Athena Believes She’s Thrived More Outside WWE in Last Year

Athena was one of the highlights of WWE NXT’s women’s division during her time in WWE. This was largely due to her two runs on NXT, as her main roster run was largely forgettable. She eventually made her way to AEW and ROH and found great success in the latter. Athena even believes that she has seen more success in the past year than in her last WWE run.

Athena was released by WWE back in 2021 and that was something no one expected. Eventually, she made her way to AEW where she is now one of the top stars, as the ROH Women’s World Champion.

While speaking on The Sessions with Renee Paquette, Athena reflected on her accomplishments over the past year. Athena stated that she has achieved more than she did during her final three years with WWE.

Athena noted that she had recently taken some time to reflect on her experiences. The Fallen Goddess added that she feels she has accomplished a lot since joining AEW and ROH, especially in terms of character development and the opportunity to compete in high-quality matches regularly.

It’s wild, it’s crazy (that I’ve been with AEW almost a full year). I think I actually had this kind of reflection a couple days ago. Well, the week before just the chaos ensued of last week. It was just like, I haven’t even been here a year yet. This is just everything that I’ve accomplished. I feel like I’ve done so much since I’ve been with AEW, since I’ve been with Ring of Honor that I’m like, this is more than what I’ve done in two, three years at WWE I feel like as far as character development, as far as having these matches every single week, day in, day out, just being a little snarky asshole at times on TV which I thoroughly enjoy.

Athena also wanted to quit professional wrestling for good after her WWE release. Athena has defeated top Joshi stars Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki, and Miyu Yamashita in successive title defenses and continues to hone her craft in many ways. We’ll have to see who she will face next.

What’s your take on Athena as ROH Women’s Champion? Do you think her current AEW/ROH run is better than the last three years in WWE? Sound off in the comments!