AEW's Athena Reveals Former WWE Stars Who Are The Strongest, Hit Her Hardest

Across her 19-year career, Athena has faced pro wrestling's toughest, fastest, and technically savvy competitors. Ironically, though, it was one of the industry's smallest that delivered the most hard-hitting blow in the ring.

"The person that has hit me the hardest has been Kairi Sane, hands down," Athena told "Fightful" in an interview. 'I have never been hit that hard in my life. I remember we were in a match and she hit me with a forearm and my whole jaw went this way. Then she hit me with a back fist and it shifted back in. I just was like 'Oh my gosh, why?' I remember just like powering out of the ring and just like, oh my gosh. Maybe that goes the same with me, right? The smaller we are, the more impact we have to put, the more force we have to put behind what we do because everyone already underestimates us."

Standing at five-foot-one, Kairi Sane mirrors Athena, the current ROH Women's World Champion, in height. According to Athena, they also match in their in-ring intensity.

"We have short people problems. Being aggressive and angry all the time, so piss us off, and we're just going to take out all of that frustration on you," she said.

Under the WWE banner, Sane and Athena (formerly known as Ember Moon) crossed paths on more than a dozen occasions, including a fatal-four-way for the vacant NXT Women's Championship at "WWE NXT" Takeover: WarGames in 2017. Elsewhere, the WWE alumni collided at a number of "NXT" live event. Their final encounter positioned them on the same side of an eight-woman tag match on an April 2019 edition of "WWE SmackDown"

In a matter of weeks, Sane will once again become a free agent, meaning a reunion with Athena is possible. Athena, meanwhile, regularly competes for AEW and Ring of Honor.

Regarding her strongest in-ring colleagues, Athena pointed to a former WWE Divas Champion and a woman that prides herself on being "The EST" at everything.

"Other than me, I feel like a lot of people say that about me because like I said, I'm five-one. I can lift a lot. There's kind of two in my head. I feel like the first one isn't going to shock anyone, Bianca Belair," Athena said. "When we were both at the [WWE] PC, we were just competing, competing, competing and she beat me at almost everything. I got her on like two events at the combine."

While Belair has long been recognized for her strength amongst the wrestling world, Athena noted that Alicia Fox, also known as Victoria Crawford, possesses a similar, if not higher, level of ability.

"Pound-for-pound, I think the strongest person is Alicia Fox," Athena said. "I don't think people realize. She's very petite, she's very lean, but she's so strong. Pound-for-pound, I don't think people would think that she could lift anything. I feel like I've seen her lift a truck before and I'm like 'How?'"

In the present day, Fox performs for TNA Wrestling, WWE's partner promotion, as a member of the Diamond Collective alongside Tessa Blanchard and Mila Moore. Meanwhile, Belair is in the midst of her first pregnancy, while also recovering from finger surgery she underwent in February. As Ember Moon, Athena wrestled both women on several occasions prior to her departure from the company in November 2021.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Fightful" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.