ROH Women’s World Champion Athena spoke with Cameron Hawkins for Uncrowned about various topics, including what she would do if she ever faced Mercedes Moné again.
Athena said, “That woman has teed me off on a level that only people at a family reunion seeing that one cousin that you hate would understand. She’s one of the best in the world. I have nothing but great things to say about her — with the exception that she pulled my tights to beat me. And that is unforgivable. And that left me feeling embarrassed, defeated and angry. And I do not like feeling any of those things in any type of way. So in return, when that moment comes, whenever it will be, because I truly do not know, when that opportunity comes to knock, I’m going to knock her on her ass with all her dollar-store sequins.”
On why she considers herself a “sicko”:
“I tell him (Tony Khan) that all the time — I’m a sicko. I love wrestling. I still watch pro wrestling. I’ll watch 14 hours of PWG, old ROH from 2003 to 2006, which is my era. I love that pro wrestling, in general, is always consistently changing, consistently evolving. There’s always something to learn. There’s always a new trick to do. There’s always a new move to invent. When I first started wrestling, I never wanted to do the same thing two days in a row.”
On defendeding her title against Queen Aminata in Texas:
“It’s my home, my friends, my family, the crowd. I told [Queen Aminata] before we went out, I said, ‘I’m a God here.’ And she was like, ‘Whatever, I’m taking that championship away.’ She walks out there — and then I walk out and she heard the crowd, and you can see it on her face, like, ‘Oh, I did not understand.’ I’ve wrested in Austin. I’ve wrestled down south in San Angelo. I’ve wrestled everywhere you can wrestle in Texas. Texas is my home. … For me to wrestle in Texas is for me to put an entire state on my back along with Ring of Honor, along with the women’s division, and I’m carrying us to the best night ever.”
On pushing forward as champion:
“I am putting that hard work out there because that is what the people demand. That is what they deserve. I just put my heart on a pedestal when it comes to being in the ring. I used to have this saying, ‘Make art out of war.’ Every match I have, I try to paint a masterpiece. It has to have the right flow, the right color, the right aesthetic, the right setting. But that’s just something I’ve always done. Am I the best in the world? Sure, I’ll go ahead and say it. I’m better than everyone in the world. But when it comes to the outward presentation, I’m just trying to be the best me on a platter.”
