AEW star Athena recently joined Busted Open Radio to hype this evening’s Grand Slam Dynamite from New York, where the Fallen Angel will compete in a fatal-four way matchup against Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, and Britt Baker for the AEW interim women’s champion. Highlights from Athena’s interview can be found in the highlights below.
Says she’s still trying to find her place in the competitive AEW women’s division:
“I’m still acclimating. I don’t want to say I’m fully formed and jumped right into the mix. I’m still trying to find my place. I’ll say this the locker room is great, it’s awesome, its very uplifting. All the women in our locker room want to see everyone succeed. As a locker room we want to seep pushing that boundary of what women’s wrestling can do and that’s where I’m hung ho, ‘let’s go to war, let’s do it.’ That’s one thing I absolutely love. I remember feeling like everyone thought we were porcelain princesses, ‘don’t fall, don’t get hurt.’ Mickie (James) can attest to this because she’s been through way worse and way better than I have. We want to continue to evolve women’s wrestling and push boundaries of what women can continue to do. In AEW, I feel the women are getting that platform and pushing through. I love to see everyone…there are times when women come in and go, ‘I saw this move, I think you should do it’ or ‘here’s this gear idea, it doesn’t work for me but it’ll work for you.’ Having the support of a locker room and feeling like it’s us vs the world, it’s an awesome feeling. Not saying it wasn’t like that on the other side, but just more so, I genuinely feel sometimes they think AEW is the underdog and a lot of us have been wrestling for a long time and we don’t want to feel that way.”
Admits she gets worried about being lost in the shuffle:
“The transition, I’m always worried of getting lost in the shuffle a bit because you do have so many phenomenal talents but for the first time my wrestling and what I do in the ring speaks for me. Promos are great, I love promos and getting to talk and for the first time I’m actually getting to talk without a script and show people that I can actually tell a story and have that intensity vs having someone else’s words. Not saying that’s bad, it’s just different. It feels different, feels raw, just a proving ground more so than the other place, not saying it’s not there. It feels raw and different. For the first time in a long time, I look forward to hopping on a plane and doing the hellacious drives and look forward to walking into the building and seeing what’s next for me. I absolutely love that. It’s something I haven’t felt in a very long time.”
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)