Welcome to another eWrestlingNews Question of the Day!
Athena surprisingly (at least in my mind) retained the ROH Women’s World Championship at ROH Final Battle last night over Billie Starkz. After it was a possibility Starkz would have beaten her the last time, to go an entire year building up a rematch just to have it end the same way is a ballsy move from my point of view.
Even as an outsider who doesn’t watch Ring of Honor, I’m scratching my head wondering just what the plan is here, so my question for you today is “Who do you think can/will finally beat Athena?”
Remember to answer with your response in the comments below.
As far as my answer…
Of course, I do have to call attention to how I don’t watch the show, so my opinion is heavily skewed, and I could be missing some glaringly obvious clues that are setting something up. If that’s the case, I’m curious to read the comments where people point that out to me. But in general, I look at the roster that I’m aware of and I cannot think of anyone that makes more sense to have beaten Athena than Billie Starkz.
She still could be, and the thought process might be that Athena has to go into Wrestle Dynasty holding the ROH title to represent that brand, and once that happens, they’ll come back around to this a third time and just put the belt on Starkz then. Frankly, I think that’s unnecessary and rather foolish to do, as you’re sacrificing the integrity of your top champion and storyline, the lineage of a belt that is at a record-setting length’s worth of credibility, and the future of a young prospect all because you think the visual of a few seconds of Athena walking into a New Japan event with that belt is going to make a big difference. I don’t have any numbers in front of me, but I would wager a lot of money that that isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference, as people who watch New Japan who might be interested in ROH already do watch it, as it’s a small niche overall, and those who wouldn’t be normally interested aren’t going to just see another random belt and think “Gotta watch that!”
If it’s not Starkz winning it after Wrestle Dynasty, I’m a little worried there’s a plan in place for Mercedes Mone to beat her—and I can’t stand what she’s been doing, nor does she need another belt or accolade—or that there might not be any plan whatsoever, and Tony Khan just didn’t want to end Athena’s reign. Maybe he got cold feet and we’re seeing an unintentional repeat of WWE wanting Roman Reigns to reach 1000+ days as champion.
Even as a non-watcher, I’ll be disappointed for everyone who does watch if it just happens to be that at some random television taping or on a show like Death Before Dishonor, Athena just drops the belt to someone like Abadon and that’s all folks, or she gets injured and has to relinquish the title, as vacating a reign is never as satisfying.
What do you think? Drop your thoughts below!
