Athena, the former Ember Moon, has been in the spotlight recently though not for the best of reasons. She has received criticism for allegedly working exceptionally stiff and being more dangerous in the ring. However, her fortunes appear to have changed following a major win at ROH Final Battle 2022.
Martinez started the match off wrestling arrogantly as she toyed with her challenger. This only served to anger Athena and made her return Martinez’s cockiness with aggression. And in a continuation of the trend established on AEW programming, Athena wrestled stiffly and hit the champion with hard strikes.
You can find up-to-the-minute results on ROH Final Battle 2022 here.
Both women started trading suplexes and other big moves for a while until Martinez went for her Brass City Sleeper. And despite all the alleged negative attention Athena’s new wrestling style had brought her online, the audience in attendance live cheered her on as though she was a pure babyface.
Then to further confirm her more aggressive and possibly heelish alignment, Athena removed a turnbuckle pad, an action usually associated with villains in wrestling. Athena follows this with a dropkick that sent Martinez careening into the corner hard.
The challenger followed this with her Eclipse Diving Stunner for the three-count to win the ROH World Championship.
Athena now two-time women’s champion among major wrestling companies
This win marks Athena’s second women’s singles title among major/widely-recognized wrestling companies. She previously held the NXT Women’s Championship once and also held the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship alongside Shotzi Blackheart.
She has also won titles and accolades in such promotions as Absolute Intense Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Alliance, and, Warrior Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling.
Elsewhere on the card, Wheeler Yuta retained his ROH Pure Championship against Daniel Garcia when their match ended via referee stoppage after about fifteen minutes.