She feels she’s doing the best work of her career in Ring of Honor.
Dating back to December 2022, Athena has been reigning as ROH Women’s World Champion. Her next title defense is coming up at Supercard of Honor where she’ll be defending against Hikaru Shida.
To promote the bout, Athena was welcomed onto Good Karma Wrestling. She shared with the outlet that she’ll be back on AEW TV ‘very soon’. Athena has not wrestled on an AEW show since the WrestleDream Zero Hour. Her last AEW television appearance was on a July 2023 episode of Rampage.
Oh my gosh, you’re gonna have to wait and find out (when I’ll be back on AEW TV). I think it’s very likely. It’s something that Tony (Khan) and I have talked about. I won’t go into detail but it is something that is happening. It’s something that we’ve been talking about for almost eight months now, just waiting for the right time, the right moment. But that moment’s coming very soon. That’s all I can say about that.
Speaking about AEW’s women’s division, she discussed the arrival of Mercedes Moné and what she adds to the roster. She thinks Moné is going to take the women’s division over the edge.
Athena does believe that the work herself, Billie Starkz, Willow Nightingale and Lexy Nair have collectively done in Ring of Honor inspired Tony Khan to bring Mercedes to AEW.
She adds star power, she adds confidence. I think for so long, we, as a women’s division, especially in AEW, were having these great matches and we had stars but we were trying to breach the ceiling of star power and I think Mercedes Moné brings that to the table. From her being (on) The Mandalorian to her being a multi-time world champion to just the charisma and aura that she brings into every moment she’s on TV. I really feel like that is what’s gonna set this women’s division over the edge in AEW. On top of that, it’s not that she’s doing it by herself. She’s bringing those women up with her, right? Like your Willow (Nightingale), Kris Statlander, your Julia (Hart), Skye Blue. They’re all in the same scene as her and that’s really cool that we’re doing that. Now, with that being said, your ‘Minion Overlord’ is just tiers above her, tiers above her. She’s doing great over there. We’re doing the Minion Overlord’s work over here, okay? We’re up here, we’re up top. She down here, we up here… This is my arrogance talking so sure, whatever, I’m certain we’re gonna get a whole lot of comments about it on the X app if you will. But, I think that the work that me, Billie (Starkz), Lexy (Nair), even Willow, have put in, doing these main events, showing Tony (Khan) that women can main event and deliver every single time. There’s a reason why I call myself ‘the inspiration to every women’s division’ and I definitely think our work inspired him to bring Mercedes Moné to the table.
Looking back on this stretch of her career in Ring of Honor, Athena feels she’s doing the best work she’s ever done. She credited Tony Khan for having faith in her. She feels the storylines have taken off because of the collaborative effort with him.
Athena said Tony allows her to be herself, whereas in WWE, she was presented as more of a high-flier.
Because I am (doing the best work of my career). A good chunk of that is due to Tony, Tony Khan having faith in me and trusting me with some of these storylines, having faith with me as character, as a ‘Minion Overlord’ and it’s turned into something really special and then it turned into M.I.T. and Billy (Starkz) and that turned into something special and I think we have, me and Tony, have such an amazing collaboration when it comes to everything with Ring of Honor. Everything that I have my hands on as well and I really think because of Tony, this has taken off. This is the platform that I needed at the time, this is the faith that I needed to go in the ring and just show the world what I can do and without Tony, none of this would be possible. But, just, he allowed me to be me, right? When I was in WWE, I was a high-flier and I can do all that. I’m not taking any of that away but before, I was a technician. I did a little bit of high-flying here. Just a smidgen of high-flying here and there but I was mostly a technician and a striker and I’m getting back to that, which I absolutely love. I love beating the tar out of people and kicking women in the face. It’s amazing, you know? And finding new, innovative ways to do that. But being able to have a platform with no restrictions is awesome for me.
Supercard of Honor will mark the 21st title defense during Athena’s reign as champion. Her latest defense was against Nyla Rose in a 2-out-of-3 falls Tables match on ROH on HonorClub.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Good Karma Wrestling with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
