse."

Not only will Miles have to contend with the Earth-42, Prowler version of himself with whom he's currently being held captive, but there's also the simultaneously multiversal and all-too-close-to-home threat of The Spot, who's apparently fated to kill his father back in Earth-1610.

Here's my bold prediction for this film. It will absolutely be worth the wait.

I've jokingly expressed, on a number of occasions, how badly I need "Beyond the Spider-Verse" to be done, but never once have I genuinely hoped for it to be rushed. These films are masterpieces. They could probably teach college courses detailing everything that went into making them as groundbreaking and breathtaking as they are, not to mention their influence on the animation industry. I know I'd enroll.

When "Into the Spider-Verse" came out, my son wasn't even born yet. By the time we got to "Across the Spider-Verse," he was old enough to see it in the theater with us. These films are not only among my favorites of all time, they're woven into my journey as a husband and father. So, to say that I'm excited would be a massive understatement. We're less than a year away. The countdown is on, Spider-Verse fans.

"Let's do this one last time." - Miles Morales, "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" (2018)