Athena Expresses Gratitude For Headlining ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023

History was made at last night's ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view, as Willow Nightingale and Athena took the spotlight as the first women to headline a pay-per-view event in the company's impressive 20-year history. In a highly anticipated match, Athena emerged as the triumphant victor, successfully defending her ROH Women's Title and extending her remarkable winning streak.

During the post-media scrum following Death Before Dishonor, Athena expressed the profound significance of the moment for her. She revealed that headlining a pay-per-view was a first in her entire career, making it an incredibly important and memorable milestone.

"I’m just very thrilled right now and it’s very hard for me to articulate things. I’m trying not to cry, I’m trying not to be a sad sap, but this meant the world to me. I’ve never gotten to main event in my entire career on a pay-per-view. When Tony approached me a couple of weeks ago about ‘we’re giving you the ball.’ It meant so much to be given that opportunity because it felt like me and Willow earned something. Despite the fact that she gave me probably my best match in my career thus far, I still came out on top. As far as what’s next, the sky is the limit. I’m looking for more women to step up in Ring of Honor. I’m looking for women in AEW to issue that challenge to the forever Ring of Honor champion. I’m open to all challengers. It’s not a matter of what I do next, it’s a matter of who steps up next."

When asked to comment on the fact that two black women headlined Death Before Dishonor, Athena responded.

"I’ve said it before, representation is key. When I was starting out on the independent scene, I remember being the only African American woman on every show I was on. ‘You’re that person, you’re the African American woman on this show,’ and it was just a niche thing. To see how much it’s blossomed, it’s not about race, it’s about your ability and your talent in the ring. It’s awesome. To be given that platform, not only as an African American woman, but as a woman, as a performer, and being able to deliver, that’s what matters. Everyone that is looking at home, whether you’re black, white, Hispanic, Asian, middle eastern, I want everyone to take this opportunity and look and say, ‘I can do it. I can do anything I set my mind to.’"

Later, she humbly admitted that she had not yet fully processed the magnitude of the moment.

"I haven’t really processed it yet. There were several moments where I came backstage and I wanted to cry because I was so happy because of the first time in my career, I did have that main event and I was extremely emotional because the pressure was on, not just for me, but for the division, for the AEW women’s division, to show that women’s wrestling matters. Me and Willow went out there and proved it tonight. It puts a chip on my shoulder, there was already a chip there, but it’s humbling that we could go out there and still entertain the fans after all the amazing athletes on Ring of Honor, to still get the crowd invested and get everyone behind what we’re doing and just be able to entertain people. I’ll probably go to my hotel and have a nice good happy cry about it, but I’m immensely happy about the work that we put in. We’re living up to the legacy that was upheld before we got here while creating our own. Not only that, we’re creating the standard for women to come whether it be AEW or ROH. We’re setting that bar and showing the world what we can do."

⚡ ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023 Results

The results for ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023 featuring six championship matches are in. There were four matches held on the pre-show, and [...]

— Ben Jordan Kerin Jul 22, 2023 01:50PM