Athena Recounts Booking ROH/MPX Global Wars With Tony Khan At 1 AM
Athena speaks highly of the collaborative process with Tony Khan.
In late January, Ring of Honor and Metroplex Wrestling teamed up to present a Global Wars special, which aired on HonorClub.
The current ROH Women’s World Champion, Athena, is a co-owner of Metroplex Wrestling. She opened up about how the event came to be while appearing on Black Rasslin’. Athena shared that it was AEW/ROH owner Tony Khan’s idea to do the Global Wars event.
She originally had a ‘Who Runs The World?’ show planned for January in Texas, but AEW had a residency in Texas, and Athena did not want to run against them. She went to speak to Khan about that, and then he suggested a cross-promotion show. Athena shared that she was shocked at how quickly Khan came up with the idea and theme for the show. She recalled them being up at 1 AM and going over potential matchups.
“That was a very wild conversation. I remember going to Tony Khan and I was like, ‘Hey! We run MPX. I’m one of the co-owners of MPX and I exclusively book Who Runs The World?’ But we run a weekly wrestling show in Dallas in Bedford, Texas every single week, and it’s very draining at times and very tiring and then we hear this residency’s coming in and normally, we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re not gonna run against it’ but I was planning a ‘Who Runs The World?’ show in January originally. So I went and I had a meeting with (Tony), who’s the best boss ever, and I’m telling him, I was like, ‘I really wanted to do Who Runs The World? in January. Is there a way we can work around that?’ And he goes, ‘You know what? How about Global Wars? MPX/ROH Global Wars…'” The host mentioned that Khan’s idea was not something Athena was thinking about, and she said, “No, not even a little bit. He’s like, ‘Your guys are always so great and respectful. They work hard when they’re here. Let’s do a Global Wars on Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor’s your show and we’ll do Athena’s minions versus ROH,’ and I was sitting there and he was like, ‘Are you okay?’ And I was like, ‘Thank you so much!’ I truly was not expecting any of that and that just shows how in love Tony Khan is with pro wrestling. That just shows the type of person he is. He doesn’t have to hand out these opportunities, especially to people that are my students but he trusts in me, he trusted my vision, he trusted my coaching and kind of sitting alongside him, I remember we sat there at 1 AM and we were talking about good matches for people and I mean, he had a ton of amazing ideas, like Exodus (Prime) versus Lee Moriarty… And I wanted my boys Surf and Turf with the harpoon! But, seeing all the feedback coming back from all the guys and gals that did amazing. Vert Vixen, and Maya (World), Hyan,” Athena reluctantly mentioned those last two names because of their on-screen issues. “But, I really thought everyone was heavily showcased and it was really awesome and we actually got a little card subject to change because of the snowstorm that happened, and it was just really awesome and I’m just incredibly thankful, one, to kind of sit beside T.K. and see his vision and see his brains and see how his brain operates and I learned so much from him, watching how he does do AEW, watching how he does do ROH and being the forever ROH Champion, I do get to sit alongside him and see kind of his vision for everything, and it’s really eye-opening and it’s a learning experience for me. I’ve been a wrestler for 20 years at this point in time. But being a booker is still very new for me. Balancing and managing talent is still very new and I have an amazing team at Metroplex Wrestling, who does that while I’m at work doing AEW Collision…”
Athena has been in possession of the ROH Women’s World Championship since December 2022.
At NJPW The New Beginning USA, Athena challenged Syuri for the IWGP Women’s Championship, but Syuri got the best of Athena to retain the title.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit Black Rasslin’ with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
