Athena has opened up as to why she wanted to make the move from WWE to All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Speaking on the \”Complex Unsanctioned\” podcast, Athena said the more she kept seeing her friends from her indie days getting a platform on AEW pay-per-views (PPVs), the more she wanted to be a part of it.
“When you look at the AEW PPVs and you’re seeing all of my friends that I used to roll with on the indies and they’re finally getting the platform that they deserve and it’s just like, ‘Man, they look like they’re having so much fun and I gotta be a part of it,’ you know?”
\”And it just kept setting in. It’s like the more time that went on there the more I was just looking at AEW, the more I was like longing to be at AEW.”
Athena signed with WWE in 2015, going by the name Ember Moon. She was a staple in the NXT women\’s division, capturing the NXT Women\’s Title at one point.
Moon got her call up to the main roster in 2018 after WrestleMania 34.
Unfortunately, her run on the main roster didn\’t result in any meaningful push as a singles competitor, eventually landing her back in NXT in 2020.
She reigned as NXT Women\’s Tag Team Champions with Shotzi Blackheart, but was released soon after their title reign ended, leaving the company in November of 2021.
After a brief run on the independent circuit, Athena made her AEW debut at the Double Or Nothing PPV. She won her debut match on the June 3 episode of Dynamite, defeating Kiera Hogan.
Quotes via Wrestling Inc.