This isn’t the first clash between Athena and Miyu Yamashita, that took place on January 21st in Pomona, CA for Prestige Wrestling, and is currently available on IndependentWrestling.TV(https://iwtv.live/promotion/PRESTIGE#oD7d6Jn4E6). But “The Fallen Goddess” may not want fans to go back and watch it, because if they did, they’d see a moment where Yamashita actually dethroned Athena as the ROH Women’s World Champion, if only for a few seconds, and not officially.
Miyu, she of the most devastating head kicks in professional wrestling, caught Athena with one of those kicks and it was only the fact that the defending champion’s foot fell under the bottom rope that saved the title. It took a few moments for referee Scarlette Donovan to communicate the message, long enough for the Prestige Wrestling locker room to actually come out to celebrate with Miyu, and long enough for “The Fallen Goddess” to recover and strike her challenger with the championship belt when Donovan had her back turned.
Not the cleanest way to retain the championship, but retain the championship Athena did, and which she would do again this past Friday night at SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023 when she faced “The Magical Girl” Yuka Sakazaki. That victory in LA marked Athena’s seventh title defense, just two shy of the record set by Rok-C, a record made more impressive given that Rok-C did it in just 119 days. Now Athena won’t be able to match that statistic, but she can still surpass the number of defenses Rok-C netted to become the most successful ROH Women’s World Champion to date.
Athena just has to make it past Miyu Yamashita once again, this time by her own request, and inside a Ring of Honor ring as well. The defending champion just has to avoid eating a Skull Kick, and suffering the same fate Shazza McKenzie did on the last episode of ROH ON HONOR CLUB. If Yamashita connects, the current Pro Wrestling EVE champion will add the ROH Women’s World Championship to her trophy case.