When she steps into the ring tonight to face CMLL’s La Catalina, “The Fallen Goddess” Athena will be on her 818th day as champion. During this reign she’s successfully defended the title 27 times, turned away 30 Proving Ground challenges and four Eliminator hopefuls, and amassed a record of 68-2 with those losses coming in tag team competition where Billie Starkz was pinned not Athena. That’s 70 ROH-related matches where no one has been able to put Athena’s shoulders to the mat or get her to submit, and she’s been challenged by the best around the world. Willow Nightingale, Red Velvet, Alex Windsor, Hikaru Shida, Miyu Yamashita, and even her own minion Billie Starkz are among the competitors who’ve tried to dethrone “The Forever ROH Champion” but to date no one has been able to touch her.
Tonight on HONOR CLUB, though something between Starkz, Athena, and TBS Champion Mercedes Moné seems to be brewing on both AEW programming and on social media, Athena has to answer the challenge of La Catalina following the CMLL athlete’s victory over Lady Frost last week! The 24 year old competitor made quite an impression in her ROH debut, but she’s got plenty more in store for Athena with all the experience she’s garnered during her 11 years competing inside the squared circle! Though she’s only been part of CMLL for two years, La Catalina was victorious in the 2023 Universal De Amazones Title Tournament, participated in the Grand Prix De Amazonas 2023, the 2024 Universal De Amazones Tournament, the CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament, and has battled for both the CMLL Women’s World Title and the NJPW STRONG Women’s Title!
La Catalina may have come up short in those challenges, but tonight she aims to succeed where so many others have failed and became the new ROH Women’s World Champion! Meanwhile Athena is calling this phase of her championship reign the “Global Domination Tour”, and she intends to make La Catalina the first to fall in this endeavor!