AEW's Athena opens up about potentially ending her career following WWE release

Current AEW star Athena has opened up about how she felt following her release from WWE and her eventual debut in All Elite Wrestling.

The former Ember Moon was released by WWE in November 2021 after spending six years with the company. She took a brief hiatus from professional wrestling after her exit from the Stamford-based company. After returning to the independent circuit, she debuted in AEW at the Double or Nothing 2022 pay-per-view.

Speaking on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Athena detailed how she initially thought she might never wrestle again following her WWE release. However, the 33-year-old was tempted by the opportunities available in All Elite Wrestling.

“So when I left the other company [WWE] I didn’t know if I wanted to wrestle again. Like it was just like ‘oh this was like my big dream’ and like, there had always been an AEW and it has always been like ‘man it looks like they’re having fun, that’s what I thought I was signing up for’ and just watching and dealing with what I was dealing with, and then seeing this I’m just like staring and I’m like ‘oh my gosh that looks like so much fun, this looks like so much fun.’" [10:18-10:42]

Athena further stated that she primarily returned to the squared circle to pay her bills and manage her finances:

"But once I had actually left I was like ‘i think I’m good,’ but then it became ‘oh crap, how are we going to pay the bills?’ Because we had just bought a house and you know it was like ‘well, I guess I’ve got to wrestle to pay these bills.’” [10:43-10:56]

Athena has broken into the top five women's rankings in AEW

As the current Warrior Wrestling Women's Champion and a former NXT Women's Champion, Athena is no stranger to having gold around her waist. She is now seemingly focused on capturing a coveted title in the Jacksonville-based company.

In the most recent set of AEW Rankings released on August 3rd, the former Ember Moon climbed up to the top five women's list at number five. Moreover, she has been undefeated in singles competition since her arrival in May.

Along with her good friend Kris Statlander (who herself is ranked second), she is gunning for Jade Cargill's AEW TBS Championship. Fans will have to wait and see if she can potentially dethrone the champion in the near future.

Will The Fallen Goddess be the one to break Jade Cargill's streak? Let us know what you think in the comments section down below.

Please credit AEW Unrestricted and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling when using quotes from this article.