Athena Didn’t Know If She Wanted To Wrestle Again After Leaving WWE

AEW

AEW star Athena didn’t know if she wanted to wrestle again after leaving WWE.

Athena, formerly known as Ember Moon, was a former NXT Women’s Champion and NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion.

Towards the end of her run in the company, Athena saw her role dwindle and has even spoke about believing WWE wanted her to be a coach.

Speaking on AEW Unrestricted, the AEW star opened up about the lack of desire to wrestle that she had following her release from WWE.

She said:

“So when I left the other company, I didn’t know if I wanted to wrestle again. It was just like, ‘Oh, this was like my big dream’. There had always been AEW, right? It was just always like, ‘Man, it looks like they’re having fun. That’s what I thought I was signing up for,’ and, just watching, and just dealing with what I was dealing with, and then seeing this, and I’m just staring and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, so much fun. It looks like so much fun.’

“Once I actually left, I was like, ‘I think I’m good.’ Then it became, ‘Crap. How are we going to pay the bills?’ Because we just bought a house, and it’s like, ‘Well, I guess I gotta wrestle to pay these bills.’ I don’t have — Well, I went to college for like, six, eight years. But I never want to pick up a book ever again, I don’t want to finish any of those degrees that I started, just not my jam.”

The former WWE star recalled how the first match following her release against Thunder Rosa for Warrior Wrestling reignited her passion.

She stated:

“I was like, ‘Alright, let’s lace up the boots.’ I have my first match back with Thunder Rosa. We did a 30-minute time limit draw, and I remember being so emotional after, which I don’t really get emotional about things. But it was just like, I had all these feelings going through my head of like, ‘I almost threw this away, I almost let this go.’ Just being out there on the indies, where people like appreciate every tiny little thing, every tiny bump, every intricate transition. People just appreciate it so much more than where I was, you know? It was just like, ‘I almost threw this away,’ and I forgot what it was to love what I do in the ring. I remember just like, there was like a rude fan, Thunder told him off because she’s a bomb chick like that.

“So she hands me the mic, and I didn’t even want to say anything, because I knew as soon as I started talking, the floodgates were gonna open, which they did. I just was like, ‘Thank you for just making me fall in love with this again.’ That was kind of my upswing to be like, ‘Okay, well, it was just one match. One match isn’t gonna make the world of a difference.’ Then, I had another match, and another one, and another one, and then I became DJ Khalid. I love this. I started watching old wrestling again, whereas, when I left, I just didn’t watch wrestling at all. I was like, ‘Nah,’ I didn’t watch anything. I was like, ‘This isn’t fun for me anymore.’ I just got angry watching it. I became Scrooge, pretty much. But like, with every match that I had, it just felt like more and more like love, and my passion was returning.”

Athena signed with All Elite Wrestling and made her debut at Double Or Nothing in May.

Keep track of Athena’s win-loss record in AEW (for televised matches) at this link.

Transcription via Fightful

If you’re in the UK but didn’t manage to get tickets to Clash at the Castle on September 3, WrestleTalk is hosting a watch party at The Joiner on Worship in Shoreditch, London, and we’d love for you to join us! Click here for more details.

• Athena
• ember moon
• AEW
• wwe

Share this article with friends