Athena (formerly Ember Moon in WWE) is currently a free agent after being released by WWE in November 2021.
While speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Athena noted that her WWE contract was set to expire in April 2022 and in the summer of 2021, WWE had offered her "five times more" than what she was currently making.
However, she did not sign a new deal and was eventually released.
"I think they're afraid of the talent they possess and they can take elsewhere. It was literally up until maybe, I want to say, August-September, they were still trying. I was like, 'I would love to sit here and take your money, but you haven't given me a reason to stay.' That was my point of dispute with them. 'I want to stay, I want you to make me stay,'" she said.
Athena continued, mentioning that she was keeping an eye on what was happening at AEW.
"I was seeing everything going on at AEW and I was like, 'That looks fun. That looks like what I thought I was going to do.' For a while, we couldn't even talk about it backstage because they were like, 'You shouldn't be watching the competitor.' I was like, 'How do you expect us to outshine them?' It was different because I wasn't watching for film. I was watching because I was envious of what was happening there. I would text Dustin (Rhodes) on occasions and he would respond back, 'We sure are having fun over here.' I'm like, 'I see that you're having fun, Dustin! How are you, how is life? Don't rub it in.' Dustin was one of those people that, when I was on Raw and SmackDown and still trying to figure out my identity within that new roster, he was the only one who would sit there and give me character advice. 'You need to do this and that. Fuck what they say.' That's Goldust. That's the ultimate character. My man survived throughout everything. He took such an interest in my character-work when no one else would. I saw him and my friend Leva (Bates) is like, 'I'm having a great time over here.' To see genuinely how happy everyone was," she said.
When asked if she would be interested in joining AEW now that she is a free agent, Athena said, "That's up to them, technically. I've been very open and being like, 'Whoever offers, let's do it.' I just want to wrestle and have fun."
Athena has been back on the Independent scene, taking on AEW stars like Thunder Rosa and Swerve Strickland. In the interview, she noted that she's having fun again in wrestling.
Elsewhere during the interview, Athena opened up about her final months in WWE. You can find her full comments by clicking here.
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