Athena vs Jody Threat

I’m a little behind in my match reviews, mostly because October is the busiest month for both my businesses but also, I was away in Toronto last week for, you guessed it, AEW Dynamite & Rampage. And even though I haven’t yet reviewed the women’s matches from either show, I had to jump ahead and review Athena vs Jody Threat. I adored this match.

Perhaps I should’ve tweeted something less cryptic. I was referring to the fact that Jody Threat, as the “local talent” firmly got the crowd behind her to the point that uber babyface Athena was getting booed any time she touched her and as such, Athena effortlessly slipped into heel mode and actually showed me not just a side of her I hadn’t seen but a style of offence I hadn’t seen from her. Let’s get into it!

The Match

I’m not going to pretend I know who Jody Threat was before this match so even I was taken aback at the POP she got when her name was announced. Athena makes her entrance and poses on the ropes for the hard cam. Jody runs up and hits her from behind, rebounding her off the ropes to the mat as the bell rings. Threat takes early control but Athena is able to breakup her momentum with a beautiful running forearm to the face which Jody sells spectacularly.

The crowd voices their displeasure and Athena portrays an uneasiness at this. Jody start to regain some control again but after whipping Athena into the corner and attempting to follow that up with a spear in the corner, Athena is able to just ever so acutely lift her body using the top rope and allow Threat to go shoulder first into the ring post.

Athena then executes a gorgeous Hurricanerana and then follows that up by just chasing Threat around the ring with strikes. LOVED this tenacity! Athena then gets up and cocks off to the crowd to a rain of boos. She picks up Threat into what looks like a Stalling Suplex but instead dumps her over the top rope. Holy shit man… Just when I thought I could see everything Athena can do, she brings THIS!

Athena rolls out the opposite site of the ring and taunts the crowd as she walks over to where Jody is laying. And just as Jody is getting up, Athena runs full speed and hits her with a devastating Shot Gun Dropkick (I fuggin love Shot Gun Dropkicks) sending Jody Threat flying into the guardrail! The speed and power behind Athena’s offence is mind-melting.

Back in the ring, the competitors exchange pinning attempts. We get a pretty good tease of an upset when Jody rolls up Athena while grabbing her tights but Athene kicks out before 3. Threat whips Athena into the corner but Athena uses this opportunity to jump off the middle rope and hit the O-Face but since it wasn’t from the top rope, I read this as not having the full impact (think Adam Cole’s Last Shot when he doesn’t pull the knee pad down). Athena instead finishes the match with her Gutrench Suplex into a Lung Blower (I still don’t know what this is called).

Post match, Athena is still full of piss and vinegar, looking into the hard cam and saying “I’m sorry!” sarcastically but then she goes and helps up Jody Threat, raises her hand in victory and then quickly gets out of the ring to let Jody have her moment in front of her home town in Toronto.

Often I’ll see a match live and I can’t wait to go back and watch how it came across on TV. Sometimes it doesn’t come across as good but I’d say this match, while it didn’t quite capture just how wild the atmosphere was in Toronto, I enjoyed watching the action even more from the telecast. Like I said before, this was the first time I had seen Jody Threat but she got a big pop from the crowd for a reason. This girl sold her ass off. I hope we get to see her again soon in an AEW ring. Definitely definitely check out this match if you haven’t seen it.

Watch this match on YouTube

Athena Threat

This isn’t the first match where Athena has given ”enhancement talents” great showings. After seeing Queen Aminata multiple times on Dark/Elevation, it was her match with Athena that encouraged me to check out more of her matches and if you read my article, 5 ’Dark’ Horses To Become #AllElite you’ll know how much of an impact she made on me. If you ask me, Athena is quickly becoming one of the most important free agent signings AEW has made.

I have to think that Tony Khan is pacing what his eventual push is for Athena because, like I said with Toni Storm long ago, all you need to do is put Athena in matches on TV and let her do her thing. This is a good problem to have but Athena’s in-ring is so spectacular, I feel like AEW needs to keep her on the backburner until the programs between Saraya/Britt Baker, the inevitable ThunderStorm match, and Nyla Rose stealing Jade’s TBS Title are all sorted out. Unless, of course, Tony wanted to add a 4th women’s singles program??? Something I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to.