AEW Star Set For Championship Match In Debut For Another Company

Published: Feb 3, 2026 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Feb 3, 2026 by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

AEW

An AEW star and current ROH champion is challenging for a championship in another company later this month in their debut.

Taking place at the CURE Arena on February 27, New Japan Pro-Wrestling makes its return to the United States for The New Beginning USA.

With AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita already announced with the NJPW World Television Championship in his sights, another AEW name has now been added to the show.

The official NJPW Twitter account confirmed that ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will be in action, hoping to capture the IWGP Women’s Championship from Syuri.

Athena made her intentions clear in a video, standing alongside her Minions, declaring:

“Minions, I am sick and tired of all of the disrespect. Time and time again, they underestimate M.I.T. They understatement you, Billiams, and I cannot stand the fact that people are now underestimating me.

“So, we’re going to change things up a bit. Change of scenery if you will.

“February 27. Trenton, New Jersey. New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Athena, the Forever ROH Champion, the Minion Overlord, the Fallen Goddess, but most importantly The American Joshi, debuts.

“And, not only am I going to be debuting at New Japan, Syuri, I’m going to take your IWGP Championship back home with me.

“See you soon.”

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Flanked by Billie Starkz and Diamante, the pair were very much on the side of the ‘Minion Overlord’ as she laid out her plans for her NJPW debut.

Also set to take place at NJPW New Beginning USA is Tomohiro Ishii defending the Strong Openweight Championship against Boltin Oleg.

BREAKING@AthenaPalmer_FG is headed to New Beginning USA February 27- and is challenging @syuri_wv3s for the IWGP Women's title!@CUREarena TICKETS:https://t.co/bTJqdj5yL3 #njnbgusa pic.twitter.com/Yu5xugPoL5

— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 3, 2026