Athena Opens Up About Why She Wanted To Leave WWE For AEW

Athena has had AEW on her radar for a little longer than people realize. The latest wrestling star to join the AEW women's division was a special guest on the "Complex Unsanctioned" podcast to talk about becoming All Elite. The former NXT Women's Champion revealed that the "embers" of desire to join the company were there for a while before she showed up at Double or Nothing.

"When you look at the AEW PPVs and you're seeing all of my friends that I used to roll with on the indies and they're finally getting the platform that they deserve and it's just like, 'Man, they look like they're having so much fun and I gotta be a part of it,' you know?" Athena said. "And it just kept setting in. It's like the more time that went on there the more I was just looking at AEW, the more I was like longing to be at AEW."

Being a fan of comics and gaming, Athena was hit with some extra incentive to make the leap while watching the AEW product and being exposed to its TBS Women's Champion.

"Then Jade Cargill came on my radar with that 'Storm' cosplay she did and I was like 'Oh my God, this girl is fire!' That's the first moment where I was like, 'Oh, there's something here, oh, there's something special here.' And I remember then she came out with the "Jade [from] Mortal Kombat" cosplay and I was like, 'Damn! She got that.' And it seemed from day one where the company started all the way to now and seeing how much love and passion that goes into every match, that goes into every talent that sets foot and you can see it on their face and it made me long for that again."

It just so happened to work out that Athena's first feud in AEW is with Cargill. On "AEW Dynamite" this past Wednesday, Cargill stated in an interview that Athena would be going up against one of her baddies, Red Velvet, this coming Friday on "AEW Rampage."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.