When you’re dangerously surrounded by the blaze, a transformation happens. For some, it might be painless, others will find it unbearable.
As the flame licks your flesh, it chars and tattoos as a reminder that, while beautiful, it is not your friend. It will leave that scar on you. It may bring intoxicating warmth to toxic frost, but it is not your therapy. Fire, fire will change you.
From smoldering ashes herself to the roaring conflagration, Athena has been that exact thing for the ROH Women’s Championship.
Every woman in the industry right now is bringing their own unique thing to the table, and what Athena brings is totally different from some of the things I’ve seen. The closest I can compare Athena to is maybe some joshi promotions but injected with hate, malice, and gleeful immolation of her opponents.
When you sit down for an Athena match, you’re not getting the standard game. You’re either getting a squash, a test of endurance, or someone who is on her level, if not close to it. You’re going to see women flung into the barricades, snapped in twain, or struck with some malicious kicks and forearms and maybe more. Anything and everything is a weapon, including most importantly herself.
That level of toughness and brutality is something that the belt she wears needs, especially for this new era of Ring of Honor.
This isn’t her first go-around with the company, either. After a start in places such as Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling (then named Pro Wrestling Alliance) and a time in Shimmer Women’s Athletes, Athena soon set her sights for a company that would expose her passion for wrestling to the world.
When first I saw Athena, it was by the name of Ember Moon on WWE’s NXT as she was ushered out the door by Shayna Baszler. She was tough, but her MMA-based opponent was tougher. Still, she caught my eye as she was main roster bound and I never ceased in wanting to see her in the upper echelon of Raw or Smackdown, which was never to be the case. So, it seemed that her next place to go was back to NXT, and when it seemed she was finally getting her feet back beneath her feet, she was let go from WWE.
Soon, Athena would find herself in the employ of Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling, saving Anna Jay and Kris Statlander from Jade Cargill and her cronies. But even with momentum against the then-TBS champion and later interim AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm given to her, she was unable to break through to championship gold. Perhaps that had been stewing in her for a while, doing things the right way.
In later appearances on AEW and the new Ring of Honor, a mean streak began to show with Athena, starting with the likes of Jody Threat and Diamante before people started taking notice.
All of that time she spent being either barely featured, not given much to do, or not winning where it counted, and after all that, enough was enough and it was time for a change.
Such dominance had to be rewarded, Athena needed a crown. At Ring of Honor’s Final Battle 2022, she got that very chance as she took on the chiseled and rugged veteran in Mercedes Martinez, dethroning the champion and gaining the gold. This just added to how unstoppable, how ruthless, how chaotic Athena now is. She has something to fight for, she has something to inflate her ego.
She’s spent her time defending the title on AEW’s Dark shows until their cancellations and on Ring of Honor TV destroying either local talents or lesser-used AEW talents. She even went to Prestige Wrestling and took on Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling’s Ace, Miyu Yamashita in a 20+ minute fight, something that comes into play later.
Willow Nightingale was up to bat soon, and man oh man, they stole the show in the main event of ROH TV in February 2023, and so much praise was given for a match that saw hate unbridled meet the positive rays of happiness and sunshine. A match with two of 2023’s best women’s wrestlers.
Then Tony Khan sent in the joshi wrestlers. Japanese women’s wrestlers are known for being explosive and hard-hitting, which is perfect as a playground for Athena, and one by one, they fell. Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, and again Miyu Yamashita, all toppled like dominoes.
The champion’s goblet would continue to overflow with the flood of the vanquished with the usual independent talent while also putting on classics with Lady Frost, Skye Blue, and Trish Adora and putting Kiera Hogan in the main event – twice – making this three times that black women have main evented ROH TV on Honor Club. The sequel match, the Chicago Street Fight, quickly gained a lot of love and acclaim. Not only could Athena destroy opponents in a typical standard wrestling match, but she could also burn them to a crisp where any and all means are legal, and in this match, she endured yet thrived in the carnage wrought by the angry talent who had enough of Athena abusing the roster. She fell as well, and the champ stands still strong.
What I love about Athena’s character change is that it broke out of the ROH, even the AEW sphere as many onlookers familiar with wrestling thought she was going into business for herself, that she was going to shorten the careers of her dance partners, and that she was being unprofessional. Acting as though women’s wrestling is to be soft. It’s not soft; it is hard and unforgiving when the story and the characters align for something that gives reason to violence and sport to culminate in the final bell. I even noticed people who were unfamiliar with pro wrestling in my personal life make mention that it looked real, convinced that it was in fact. From that, I’ve seen people either invest more in wrestling or stray further. That’s the Athena experience.
There’s a flow to Athena’s matches. Devoid of mercy and humanity, filled with cackling and annihilation. She will break your favorites with reckless abandon and she will not care. She’ll do it with her trademark sneer and it will not end until someone who can match her energy can snuff it, pouring rain on the wildfire until it is but a tiny spark to be stepped on.
Until then, Athena will run rampant until the final eclipse, cementing her legacy as one of the best champions of 2023.
