Athena talks wanting an extended feud with Mercedes Mone

[Chris]

Athena Found A True Equal In Mercedes Moné & Eagerly Awaits Round Two [Exclusive]

The phrase 'dream match' perhaps gets tossed out a bit too often these days, but for women's wrestling fans across the globe, this year's Owen Hart Cup Tourname

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The phrase 'dream match' perhaps gets tossed out a bit too often these days, but for women's wrestling fans across the globe, this year's Owen Hart Cup Tournament match-up between Athena and Mercedes Moné absolutely merited that description.

The Forever ROH Women's Champion and the reining TBS Champion finally went one-on-one this past April at AEW Spring BreakThru and delivered a truly exceptional encounter worthy of the hype that preceded it.

In the end it was the Fallen Goddess who suffered a very rare singles loss when Moné countered the O-Face and leveraged a jackknife pinning combination. The CEO called the bout, "everything she wanted and more", and broke character in the media to heap praise onto her opponent.

Speaking to The Takedown on SI, Athena said in the hours after the final bell she honestly didn't know how to feel about what transpired that night in Boston.

“It took me like a few days to kind of process everything. I know that sounds weird,” Athena admitted. “I think because I'm always on the hustle and the bustle with everything, it's very hard for me sometimes to just sit back and enjoy what I put on a platter.”

The energy inside of the MGM Music Hall was off the charts from the opening pyro. Thousands of screaming fans were on their feet, chanting for both women before they even locked up. Each one of them taking the time to soak in the adoration.

As everything was unfolding, Athena felt a sense of comfort wash over her. She said all the chaos of her life, the years of the never-ending grind, all of it melded together into this one beautiful moment that brought validation to her body of work.

“I always go through this period after matches, and anyone that is very close to me will tell you this, that I will immediately start going through like, ‘Oh, I should have done this. Oh, I should have done this.’ And that was the first match where I kind of just sat in the hotel room and I was like, I don't know.”

After watching back her match with Mercedes, the Fallen Goddess said she experienced a feeling that she had been chasing for nearly a decade. Not since her second bout against Asuka at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, had Athena felt such a level satisfaction with a finished product.

“I just remember having a tear come to my eye. And I don't really get too emotional. There's been a few times that I've cried. My most recent was Japan, [because] I wanted it so bad. But I was just kind of swelling with pride, because it just was magic for me. It was like I found a true equal in the ring to me, on every level, who countered my chaos.”

While there is a very vocal contingent of the All Elite fanbase that wants to see the ROH Women's World Champion become more of a regular on AEW programming, Athena could not put over the Tony Khan and his company enough for allowing her to opportunity to simply enjoy the art of professional wrestling again.

Whether it was her main event battle with Willow Nightingale at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023, closing out a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom a year later with Billie Starkz and or her absolute barnburner with The CEO at Spring BreakThru, Athena has a number of great memories she can look back upon fondly.

That does not mean, however, that she's fully satisfied. The loss to Mercedes, has only fueled a desire to run it back and give the fans another show.

“It left me wanting so much more. It left me wanting to do a full storyline with Mercedes Moné. I feel like I hold myself on such a high pedestal, because I feel like I always have people depending on me. Down from my indie company, down to my ROH locker room. We put our hearts on a platter, and I felt like in that moment, I was proud of myself.”

Mercedes Moné went on to win the Owen Hart Cup Tournament and is now set to challenge Timeless Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Championship at All In Texas on Saturday, July 12.

Athena's spot on that card, is less of a guarantee. It's not unprecedented for ROH title matches to take place on an AEW pay-per-view. The Forever Champion defending her gold in her home state, against her current rival and fellow Texan Thunder Rosa, makes a ton of sense on paper. Will it happen?

"I don't know if that's in my stars," Athena said. "If not, I have a Ring of Honor pay-per-view that I will probably be defending my championship on. You know, I would probably be super bummed out if I wasn't on All In, but honestly, there's still time."

The Fallen Goddess is no stranger to making waves in the Longhorn State. She recently announced the launch of an all new women's wrestling show under her Metroplex Wrestling banner.

The Takedown on SI will have all the details on Athena's latest pro wrestling venture when our full conversation with her drops next Wednesday, June 25 on our YouTube Channel.

 

[O-Blaze]

I'm definitely going to watch this when it drops, excited.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

I've just realized that Mercedes is the first ever woman in history of wrestling to ever do all this

Spoiler

Won the CMLL women's world championship last night adding to her achievements

AEW TBS WWE//IGWP/REVPRO/SSW Champion and wWE tag aTem Champion. That makes her one of one and when she wins the AEW Women's world champion she's going to become even more successful. Just knowing this makes me respect her more as athlete

I know I've been critical of her booking but there's no denying she's one of the best women's wrestlers of all time .