Athena Debuts Bane Inspired Gear at ROH Final Battle

In the main event of ROH Final Battle, Athena defended the ROH Women's World Championship against Billie Starkz. Athena showed off for her 370th day as champion, coming out in ring gear inspired by the comics version of Bane. Athena has been candid in the past about wanting to create cosplay inspired gear like so many wrestlers do and it's no secret that she loves showcasing her inner nerdy tendencies. From Kenny Omega, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, Jade Cargill, Hikaru Shida and so many others, the lines are constantly blurred in professional wrestling and pop culture.

"I haven't really gotten to do it. When I was in WWE, I had to do 'inspired by' because we have a bunch of copyrights," Athena said in an interview with Comicbook.com last year. "Plus, my character at the time didn't really allow me to go out there and be like, 'I'm Loki, I'm Hela,' which I tried to do and they were like, 'No.' I've had gear and stuff inspired by things, but this is the first one I've done in a very long time. I've very excited about this. I've been working on it for almost two or three months. Literally, I got to a point where I got super-self conscious and I was like, 'Christian, does this look like what it's supposed to look like? Are you sure?' I've been working on this thing for two weeks now, one thing I'm talking about, the rest of it is done."

Athena has defended the ROH Women's World Championship 16 times since winning it at last year's Final Battle pay-per-view from Mercedes Martinez. Since, Athena has been a cornerstone of Tony Khan's vision of Ring of Honor. Athena debuted in AEW in early 2022 after being one of several names released in November of 2021 by WWE. Since ROH moved to weekly television on HonorClub in March, Athena rarely makes appearances on AEW television which is something she's hopeful she will be able to do again soon. 

"I think the next step for me would be to take a crack at AEW TV again. My first time around was not great, and I lost to the all powerful Jade Cargill," Athena told Under the Ring. "I think now, with me being the forever ROH Women's Champion, I want to be a triple crown champion by the end of 2024. I'm going after all of the belts, the TBS Championship, Julia Hart. the AEW Women's Championship, Toni Storm. I'm not content with just beating up these fragile broads left and right. This is your warning, I am coming for you guys in 2024. It doesn't matter what anyone says, you got an X on your back and it's only a matter of time before we get there."

ROH Final Battle Results

Taya Valkyrie def. Jazmin Allure 

The Von Erichs def. The Outrunners

Bryan Keith def. Jack Cartwheel

Daniel Garcia def. Blake Christian

El Hijo del Vikingo def. Black Taurus

ROH Six-Man Championships: The Mogul Embassy (c) def. TMDK

"I Quit" Match: Ethan Page makes Tony Nese quit

Nyla Rose def. Vertvixen

"Survival of the Fittest" for ROH World TV Title: Kyle Fletcher defeated five other men to win the title

ROH Pure Championship: Wheeler Yuta (c) def. Tom Lawlor

Keith Lee def. Shane Taylor

Fight Without Honor: FTR and Mark Briscoe def. Blackpool Combat Club

Eddie Kingston def. Anthony Henry

ROH Women's World Championship: Athena (c) def. Billie Starkz