Athena says she would love to do more in All Elite Wrestling.
When Athena made her debut for AEW in May 2022, many fans expected her to become one of the faces of the company's women's division.
After spending the rest of the year primarily performing on episodes of Dark and Dark: Elevation, Athena won the ROH Women's World Championship from Mercedes Martinez at the ROH Final Battle pay-per-view in December. Months later, with the title still around her waist, Athena became a mainstay for Ring Of Honor as the brand started airing weekly episodes of television.
In a new interview with Fightful's Grapsody podcast, Athena was asked if she wants to do more in AEW, to which she noted that the promotion is afraid she'll put people on the injury list.
"Absolutely. I’ve wanted to for a very long time, but apparently, ‘Athena doesn’t play well with others.’ [laughs]. I don’t know what you’re talking about. All of these lovely women signed beautiful waivers saying, ‘I’m going to be challenging Athena to a match, I understand what I am doing. I am putting my life, body, everything at risk going into this match.’ They understand what they’re walking into. They understand that they might not walk out. Because of that, I feel like there might be a little hesitation (returning to AEW) because everyone doesn’t want me to break their favorites. It’s kind of a thing I do. I would love to challenge my buddy Kris Statlander. I would love to challenge Toni Storm. I would love that opportunity, but right now, Ring of Honor is my priority. I kind of feel like I’m getting to the point where I’ve broken all the porcelain, which is why I really wanted to be in the Owen, to showcase what I can do within in a different platform, and I got what I wanted. Of course, my priorities are straight. I’m wrestling on Collision this week. I’m crossing over all of that right now. I would love to do more, but honestly, we all know there are certain people who don’t want Athena on the show because they are afraid they’re going to be on the injured list."
Athena went on to name a number of people that she's beaten in Ring Of Honor, people who all eventually ended up going back to AEW.
"We got Skye Blue. Hell, I beat her so bad she went back to AEW. Everyone that I’ve beaten in Ring of Honor has left and they don’t come back. They can’t cut it in Ring of Honor, so they go back to AEW, they go and hide there, but what’s going to happen when Athena comes there? Oh no. Their time is ticking. I’m going to come and clean house. If they want to run away from my brand, that’s fine. Eventually, I will come and find them. Right now, Ring of Honor is my priority. This championship means the world to me. Making an entire division step up means the world to me. Literally every person I’ve wrestled has left Ring of Honor. Sure, they come back, but they don’t even attempt to wrestle me again. I would at least try for a champion again, but I guess they don’t want it that bad. Lady Frost went and left. Vertvixen, Willow, the list goes on."
Elsewhere in the interview, Athena commented on her upcoming AEW Collision bout with Willow Nightingale. Fans can learn more by clicking here.
Fans can see Fightful's full interview with Athena linked above.
