Kiera Hogan talks ASÉ Wrestling, ROH women's division, and her dream opponent

Kiera Hogan recently competed in the ROH Women's Television Championship Tournament. She also competes on AEW Collision. Hogan wrestled on the first ASÉ show where she defeated Charity King in nefarious fashion.

I had the opportunity to talk to Hogan about a variety of topics ahead of ASÉ's third show

At ASÉ COSMOS, "The Hottest Flame" made her return to face King's partner, Danni Bee. When asked about her tactics to defeat King, she replied, "Honestly, I don't think anything happened with the match because the ref didn't see and honestly, the people don't matter. It's about me and that moment. I won my match. Honestly, facing Charity's partner, one half of the King Bees, Danni Bee, is going to be interesting because she's going to be ringside tonight, but that doesn't matter. I can handle my own, but I don't want them to think that they can outnumber me because that's never the case."

"I'm excited to see what ASÉ has in store for future shows. I'm really excited that this is a thing that's happening because I feel like it's long overdue. So, I'm excited for the future of ASÉ."

Perhaps she's excited about future shows because during COSMOS, her former Fire 'n Flava tag team partner, Tasha Steelz, made her ASÉ arrival after Hogan beat Bee. The women will face each other in a tag match on June 22.

ASÉ has been a place where all walks of life can compete and fans can attend. Hogan is a Black gay woman and it can be hard to find places that are willing to give a meaningful platform to any of those three, let alone someone who is all three. I asked Hogan what it means to have a place like ASÉ to be part of.

"For me, coming out as gay was a huge thing at the time. I just got so comfortable with myself that I didn't want to hide it anymore. Everyone should feel that way because it's 2024. People should be able to express themselves however they feel like it because everyone is their own person and no one should tell anyone else what to do, unless it's unlawful. Other than that, I'm just happy that we're all here and able to be ourselves and we don't have to conform to anything or be something that we're not. We get to just be ourselves and do what we love, which is wrestle."

Last week, AEW was issued a warning by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission (OSAC) because Nyla Rose wrestled a two-minute match on ROH. They said she violated the ban on transgender athletes. Hogan spoke about that decision by the OSAC.

"It's very disappointing. It's very disheartening because it's 2024. Nyla is one of the nicest, funniest, kind-hearted people I've ever met in my life. She lights up the locker room. She lights up everybody. She lights up Twitter. How could you not love Nyla? So to hear somebody not want her somewhere because of who she is and again, like it's all about being who you are."

If we can't be who we are based off someone else's opinion or someone's beliefs, I think it's bullshit honestly. Like I said, we should be able to express ourselves freely no matter who we are, what our sexuality is, where we come from, we should all be able to be ourselves."

ROH Women's Division

Hogan was knocked out of the ROH Women's Television Championship Tournament early, but she thinks she should be Billie Starkz's number-one contender. "Well, the tournament --I got out in the first round-- I lost to my girlfriend (Diamanté), but I got my lick back and now we're 1-1. I just wish I was able to go further. I feel like I put a lot of work into Ring of Honor. I had a bomb (expletive) Chicago Street Fight with ATHENA. I just really wanted to excel from that point and I feel like I'm kind of at a stagnant point right now. I just want to prove why I'm in ROH. I wanna work as hard as I can in ROH and just to prove more and more of why I should be a champion. Why I deserve the spotlight. Why I've worked hard to be in the spotlight."

"I feel like ROH when it first got reincarnated by AEW, we all worked from the ground up and I was one of those people who worked from the ground up. I feel like if anyone deserves it, it's me!"

The ROH women's division has earned a lot of praise recently from fans and media alike. Hogan says that the locker room is amazing. "All the women just want to put on the best showing they can, no matter -- when we film for ROH, it's the last show of the night. People are leaving, people are tired, but we go out there and we try to entertain the crowd, no matter how many people are out there. We try to put our best foot forward."

"We try to give Honor Club the best matches that they pay for. I feel like we just want to show how much hard work we put in and see the product because we're proud of what we do. I feel like ATHENA, Billie, Aminata, Red, Leyla Hirsch, me, I feel like we've all put in a lot of work with Ring of Honor and we just want to show how much we love it and want to do it for the fans."

ATHENA as ROH Women's Champion

ATHENA has surpassed 500 days as ROH Women's Champion. While she has anchored and led the women's division, she has elevated other women with her during her historic reign.

"That's all I want for a champion. I feel like that's what we all want for a champion. We all want somebody that represents our division, but also be able uplift everyone along the way with them and not just leave them behind. Because as hard as she worked for herself to get that title, she had people behind her to help elevate her, to help the title, to help push the matches. I feel like it's not just the champion, I feel like the divison as whole, we've all worked hard to make the title very important."

"We want to be known that just because it's the Ring of Honor women's title and it's not on TV all the time, don't think that it's not an important title. ATHENA has worked her ass off from Day One since she's been in AEW, even before she won the title. I was her first match in AEW."

"Honestly, she is a locker room leader. She wants everyone to succeed. She makes sure that everyone's matches is going right. She makes sure everybody is happy. She's an amazing champion and I want her to get flowers because she desrves it. She's amazing. She's an amazing champion and a hard worker. Hard-hitting. And she makes you believe. When you're in the ring with her, she makes you want to fight. She makes you want to get that fire up. That's why I love working with her."

After having matches likes the street fight and opponets like ATHENA, who else would Hogan like to face?

"Well, you know there's someone who just arrived in AEW by the name of Mercedes Moné. And I feel like it's long overdue that we step in the ring together. So, I'm just going to put it out there so that somebody can hear it. Listen, I would love to work with her. She's amazing, she's amazing!"

"Obviously her, Bayley, Becky, Charlotte, and even Saraya, they all started that women's revolution. Who wouldn't want to get in the ring with them? I was a huge fan of her in WWE, oh my God. Who didn't want to do 'The Boss' and all that stuff? I absolutely adore her. She's a hard worker. She literally paved the way for a lot of women. I would like to give her her flowers, so absolutely, I would love to step in the ring with her, learn from her. Hopefully feed off of each other and maybe have good chemistry. Who knows?"

ASÉ's expansion

Bringing it back to ASÉ, they had some crossover with For The Culture during WrestleMania 40 weekend. Billy Dixon and Darius Carter brought their rivalry to ASÉ and wrestled one-on-one at For The Culture 4. Lockhart was the special guest referee. Carter went on to win and it set up the main event for COSMOS with Carter vs. Sonny Kiss.

I asked Hogan about involving ASÉ with For The Culture. "It's all about evolution. You just want to keep elevating. You want it to get bigger. We want for everybody involved here to just get our recognition, to get our flowers. We work very hard. I feel like for us as a Black community, we have to work double time to get any sort of recognition. So to have a platform to do all the things, hit hard, put on good stories, put on good matches, and then to have another company be involved? It's all about evolution. Raising the bar."

Hogan wants the fans to know that "the hottest flame is always on the heatwave. The heatwave is always going up. We can only go up from here. You can catch me on Ring of Honor, AEW -- on Saturday, I'm a Collider. So catch me every Saturday, on Collision, Ring of Honor."

To follow Hogan on social media, you can find her on Twitter/X and Instagram. Just remember, "I'm the realest Hogan, the only we recognize."

If you use any quotes from this interview, please H/T Daily DDT and credit Samantha Schipman.