Clearly Athena and Kiera Hogan are destined for a fight far beyond the scope of a standard wrestling match, the hostility between the two women continues to escalate week-after-week, and eventually the scales will tip into a violence that cannot be contained by the rules. But that moment hasn’t quite come, and that fight will not be this Thursday night during ROH ON HONOR CLUB.
Instead Trish Adora will step onto the Proving Ground to earn a shot at the ROH Women’s World Championship that Athena has held since FINAL BATTLE 2022. In the time since toppling Mercedes Martinez, “The Fallen Goddess” has racked up 10 championship defenses and twenty-five consecutive wins, turning away contenders such as Willow Nightingale, Miyu Yamashita, Skye Blue, and Kiera Hogan on two previous occasions. Athena has become the most successful champion since the title’s creation at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2021, and is a little over thirty days away from becoming the longest reigning champion in its history as well. Meaning there are few individuals in pro wrestling on a hotter streak than Athena, and meaning if someone can end it, than that woman’s stock will skyrocket in ROH as well as, in this case, put said woman right in contention for the ROH Women’s World Championship.
And by the standards of the Proving Ground, Trish Adora doesn’t have to defeat Athena to earn that title match, she “merely” has to survive for ten minutes to become a contender, a feat only four women have managed to accomplish since Athena became champion, and none of those in Proving Ground bouts. The longest anyone held out there was Madison Rayne at 08:27, so if Trish Adora can even pull off that accomplishment, it would be a landmark moment for her career.
Less so for that of the reigning ROH Women’s World Champion…and there’s no doubt Kiera Hogan will be watching to see how this one unfolds.