Athena Reveals How Far She Went To Get Maya World In AEW
Athena pushed for Maya World to get an opportunity with All Elite Wrestling.
The wrestling business, much like many other industries, can sometimes be defined by the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Maya World is one of the more recent additions to the AEW women’s roster, having been trained by the “FOR-EV-ER” ROH Women’s Champion, Athena.
Speaking with Denise Salcedo, Athena revealed that she pushed hard for Tony Khan to bring World into All Elite Wrestling and was also the first person World called after receiving her AEW contract.
“Maya was one of the first women that were in the Texas area that I avidly went after. I saw her on a show and I was like, ‘Man, there’s something there.’ There’s something really special when it came to Maya. The way she moved, the way she performed. She was just missing a couple beats, so I had invited her to come train with me. She had been training with me for almost three years, and I remember just trying to get her in front of TK at one point in time. I remember having her first match on an AEW show. I can’t remember if it was a Dynamite, Collision, Dark, but I remember being like, ‘Yo, TK, you got to see this girl.’ They kept bringing her back, and it just took that one step. I was like, ‘Girl, we gotta get you new gear, we gotta get you this, we gotta get you that. We gotta work on your promos.’ I was just hounding her left and right, and then soon enough, the moment came. She took advantage of an opportunity and she ended up with a contract. I remember she called me at like 2 AM. She called me like six times and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this must be an emergency. What’s going on?’ She’s like, ‘I did it! I did it!’ I was like, ‘Girl, it’s so loud. What are you doing? What did you do?’ And she’s like, ‘I got signed! They offered me a contract!’ Very off the record because Athena sheds no tears for no one, but I just cried because I was like, ‘Oh, thank goodness she did it. It didn’t take her 10 years like it took me.’”
-Athena
That bet quickly paid off, as World not only had a memorable match against Athena in the Owen Hart Tournament but also went on to face Mercedes Moné in a highly-praised clash at Forbidden Door before eventually capturing the TBS Championship.
She then got the opportunity to defend the title inside Wembley Stadium. Unfortunately for World, Persephone brought her TBS Championship reign to an end at AEW All In: London following the shocking return of Britt Baker.
World now appears to have her sights set on a rematch, as she will team with Hyan and Thunder Rosa to take on Persephone, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida tomorrow night on AEW’s Rebel Heart Dynamite.
You can find more on the latest AEW news here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on future plans for Maya World as soon as we hear more.
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