Athena Reflects On Owen Hart Cup Match With Billie Starkz: She Made Me Want To Be Better

Billie Starkz took Athena to her limits in the Owen Hart Cup tournament at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door.

Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena was a recent guest on Grapsody with Philip Lindsey and Righteous Reg to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When asked about her recent Owen Hart Cup match against Billie Starkz and getting a taste of her own medicine in terms of in-ring style, Athena said it’s one thing for her to do it to someone else, but when someone tries to do it to her, it makes her question things.

“Here’s the thing what I do, okay, is what I do. When someone tries to do what I do to me, I kind of have to question that a little bit,” Athena said. “Look, I’m glad she got overzealous; I’m glad she got over-ambitious. It’s just a testament to how badly she wanted to beat me. And honestly, I know streaks are always made to be broken. I don’t intend to break mine anytime soon. But it kind of bothered me a little bit on the inside, especially like watching it back just knowing what lengths she would go to to try to get that victory.”

When Reg mentioned that Starkz came into that match to win despite many people writing her off when they saw the brackets, Athena admitted she was one of them and that match has made her step up her game in order to protect her championship.

“Look, I saw the bracket and thought the same thing. I’m not even gonna lie to you,” Athena said. “But I will say Billie Starkz did step it up, and she made me want to like — hell, I’ve been in the gym every day since that match because I was like, Yo, that can’t happen again. We can’t get that close again.”

Reg then brought up the fact that Starkz is only 18 years old, to which Athena referred to her as young and dumb.

“18. Yes. Young and dumb is what I like to call it,” Athena said. “Young and dumb. She was young, she had youth on her side, and then the dumb kicked in right when she jumped off that top rope. That’s when the dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb boom, and then she just flat on the floor. And then we hit her with a nice little double tap, bam, and then we had to finish the job.

“But, like I will say this, she made me want to be better. And, like I said, I’ve been in the gym every day. I’ve been watching more film than ever because I was like, we can’t get that close never, never again. You’re the forever Ring of Honor champ. You’re gonna be the future Owen Hart Tournament Champion. Never again will it be that close. And it starts Willow this week. It really does.”

Athena will compete against Willow Nightingale in the semi-finals of the Owen Hart Cup Tournament tonight on AEW Collision.