Every WWE Release Of 2021 - Where Are They Now? (Five Years Later)
29. Ember Moon
Then: The Nintendo Switch-playing "nerd" character that WWE cultivated for Ember Moon shockingly didn't translate with fans tuning into Raw or SmackDown in 2019. So, after some hype surrounding her main roster promotion, Moon was sent back to NXT in 2020. That developmental reprise didn't last too long.
She was released from her 6 year stay in the market leader by November 2021.
Now: Athena debuted at AEW's Double Or Nothing 2022 and seemed to be the kind of worker Tony Khan could rebuild his entire women's division around. Immediately, people started to salivate over thoughts of Athena tearing down the dominant Jade Cargill and re-establishing herself as one of the finest female wrestlers in the biz.
That's when things started to become less impressive. Athena failed to beat Jade, then turned heel even though fans were still cheering her. It was as though latter day Vinnie Mac had taken over All Elite's creative meetings and deemed useless turns "good s***".
By late-2022, she was cast as a top star on Khan's new-fangled version of ROH, and Athena has been there pretty much ever since. She won the ROH Women's Title at Final Battle that year, and is currently in the midst of a title reign that has lasted well over 1,000 days.
She's the Bruno Sammartino of Honor, it seems.
Athena hasn't had too much to shout about in terms of mainline AEW action, but she did team with Mercedes Mone at Worlds End late last year. Then, it was back to Ring Of Honor for somebody who's definitely talented and definitely overlooked.