ATHENA isn’t on AEW All Out and that’s a travesty

AEW All Out features several champions from Ring of Honor, but it doesn’t have the top champion of the brand, Athena, and that’s a problem. 

AEW All Out is coming in hot on Sunday, September 3. This event is right off the heels of the uber-successful All In – the biggest event in professional wrestling history. As the card for the PPV fleshes out with less than a week left, there’s one giant, glaring omission. Athena is not on this card. The next AEW PPV highlights many attractions from Ring of Honor, but it’s a glaring problem that the current women’s champion is not on the card.

AEW All Out features the Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions defending their titles. The Ring of Honor Television Champion is defending his title. The Ring of Honor World Champion is booked in a match. Why can’t Athena get on this card?

As of this writing, Athena has held the ROH Women’s World Championship for 264 days. During that time, she established herself as the title holder that many believed she could be if given the opportunity. Yes, she held the WWE NXT Women’s Championship, but this version of ATHENA is a completely different person and performer. Many make the argument that she’s one of the best champions, regardless of gender, across all professional wrestling. Looking at her record it’s hard to argue that point.

Each week, Athena continues to dominate during the ROH Thursday shows. She’s the anchor of that show, consistently highlighted in prominent positions. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to get on AEW weekly television like her peers. She had a match against Willow Nightingale on Rampage back in July, but that is her only appearance on any of the three weekly shows under the AEW banner. That is unacceptable when you compare it to how frequently other champions are on Dynamite, Rampage, or Collision.

Tony Khan isn’t doing himself any favors. Fans consistently push him to give the women more time and book them in an equal fashion to the men. Each time he’s pressed on it, he gives some reason why that’s not the case. The women still get one match a week, and maybe one video segment/interview to supplement it. It’s the common circular argument: the women’s division isn’t considered a draw, but they aren’t given the television time to grow into a draw that entices fans to watch. Many will complain that the card and booking for All Out is underwhelming, but this is commonplace for the women’s division and Khan is the only one to blame. This promotion has a stacked division and there’s no excuse at this point.

Athena’s matches against Nightingale and Kiera Hogan show what she can do in the ring. Her resume speaks for itself. Keeping her off a show that clearly features multiple elements of ROH is a problem that doesn’t make AEW leadership look great. Can the situation be fixed heading into the PPV? Of course, but at this point, it would be clear that any action taken was an afterthought conspired only because of the backlash. Athena deserves the moment to be on this PPV just like everyone else.