Several former WWE Superstars currently hold AEW gold, while Tony Khan has built up his own homegrown champions in recent years. One top star made their name in WWE and other promotions, but now that they have achieved major history-making success in AEW and ROH, fans will have to wait for their next big milestone as a hiatus is in the works.
Athena arrived in AEW almost seven months after her six-year tenure with WWE ended. This also led to her Ring of Honor return more than 9 years after working for the original ROH. The former Ember Moon of WWE returned to the ROH ring at Final Battle XXI in December 2022, dethroning Mercedes Martinez in just over 13 minutes. While she has faced some controversy in recent years, Athena’s championship journey has set multiple records.
The War Goddess saw her historic title reign hit the 1,000-day mark one week ago. Her last match was a successful title defense on August 29, over Mina Shirakawa at ROH Death Before Dishonor XXII. This was just a few days after Athena failed to dethrone Toni Storm of the AEW Women’s World Championship at Forbidden Door IV.
Athena’s recent win over Shirakawa was her 31st title defense. The Texas native has retained over names like the impressive Marina Shafir, Kiera Hogan three times, Willow Nightingale twice, Skye Blue, Angelina Love, Hikaru Shida, Thekla, Billie Starkz twice, Alex Windsor twice, and Thunder Rosa, among others. Athena has also won 36 Title Eliminator or Proving Ground matches over names like Madison Rayne, Rachael Ellering, Lady Frost, and Leila Grey.
Ex-WWE Star Athena Taking Time Off From AEW And ROH
Athena’s time in the AEW ring has increased as of late, but now the former WWE NXT Women’s Champion will have to wait for her next challengers. After hitting the 1,000-day title reign milestone, Athena is now going on hiatus.
The Fallen Goddess is set to take 5-6 weeks off of work, according to Fightful Select. It’s not clear why Athena needs the time away as sources were unable to confirm whether she’s injured or just banged up, or if the 37-year-old is going on hiatus for another personal matter.
Athena held the NXT Women’s Championship for 139 days after winning a Fatal 4 Way for the vacant strap at TakeOver: WarGames in November 2017. She later teamed with Shotzi for a 55-day reign with the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship after dethroning Dakota Kai and Raquel Rodriguez in March 2021.