ROH Women’s World Champion Athena has been utterly dominant for 855 days since defeating Mercedes Martinez for the title at FINAL BATTLE 2022. For an in-depth look at what she’s accomplished during that time, check out this Timeline at the official ROH YouTube channel. Suffice to say “The Fallen Goddess” is 64-0 in singles competition in ROH-related contests, and 70-2 overall with those losses coming in tag team competition.
As if those numbers weren’t impressive enough, it should be noted that it was Billie Starkz who lost those matches for their team, meaning no one in ROH has put Athena’s shoulders to the mat, made her submit, or even beaten her by count out during these last 855 days. She’s successfully defended her ROH Women’s World Title 28 times against 24 different women, turned away 30 Proving Ground challenges from 28 different potential challengers, and won four Eliminator contests from four different competitors. At WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 Momo Watanabe was the first person to pin Athena since Willow Nightingale on the 7/14/23 RAMPAGE, coincidentally in an Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Semifinal bout, and that took the use of a baseball bat for Watanabe to score the fall!
Finally, Athena’s lone World Championship reign is the longest in ROH history, and only the combined 13 World Tag Title reigns of The Briscoes exceed her record. This all feeds into Athena referring to herself as “The Forever ROH Champion”, “The American Joshi”, as well as “The Minion Overlord”, and this dominance is one of the things that sets her apart from every woman in ROH and AEW, especially from a competitor such as Harley Cameron.
No disrespect towards Harley, but in terms of their careers, she and Athena couldn’t possibly be on more disparate ends of the wrestling spectrum. Athena has been doing this for almost 18 years while Harley just passed her three year anniversary on February 5th. In stark contrast to Athena’s record, Harley has won just seven matches in her whole AEW career, and four of those happened in 2025 as she’s taken a huge leap forward with her skills over the last several months. Harley even had the guts to step up and challenge TBS Champion Mercedes Moné to a title fight at GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA. Though Harley gave it everything she had, ultimately she ended up as another victory in The CEO’s 19-0 singles win column. There’s no denying Harley has the in-ring talent to become a champion in the very near future, and clearly she has a willingness to test herself against the highest echelon of competitors in order to someday get where those women are, but is she ready to take that step yet?
We will find out tonight when she goes one-on-one with Athena in this Quarterfinal bout of the 2025 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament! Harley already got a taste of what being punched in the mouth by the ROH Women’s World Champion is like on last week’s COLLISION in their tag team match. Can she avoid tasting it once again? As the only woman in the entire field who has never held a championship, Harley Cameron is certainly the dark horse, underdog candidate to win the tournament, much less this Quarterfinal fight right here, but her wrath is highly unpredictable and may just lead Harley to a Semifinal rematch with the TBS Champion!
2025 Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Quarterfinal: Billie Starkz Vs Jamie Hayter
Two weeks ago Billie Starkz stepped up last minute to face Jamie Hayter, filling the void created by Queen Aminata’s injury, and unfortunately for the young former ROH Women’s World TV Champion it did not go her way. Starkz gave it everything she had, even managing to counter that nasty Hayterade lariat Jamie throws, but eventually the former AEW Women’s World Champion caught Billie with a springboard variation on the move to put her down for the count. It was a valiant effort from Starkz, but as that edition of COLLISION came to a close, it was “The Fallen Goddess” Athena who stood in the spotlight with Hayter and not Billie Starkz.
It was a moment very indicative of the dynamic between Athena and Billie throughout her…minionhood…but tonight it’s about Billie and Billie alone. It’s not about Athena, it’s not about M.I.T, and it’s not about the heartbreaking losses Billie endured at Athena’s hands at FINAL BATTLE 2023 and 2024. Nor is it about the loss Athena handed Billie in 2023 that started her down this entire M.I.T. path in the first place, a loss that took place at the FORBIDDEN DOOR 2023: ZERO HOUR in the Quarterfinals of that year’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. This night, and possibly this entire tournament, could be about Billie Starkz continuing to breakaway from what has defined her ROH career but doing so requires surviving another fight with Jamie Hayter.
Hayter last participated in The Owen in the inaugural 2022 edition of the tournament, first defeating Skye Blue to qualify, then falling to Toni Storm in the Quarterfinals. Hayter missed both the 2023 and 2024 tournaments due to injury so this year’s tourney holds extra meaning, especially given that its World Championship implications would lead Hayter back to the championship she lost at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023 largely because of those injuries. It’s a title she hasn’t had a chance to reclaim since returning to the AEW stage at ALL IN: LONDON 2024, and tonight could be the beginning of the road to a title bout at ALL IN: TEXAS on July 12th.
To the winner of this contest comes a fight with Kris Statlander in the Semifinals; a 2021 Jericho Cruise rematch for Jamie Hayter but a first-timer for Billie Starkz if it comes to pass. Which woman will take the next step towards The Owen Finals at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2025?
-Megan Bayne in action!
COLLISION is live this Saturday night starting at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT streaming on MAX, as well as on TNT, in addition to AEW PLUS for International fans! Tonight we will see a continuation of the 2025 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament as Billie Starkz faces Jamie Hayter and ROH Women’s World Champion Athena takes on Harley Cameron in the final two Women’s bouts. We will also see Konosuke Takeshita take on Brody King in the Men’s brackets, as well as “The 5-Tool Player” Anthony Bowens in action against Blake Christian! Prior to showtime be sure to check in on AEW’s official YouTube channel to watch highlights from recent editions of DYNAMITE and COLLISION, as well as DYNASTY 2025, Close-Up with Kevin Knight, and so much more!