Mercedes Moné vs Athena - I Am Not A Fan
You know, as much as I like both of these two women, I am genuinely not a fan of this match happening… again.
This has to be the most last minute piece that I have written, because I had loads of new wacky and creative ideas for the next 7 pieces about matches that I have either haven’t written or matches that I’ve never watched. Now that I have those to the side, let me tell you about a potential second match between the AEW TBS & RevPro Undisputed Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné and the ROH Women’s World Champion Athena.
The Beginning
When AEW All In Texas was announced, three wrestlers were the centerpiece of the early promotion of the big PPV coming up on July 12. Those wrestlers are Swerve Strickland, AEW TBS Champion & then NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné and Ring Of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Especially when I saw Athena, I thought that she was there as a Ring Of Honor representative and she is a Texas girl. I always felt that Athena is more of a Ring Of Honor wrestler than an AEW wrestler.
That’s when I saw I decided to go through online forums like YouTube, X, BlueSky, other websites, etc. It can be honestly quite fucking baffling at times. Since I have always thought that these were just rumours and fan theories, until the social media jabs happened.
Momo Watanabe’s International Women’s Cup Challenge
This was as a result of Billie Starkz and Momo Watanabe from STARDOM.
For context: Momo Watanabe would win the International Women’s Cup at NJPW, AEW, CMLL, ROH & STARDOM Wrestle Dynasty in the Tokyo Dome. She won against Persphone [CMLL], ROH Women’s World Champion Athena [ROH] & Willow Nightingale [AEW] and ironically, she pinned Athena with the Peach Sunrise. This would lead to Athena being on a tour with STARDOM as she was feuding with Momo’s fellow H.A.T.E. teammate, Thekla.
That would lead to a match on the Jan 13, 2025 Korakuen Hall show where Athena retained the ROH Women’s World Championship. I thought that this would lead to a match between Athena and Momo Watanabe which I wouldn’t mind if a STARDOM wrestler wins the Ring Of Honor Women’s World Title. But Momo Watanabe would end up picking the Mercedes Moné and her AEW TBS Championship at AEW Revolution. During the build up for the 2nd match between these two, this segment happened:
This segment featured Mercedes talking about Momo until she bumped into former ROH Women’s World Television Champion Billie Starkz. Mercedes was being a dickhead and even spilled water on her. Starkz wasn’t gonna let Mercedes walk away, and eventually Momo appeared to swing, but Mercedes ran away. As the champion ran, Momo picked the dropped TBS Title.
On AEW Collision, Billie Starkz would give the TBS title back to Mercedes. And she splashed tea on her clothes. I don’t care what no one says, but Mercedes deserved that given she did the exact same thing for no reason.
But am I focusing on Billie Starkz? Quite simple. She is associated with Athena.
The Internet Trash Talk
I saw this before Collision, where Athena and Mercedes Moné were exchanging bars at each other on social media, particularly on X. I won’t lie, it was quite funny. The quote of this exchange was from Athena:
Athena is ROH and All Elite on X:
“Dear Mercedes Moné
See there you go with that CEO bull$hit…
You know exactly why I am “stuck” in ROH and you also know that if you really wanted the opportunity to lose any of those precious titles of yours you would have already asked Minion #5508 for the match..
But instead you go count your millions and hit that uncoordinated hip swivel wrapped in trash sequins and marketing …
I’ll be carrying an entire company on my back and proving with I am the best champion in all of pro wrestling…
With love and anger
#ForeverROHChamp
Athena”
After Mercedes retained the AEW TBS Championship against Momo Watanabe at Revolution, her next challenger was Billie Starkz. Starkz would challenge for Moné’s TBS title on the Mar 19, 2025 edition of AEW Dynamite. After Moné retained against Starkz, she would have her first ever match on AEW Collision. She would defeat Robyn Renegade and declared that she is entering the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
After finding out Billie Starkz also entered, Mercedes just grabs the mic from Tony Schiavone and starts running down Billie. That is when Athena’s music hit and she went face to face with Moné. After hitting the Cold Shot (Forearm Strike), Athena would hit the O-Face on Robyn Renegade. Athena stood tall and Billie Starkz and Jamie Hayter had a really good main event.
Side Note: I found this weird thing where people who are seeing Athena back on All Elite Wrestling TV like she hasn’t been on TV for 2 years. I found that a bit ignorant from fans given that she was on Collision in 2023 for the Owen Hart Cup and made it to the Semifinals. And she was even on Collision… last year on Apr 13th as she defended the ROH Women’s World Championship against Red Velvet.
The Owen Hart Foundation
The tournament brackets were announced on AEW Dynamite. Mercedes Moné would draw Julia Hart in the first round at AEW Dynasty II. Thunder Rosa drew Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter would face Billie Starkz once again, and Athena would face Harley Cameron. Mercedes Moné would beat Julia Hart at Dynasty, Kris Statlander would topple Thunder Rosa, Jamie Hayter would one up Billie Starkz again and Athena advanced to the semi final by defeating Harley Cameron.
On Apr 16th, AEW Dynamite: Spring BreakThru would become the longest running TV wrestling show on Turner Network. The show would kick off with AEW TBS, (then) NJPW STRONG Women’s & RevPro Undisputed Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné versus ROH Women’s World Champion Athena in the Semifinals of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t actually watch this episode of AEW Dynamite and in turn, didn’t watch this match. I did read the written version of the match on the company’s official website and it was quite well written. Maybe I should watch the match when I can.
Why am I not a fan?
At Double Or Nothing, Jamie Hayter will face AEW TBS & RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné in the finals of the Owen Hart Foundation tournament. This can go either way. We can have Jamie Hayter finally rise after a grueling year to battle for the top prize or Mercedes Moné will have a star studded match with one of THEE Top Stars in the company.
If Jamie Hayter comes out the victor, Moné would most likely defend her TBS Championship at AEW All In Texas. I wouldn’t be up for Athena going after the TBS Championship. You might be wondering, why am I so against these two facing each other again? There are factors to consider, one of these is about the ROH Women’s World Championship.
If you read my AEW Dark Elevation: Chronicles article, you would know that I have been watching Ring Of Honor ever since it got rebooted in 2023. And I have been conflicted about this, especially when I heard opinions from people who don’t even watch the show. It can get a bit frustrating and when Supercard Of Honor got moved to All In Texas week on July 11, it got a bit worse. Each week passes and my interest gets less amusing. The biggest problem with this is that we haven’t finished the Billie Starkz story.
Billie Starkz and Athena have had this story for almost three years now. Athena is the controlling, manipulative, gaslighting heel in this story while Billie Starkz is the babyface who is trying to get Athena’s claw away. These two have had three matches against each other. In each match, we saw the evolution of Billie Starkz in those matches. People have argued that Billie Starkz should've won the third match, but I actually didn’t mind it as long as we have the fourth match where Billie Starkz would win. If we had Athena go after the TBS title if Mercedes loses, we are basically leaving that Starkz story behind like those two to three years meant nothing.
The Closing
That is my take on this match potentially happening. This was very last minute as I literally grabbed my device and started writing all of this. I have had this feeling ever since this started and I was slowly starting to dislike Mercedes Moné. That slow dislike started last year especially when I was on online forums and there was negativity on the CEO. I was loving her matches with Kris Statlander and her feud with Harley Cameron, but that slow dislike is starting to come back.
We don’t know what will happen from now till AEW All In Texas. I know I shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but I just really have spent two years viewing and investing on a story that potentially might not finish. This modern day Ring Of Honor promotion has been the wrestling that I’ve always watched even when I wasn’t in the best spirit. All I can do is hope for the best and hope that there is a final conclusion.
This will probably be the last time I’ll do an article like this and I hope you will enjoy reading the rest of the contributing articles on the SickosClub website. Thank you for reading.
Art by Neon Ghost