ATHENA is the best women’s champion in North American pro wrestling

ATHENA deserves all the praise and recognition for the run she’s had as ROH Women’s World Champion. 

Professional wrestling fans continue to push for improvement in women’s wrestling. There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to the lackadaisical booking and time on television major promotions like AEW and WWE give to the ladies on the roster. But there are also good points to highlight across women’s wrestling. One such is Athena and her run as Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion. Fans would be shocked to learn that she’s the best women’s champion in North American professional wrestling.

Let’s look at what Athena was able to do. She’s held the ROH Women’s World Championship for 214 days. Since her victory over Mercedes Martinez at ROH Final Battle back in December, she has been on quite the tear. With eleven title defenses to date, Athena could even stake a claim to the true “worker’s champion” crown in wrestling. Who would be ranked above her? Orange Cassidy and Wes Lee? Perhaps, but her work is just as great as theirs’ have been during their time as champions.

What is also apparent is that Athena is the best part of Ring of Honor – each week. The promotion was purchased by Tony Khan and fans were excited about how he would use the brand. Unfortunately, ROH’s weekly content has become a glorified version of AEW Dark and Dark Elevation – but that is another conversation for another piece. But what Athena does with that platform continues to show why fans were excited when she was moved up to the main roster of WWE, and when she was signed to AEW – she has all the elements to become a top star in wrestling today.

Look at the path of destruction she’s laid in ROH. She defeated Miyu Yamashita, Emi Sakura, and put on a great match with Kiera Hogan in their Chicago Street Fight back in June. What’s more interesting is that Athena has wins over names that AEW is attempting to build upon its “main roster” in Skye Blue and Willow Nightingale – showing that she can hang if given the opportunity within the main company. While other ROH champions pop up on AEW television, fans continued to push for Athena to get the same exposure. That finally happened with Forbidden Door II and now there’s no stopping what should be a big run for her career.

There are a lot of top names in women’s wrestling throughout the industry. Athena deserves to be on that list. And what’s more important is that it’s time we recognized that she is the best in North America and remarkably close to the top of all professional wrestling.