DALLAS — As part of All Elite Wrestling's (AEW) "Path to All In" summer series at Esports Stadium Arlington, AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor, will hold its annual PPV Death Before Dishonor. And one of the marquee championship matches features a woman born and raised in North Texas.
Athena, who grew up in Garland and now lives in Arlington, will defend her ROH Women's World Championship against Queen Aminata at the show. She has been a dominant champion for the past year-and-a-half, with more than 20 successful defenses. She first won the championship in December of 2022 in Arlington at ROH Final Battle. One year later, she successfully defended that title in the main event of that same PPV, this time in her hometown of Garland.
"Coming home is magical," Athena said about defending her championship here in North Texas. "There's no place like home and there's no place like Texas. Being in North Texas in my old stomping grounds, it's pretty awesome."
Watch the full interview with Athena here:
Athena cut her teeth on the North Texas independent wrestling scene when she first started her career in 2006, fresh out of high school.
"It was difficult," Athena said. "I remember being in Mesquite training with Skandor Akbar and wrestling in a public storage building."
Getting onto shows in North Texas when she first began was a struggle, Athena said. She eventually started wrestling on shows every other weekend at two small promotions in Arlington and Denton. She eventually started wrestling on shows in Arkansas as well.
"A lot of the time when you're first starting out, people don't want to take a risk on you, so you have to force them to see you," Athena said.
Athena recalled telling promoters she would even wrestle for free for a first shot, with how eager she was to make it into the wrestling business.
"I wouldn't change it for the world but it was a grind, it really was," she said.
Athena will defend her championship against Queen Aminata at the PPV this Friday night, a wrestler originally from Guinea, West Africa who has had a breakout year after signing with AEW in 2023.
"She is a beast of a performer," Athena said about Queen Aminata. "It's gonna be a hard-hitting fight. I think you're gonna see a lot of intensity that you don't see normally. It's gonna be a war."
Athena spent time wrestling in WWE under the name Ember Moon. She debuted in 2015 and was released in 2021. And while she won two championships for WWE's developmental brand where less experienced wrestlers hone their craft, NXT, she never managed to win a championship in WWE proper. But since arriving in AEW and ROH, she's been a much more dominant champion. She says knowledge and experience have made a difference.
"I've won championships but I couldn't keep them for a long time," Athena said. "Once I won this [ROH Women's World Championship], I wasn't gonna let it go. I'm willing to do anything to keep my championship, whereas I was just so happy to be a part of NXT. I'm the star, I'm the main attraction, and no one is taking this away from me."
While Athena has been one of the main faces of ROH, she has spent less time in AEW. She said she and AEW Owner Tony Khan feel he's needed on ROH at this point. If someone wants to see Athena wrestle, they have to subscribe to its streaming service, Honor Club.
"I am not shy or afraid of taking the spotlight and taking my opponents to the next level," she said. "It's fun to be not only a part of Ring of Honor but the face, the attraction."
Athena's next goal is to be the longest-reigning champion in ROH history, man or woman. She's not too far from achieving it. The longest-reigning champion at this time is Samoa Joe, who held the ROH World Championship for 645 days across 2003 and 2004. On the day Athena defends her title against Queen Aminata, she will have held the belt for 594 days. If she makes it past that match, she'll need to hold it for just 52 more days to break the record.