ROH champion Athena says she's ready to become a full-time AEW star

[Seb93]

Ring of Honor Women's World Champion Athena told the Dallas Morning News she's ready to make a full push toward becoming a full-time member of the AEW roster, with the AEW Women's World Championship and TBS Championship both firmly in her sights. Athena's ROH title reign has now reached 1,362 days and counting, making her the longest reigning champion of the modern era, but she said it's finally time for me to make that forever for AEW as well

Athena's comments come days after AEW All In 2026 at Wembley Stadium on August 30th, where her former tag partner and rival Mercedes Moné captured the AEW Women's World Championship by defeating Willow Nightingale. Speaking separately to WFAA, Athena praised Moné's win while hinting she won't wait long to pursue the title herself, saying she'll give Moné a couple of months before deciding to come after it, adding that mutual respect is there since Moné didn't come after her own ROH title first

Athena, a former WWE talent who signed with AEW in 2022 before becoming a fixture in Ring of Honor specifically, said she wants to be AEW Women's Champion, TBS Champion and an AEW tag champion to show the world that everything she's given holding a whole promotion on her back was worth it. She's set to appear on this weekend's AEW Collision and Dynamite tapings in Allen, Texas, defending her ROH title against Isla Dawn in a proving ground match. Curious what people think about Athena's specific case, does 1,362 days carrying ROH's top title earn her a genuine fast track to AEW's main roster spotlight

Athena Wants to Leave ROH for Bigger Opportunities » TWNP-Wrestling Newswww.twnpnews.com

[Erin91]

1,362 days as champion with relatively limited AEW flagship screen time is a genuinely strange disconnect worth sitting with, that's an enormous accomplishment that hasn't translated into the main roster spotlight it probably deserves

[Bayley_Contender]

The mutual respect angle between two former tag partners now potentially heading toward a genuine rivalry is exactly the kind of layered story AEW tends to do well when it actually commits to the long game with a program

[MattHardy]

Giving Moné a couple of months before pursuing her title is smart patient booking logic from Athena's own perspective, rushing straight into that program immediately after Wembley would undercut Moné's own moment as new champion

[CyberWarden49]

Curious how AEW's crowded women's division actually accommodates someone with this much accumulated credibility stepping up to full-time status, spots at the very top are genuinely limited no matter how deserving a specific talent is

[StarfieldPilgrim]

That specific number is genuinely wild to see stated plainly like that, worth remembering how rare reigns of that length have become across major promotions in the modern wrestling era generally

[FridayFeeling19]

A proving ground match against Isla Dawn this weekend feels like the natural next step here, keeps Athena's ROH title reign visible and active while these bigger full-time AEW roster conversations continue playing out in interviews

[Jarvis]

Worth remembering Athena's own comments about giving so much of herself to hold ROH together, there's a real note of genuine exhaustion buried underneath the ambition here, not just pure hunger for more championships