Athena defeats ace of Tokyo Joshi Pro to retain ROH women’s title

Athena is in no mood to deal with porcelain hussies. The ROH women’s champion took care of business to defeat Yuka Sakazaki at Supercard of Honor. Next on the list was the ace of Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Athena personally called out Miyu Yamashita as her next challenger.

Athena versus Yamashita for the ROH Women’s World Championship took place on ROH TV.

The story of the match was Yamashita’s lethal arsenal of kicks. She tried often for the skull kick finisher, but Athena was one step too quick to dodge the strike. The champion targeted the challenger’s knee to stifle the kicking offense. Athena also had tricks up her sleeve to turn the tide of momentum when Yamashita was rising. For example, Athena smashed her opponent into the ring steps and ring post on several occasions.

Yamashita kept coming and almost earned the win on an avalanche fireman’s carry slam. The challenger was slow on the cover, and that gave the champion crucial seconds of recovery time to kick out.

At one point, Athena had enough and tried to bail on the match. Yamashita gave chase to continue the fight. She planted the Fallen Goddess onto the stage with a fireman’s carry slam. Athena rebounded to shove Yamashita off the stage. Athena followed for a running cannonball down to the floor.

Athena dragged Yamashita back to the ring. The two competitors dodged strikes and countered with roll-ups. Yamashita exploded for a screw kick to the lower back. That couldn’t keep Athena down, so Yamashita loaded up for the skull kick. Athena ducked and scored a takedown for the crossface submission. Yamashita valiantly inched toward the ropes. Athena rolled the submission back to center, and Yamashita faded out from the pain. The referee checked Yamashita’s vitals then waved off the match. Athena remains ROH women’s champion.

Athena’s combination of aggression, ruthlessness, and intelligence has proven a tough puzzle to solve.