Athena wrestled through an asthma attack while retaining the ROH Women’s World Championship on Friday night.
The champion addressed it on X on Saturday, responding to a clip circulating from the match that showed her down on the floor at ringside.
“Yeah, so, had an asthma attack mid match. Glad my minions had my back!!! A major thank you to AEW and Ring of Honor staff for the quick response, keeping the Forever ROH Champ in peak condition.”
Athena beat Hazuki in the main event of Death Before Dishonor at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The match ran just over 30 minutes and ended when Athena hit the O-Face on the floor, then followed with a second one off the top rope for the pin. Both women bowed to each other afterward, an unusual show of respect from Athena.
It was her 38th defense of the title. She has held the championship since beating Mercedes Martinez at Final Battle in December 2022, a reign that has now passed 1,350 days.
Speaking at the post-show media scrum, Athena detailed what she has worked through over the course of the reign.
“During my championship reign, I’ve dislocated my kneecap, I’ve had severe sprains to my ankle, I had a severe injury to my neck.”
ROH Death Before Dishonor full results
Zero Hour
- Queen Aminata and Mina Shirakawa defeated Vertvixen and Viva Van
- El Phantasmo defeated Adam Brooks
- Komander defeated Soleil and AR Fox in a three-way match
- Hechicero and Brian Cage, with Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta, defeated Bustah and The Brain (Jordan Oliver and Alec Price)
Maya World also cut a promo calling out Willow Nightingale ahead of their AEW Women’s World Championship match on Collision.
Main card
- ROH Trios Championships: Lethal Twist (Blake Christian, Jay Lethal and Lee Johnson) defeated The Outrunners (Turbo Floyd and Truth Magnum) and Dalton Castle to win the titles
- ROH Women’s Pure Championship: Deonna Purrazzo defeated Steph De Lander to retain
- ROH Women’s Television Championship: Red Velvet defeated Zayda Steel, Marina Shafir and Skye Blue to retain
- ROH Pure Championship: Lee Moriarty defeated Katsuyori Shibata to retain
- ROH Tag Team Championships: Sky Team (Mistico and Mascara Dorada) defeated The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett), LFI (Sammy Guevara and The Beast Mortos) and Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin) to retain
- AEW Continental Challenge Cup play-in: Daniel Garcia defeated Adam Priest
- ROH World Television Championship, Fight Without Honor: Action Andretti, with HOOK and Anthony Bowens, defeated Lio Rush to win the title
- ROH World Championship: Bandido defeated Nick Wayne to retain
- ROH Women’s World Championship: Athena, with Billie Starkz and Diamante, defeated Hazuki to retain
The Kingdom and LFI formed an alliance earlier in the night ahead of the four-way tag title match. After Sky Team retained, RPG Vice attacked the champions, drawing several teams to the ring.
Daniel Garcia’s win moves him into a Continental Challenge Cup quarterfinal against Claudio Castagnoli on Collision. Garcia was booked into the play-in after Eddie Kingston was not medically cleared to compete. Nigel McGuinness was also pulled from the Pure Title match against Lee Moriarty for the same reason, with Katsuyori Shibata taking his place.
Athena’s reign is the longest in the history of the ROH Women’s World Championship. She has not been pinned or submitted in a singles match since winning it.
