Athena goes above and beyond to retain title at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor, eyes legendary reign

Athena has been one of the most dominant champions across pro wrestling and that dominance continued on Friday night at Ring of Honor’s Supercard of Honor.

The Ring of Honor Women’s World Championship was up for grabs in a Survival of the Fittest six-way match. Athena had to outlast Billie Starkz, Maya World, Trish Adora, Yuka Sakazaki and Zayda Steel. Chairs, ladders and other foreign objects would enter the match through the night.

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While Athena eliminated Steel early, putting down the rest of her opponents was not an easy task. Athena found herself in a precarious position. Competitors stacked chairs on top of each other and Adora made use of them. She chokeslammed Athena through them during the match.

Sakazaki even tried her best to keep Athena down.

Athena was laid out on a table. Instead of going to the top turnbuckle to hit a splash, Sakazaki springboarded herself off the top rope in the middle of the ring and hit the Magical Girl Splash onto Athena and through the table.

Still, Athena was undeterred.

Athena needed to go nearly 10-feet up onto a ladder. She flipped off it and hit World with the O-Face. She then pinned World, completing the final elimination.

Athena has now eclipsed 1,253 days as the Ring of Honor women’s world champion.

She told Fightful earlier in the week that her goal was to surpass Bruno Sammartino’s reign as champion. The legendary pro wrestler held the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship for 2,803 days at the height of his career.

“Hey man, when we get to Supercard of Honor this week and I beat the epic Roman Reigns’ last championship run, I just want you to know that I’m gonna be so petty,” she said. “I want everyone to know that we are gonna have the pettiest celebration ever. We’re gonna have kittens, green apple skittles, whiskey, tequila, you name it. … But we are just gonna have a big smorgasbord of a party. We’re gonna have a cookout. It’s gonna be amazing.

“But like I said before, my goal is Bruno Sammartino. Seven years, baby, seven years. But you know what, when you’re ‘forever champion,’ what’s years? What’s years? A lot of people think that might be getting ahead of myself. But at the end of the day, I’ve been champion for over—what is it 1,250 days or something like that? I don’t see this anytime soon.

“Hell, all these girls that are in this match think that they’ve learned something by experiencing Athena, but I’m  ever changing, ever evolving. That’s just the way I’ve always been and there’s not gonna be a harder worker than me. As I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, no man can touch my reign, no woman can live up to my legacy. I am the forever Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion. It’s about time y’all get over it.”

It’s clear that the “Forever Champion” is focused on being just that.

Supercard of Honor results

• Sammy Guevara def. Action Andretti.
• Rush def. LSG.
• Mina Shirakawa and Queen Aminata def. Janai Kai and Lacey Lane.
• Dezmond Xaver and Myron Reed def. Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese.
• Nigel McGuiness def. Josh Woods.
• Red Velvet def. Viva Van to retain the Ring of Honor Women’s World TV Championship.
• AR Fox def. Lio Rush to retain the Ring of Honor World TV Championship.
• Deonna Purrazzo def. Diamante to retain the Ring of Honor Women’s Pure Championship.
• Lee Moriarty def. Ace Austin to retain the Ring of Honor Pure Championship.
• Dalton Castle, Truth Magnum, Turbo Floyd def. Carlie Bravo, Shane Taylor and Shawn Dean to win the Ring of Honor Six Man Tag Team Championship.
• Mark Davis def. Xelhua to retain the AEW National Championship.
• Bandido def. Blake Christian to retain the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight Championship.