AEW star and former NXT women’s champion Athena recently joined Busted Open Radio for an in-depth conversation about her career, which included her time in WWE and how she felt like she never spoke up enough for herself. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says she never advocated for herself in WWE:
“The reason why travel was the worst part for me is because I didn’t involve myself with any of the other stuff. It was like, ‘Hey, go to wrestle.’ When you pitch creative, it only goes so far. And it’s out of your control. So once it was like, ‘Well, I spoke my piece. They’re going to like it, hate it, or tell me what they think otherwise.’ But you know, at times I was afraid to speak out and say those things.”
Says stars like Mickie James, Natalya, and Charlotte encouraged her to speak up for herself:
“Through Mickie [James] and Nattie, even Charlotte [Flair] and some of them, they would be like, ‘Hey, you have to do this.’ And I think because I’m so naturally shy that it took people going, ‘Alright girl, you ready to swim? You’ve been doing these lessons for a long time!’ You know, like giving that big push for me to actually get the confidence to do that. And I think that’s something that’s carried over now, is me trying to have that confidence. It’s like, not only am I one of the most experienced people in the locker room, people come to me sometimes and they’re like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)