Athena was a recent guest on “The Sessions with Renee Paquette” podcast to discuss a variety of topics, including her respect for Thunder Rosa.
Additionally, the reigning ROH Women’s Champion opined on how mentally draining being a pro wrestler is, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On how mentally draining being a pro wrestler is: “We all talk about mental health, but I don’t think there’s anyone mentally stronger in the world than pro athletes and pro wrestlers. The stuff that we have to deal with on a daily basis and then just go “okay, yep.” It’s mentally draining. To go through the Achilles thing, the tear was chaotic. I think it was Mark or Booker T said something, and I just broke down. I just couldn’t control myself. To this day, I’m glad I did it. The right people reached out. We got me back on my feet.”
On no longer loving wrestling post-WWE: “But it was scary. To sit there and think that this is something I’ve dedicated so much time and love and effort to. I remember when I left WWE, I didn’t know if I loved this anymore. That’s the one thing that they tell you. When you stop loving it, it’s time to get out.”
On going into her first indie match vs Thunder Rosa ‘for the paycheque’: “I remember, well, my 90 days are up, and I have this match with Thunder Rosa. I remember thinking, I’m just going to go out there and get the paycheque because I have to pay the mortgage on the house. It made me feel just like… scummy and grimey. Cos I’ve never been about the money. I’ve been about the passion and creativity. Going into this match, going out there, threw everything we talked about outside the window, went out there and just had fun. It was awesome and I’m just so thankful to be in the ring with someone like Thunder.”
On how emotional and happy she was after: “After the match, I’ve never been like just… emotionally broken to the point of happy tears. You can find this promo anywhere. They handed me the mic, which I did not want, cause I knew I was emotionally compromised. I was like please don’t do this (laughs). And I just remember thinking like… I almost gave all of this up. Sure, it’s not in front of 25 thousand people. It’s not in front of like, ten thousand people. It’s in front of five-six hundred of the most passionate wrestling fans that appreciate every bump you take, every move you kick-out of. Props to Warrior Wrestling for making that happen.”
On how people like Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley helped her: “I remember listening to Jericho’s podcast, hearing him talk about his situation, listening to Mox’s podcast, and just sitting here. These are top guys, they’re dealing with the same thing I’m dealing with. It doesn’t matter how successful I would’ve been there. I probably would have been dealing with the same thing. To hear their words, and honestly they don’t know this, they will once this comes out, to hear those words was so calming. It was very peaceful to know that okay, I’m not alone in that struggle. I felt alone for years in WWE.”
On wrestling Thunder Rosa making it fun again: “I know she gets a lot of grief, and I don’t think her proper dues. I thoroughly enjoyed wrestling Thunder. I’ll do it a billion times over. To go out there with Thunder Rosa, to kill it, to have an amazing Broadway match. It was just like… how can I give this up? It became fun again. It was like someone flipped a switch. Oh, this is fun! That brain turned on, the creativity turned on, me starting writing storylines turned on again. Me going into my craft room and working on gear turned on again. It just took somebody just as passionate about wrestling as I was being in that ring and doing that with.”
