When Athena was released from the WWE, it was seen as a negative thing for the aspiring women’s wrestler. However, since then, Athena has torn it up on the independent circuit and most recently signed for AEW.
Athena debuted at Double Or Nothing last month and has set her sights on Jade Cargill and The Baddie’s. It is expected the two will clash for the championship at some point.
Speaking with NBC Sports Boston, Athena said there was a lot of back and forth in the six months after her WWE release. As she began to blow up on the independent circuit, she knew something special was happening in AEW. Eventually, both parties connected and got a deal done.
“It was like a six-month, ‘Ah, are we interested? Are you interested?’ Because I think, when I left, I didn’t know if I wanted to continue wrestling, I just knew that I loved watching the AEW product at home…”
“I had a couple matches on the indies and those blew up – Shane Strickland, Taya Valkyrie, Mia Yim, and it just kept getting more and more traction. I think like, we finally just kind of hit the double tap on the phone call and it was like, ‘Yeah, let’s figure out something. Let’s do this.’”
Athena to NBC Sports Boston
Of course, since signing with the promotion, Athena has proven to be one of the more popular signings to the AEW Women’s Division. Time will tell if Athena will take the TBS championship from Jade Cargill, but for now Athena is chasing the gold.
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