This is the rubber match that ROH fans have been waiting for: Athena versus Willow Nightingale Round III, and the ROH Women’s World Championship is once again the line! The first time out, the second episode of ROH ON HONOR CLUB, Willow succumbed to the defending champion after nearly fifteen minutes of hard-hitting action. To be fair to Willow, she nearly had Athena beat with her devastating Doctor Bomb, but the champion managed to get her shoulder off the mat moments before the referee’s hand struck the mat for the three count, and the only reason “The Fallen Goddess” walked away still champion was because she lured Nightingale out of the ring, shoved her fingers into the challenger’s eyes, slammed her on the ramp way, and slammed Willow head first into the stairs before tossing her back into the ring. That onslaught left Nightingale an easy victim for the O-Face, and allowed Athena to leave as champion.
Their second outing took place just a few weeks ago, four months removed from that first encounter, but rather than a championship being on the line, it was a spot in the Finals of the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. This time around it took Willow Nightingale just under 11 minutes to defeat the ROH Women’s World Champion, and advance to the Finals, where she would go on to defeat Ruby Soho and become the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Champion. That victory over Athena, combined with her win in The Owen, led Jerry Lynn and Stokely Hathaway to set-up this rubber match for DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 that, despite the protestations of the champion, was further supported by ROH President Tony Khan.
Athena recently surpassed Mercedes Martinez as the longest reigning ROH Women’s World Champion since Rok-C first won the title at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2021, and she also stands as the most successful champion with 11 defenses to date. On top of that, prior to her loss against Willow on RAMPAGE last week, Athena had not lost a one-on-one match in ROH or AEW since ALL OUT 2022’s TBS Championship bout with Jade Cargill, and as far as Ring of Honor-related competition is concerned, “The Fallen Goddess” remains undefeated in 31 battles. She is an absolute warrior who has no qualms about assault and violence above and beyond what’s necessary to win a fight, or for that matter, to perpetrate her attacks after the match has ended. Whether one likes the way Athena conducts herself or not is inconsequential, because the bottom line is that it has brought her great success, and made her the measuring stick of the ROH Women’s Division.
Can Willow Nightingale take that mantle this Friday night in New Jersey and become the litmus test for women in Ring of Honor? Can she score her second huge championship win of the year after defeating Mercedes Mone to become the 1st NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion? It’s clear Nightingale is in the head of Athena after toppling her in The Owen, there may be no better opportunity for Willow to take a second victory over “The Fallen Goddess”!