Athena and Billie Starkz are scheduled to headline Final Battle.
The student will get a second chance to beat the teacher at the final Ring of Honor pay-per-view in 2024.
To recall, There was an international four-way qualifier on last week’s Ring of Honor that saw Athena vs. Red Velvet vs. Billie Starkz vs. Leyla Hirsch. Before the match, Athena demanded that the former ROH Women’s World Television Champion lay down so she could get the pin. But Billie simply refused.
Athena still got the win, but she used underhanded tactics on Billie to score the pinfall. Billie was not happy with what transpired and confronted the longest reigning ROH Champion in the company’s history.
The 20-year-old demanded a rematch for the women’s title at Final Battle. Athena agreed. However, in Athena’s mind, she expects Billie to lay down and give her the easy three count. These two had an incredible match in 2023 that saw Athena pick up the victory after a hard fought battle between the young star and veteran. This story has been building since 2023’s Final Battle, so it’s no surprise that it’ll headline the pay-per-view.
Athena herself confirmed the news during her interview with Denise Salcedo.
During a Media Call, Tony Khan labeled it as part of a double main event as Chris Jericho vs. Matt Cardona for the ROH World Championship is set to take place on December 20th as well.
It’s been a fun ride for the “Fallen Goddess” and it should be interesting to see if she finally drops the belt. Fans have been clamoring for her to leave ROH and come back to AEW television as a regular, but during the same interview with Denise, Athena addressed fans wanting her back on the primetime show:
“I love that they want to see me on All Elite Wrestling. But at the same time, I’ve always wanted more. I’ll say that first and foremost. Tony and I have had several conversations about, ‘Hey, I would like to do more with AEW. Hey, I would like to do more with Dynamite, Rampage, whatever. We’ve had those conversations. Those conversations have been had, and there is a time period where that’s going to happen. It’s changed a lot, I will say that.
“But it’s still happening. I love the fact that the anticipation is killing people. They’re like, ‘Why is Athena there and not here?’ I said because Athena has her own damn show, minions. That’s why. Athena runs ROH. When people think Ring of Honor now, it’s me. This is my show, it’s my brand.”
We’ll see if ROH will continue to be her brand after this Friday at Final Battle. It should be another great one from Athena and Billie Starkz.