ROH Women’s World Champion Athena prepares for Survival of the Fittest. Thekla to defend the AEW Women’s Championship at Double or Nothing. Tatum Paxley offers an NXT title shot to Lizzy Rain, and more.
ROH Survival Of The Fittest
Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena has an uphill battle as she prepares to defend her title in a Survival Of The Fittest match at ROH Supercard of Honor.
On this occasion, Athena will put her title on the line against Maya World, Trish Adora, Yuka Sakazaki, Billie Starkz, and Zayda Steel, the latter of whom is stepping in to replace an injured Persephone. “The Forever Champion” has held the gold since December 2022, with World and Starkz among those challenging her in the years that followed.
Elsewhere at Supercard of Honor, Deonna Purrazzo will defend her ROH Women’s Pure Championship against Diamante. “The Virtuosa” cemented herself as the inaugural titleholder by conquering Starkz in the tournament finals in December 2025. Since then, she’s successfully defended it against Starkz, Adora, and Gisele Shaw. Purrazzo’s has also emerged victorious in several Proving Ground matchups on ROH on HonorClub.
ROH Women’s Television Champion Red Velvet will also be in action when she puts her title up against Viva Van. Van recently picked up her first win under the ROH banner when she defeated Sara Leon in singles competition. Velvet, on the other hand, has solidified herself as an undisputed champion by besting Mercedes Mone, the former interim title holder, on AEW Collision last November.
ROH Supercard of Honor will emanate from the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, Maryland, on May 15.
RELATED: ROH Women’s Champion Athena Has Been An ‘Amazing Mentor’ To Maya World
AEW Women’s Title Four-Way Announced
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla also has a tall task ahead of her as she will defend her respective title in a four-way bout at Double or Nothing.
In her case, Thekla will collide with three former titleholders: Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, and Jamie Hayter. Back in February, Thekla unseated Statlander in a Strap Match. Another victory followed when she outlasted Statlander in a two-out-of-three falls bout at AEW Revolution. At Dynasty, Thekla continued her winning ways by overcoming Hayter. Now, she’ll battle both of them once more, plus Shida, at Double or Nothing on May 24.
Elsewhere, TBS Champion Willow Nightingale will face NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Alex Windsor in the first round of the 2026 Women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. AEW announced the brackets for the tournament earlier this week, with Persephone and Hazuki rounding out the left side. First round matches filling the right side are: Mina Shirakawa vs Athena and Skye Blue vs Sareee.
The 2026 Women’s Owen Hart Foundation finals will take place at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on June 28. Like usual, the winner will receive a commemorative title belt and a shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship.
RELATED: Ronda Rousey Really Loves That AEW Is ‘Not PG’ Like WWE
Tatum Paxley Offers Lizzy Rain An NXT Title Shot
WWE NXT has announced Lizzy Rain as the next challenger to the NXT Women’s North American Championship.
On this week’s edition of NXT, Rain teamed with NXT Women’s North American Champion Tatum Paxley to take on Zaria and Nikkita Lyons. Unfortunately for Lyons, she was later left to fend for herself as the red-haired Aussie purposely jumped down from the apron to avoid her tag. With Lyons stunned by the betrayal, Paxley capitalized with a spinning kick before successfully tagging Rain into the match. “The Maiden of Metal” then rocked Lyons with Thunderstruck to secure the tag team victory for herself and Paxley.
Rain and Paxley’s celebration didn’t stop there, though.
Following their victory, Rain and Paxley appeared in a backstage segment, during which the latter indicated that she wanted to be a giving champion. Paxley especially wants to give title opportunities to those who “deserve” them. As such, she granted Rain an NXT Women’s North American Championship on next week’s edition of NXT.
For Rain, it will mark her first title shot since joining WWE earlier this year. For Paxley, it will mark her fourth televised title defense.
RELATED: WWE NXT Star Reacts To AJ Lee Wanting To Adopt Her
INTERVIEWS
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan spoke with Ring the Belle about her new “Trouble” era, her Britney-coded WrestleMania entrance, learning choreography for the first time, why she’d do every wild career moment all over again, possible SummerSlam chaos, her history with Brie Bella, Sol Ruca interrupting her on Raw, what she wants to say to the Liv Squad, and more.
AAA star La Catalina chatted with Denise Salcedo about leaving CMLL and making the jump to Lucha Libre AAA wrestling, what drove her decision, her career journey as a luchadora, how she started wrestling at such a young age, her first tryout with WWE, what it’s like to compete under the WWE and AAA banner, what fans can expect from her going forward, and more.
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla sat down with TMZ’s Inside the Ring to discuss her rapid rise in AEW, embracing her unfiltered persona, why she believes the women’s division is thriving right now, the potential of Kairi Sane joining AEW, her take on Asuka’s impact and legacy, locker room dynamics, her interest in expanding into entertainment beyond wrestling, and more.
ROH Women’s World Champion Athena joined MuscleManMalcolm of The Sportster about Ring of Honor Supercard of Honor, her 1,200+ day title reign, newcomer Zayda Steel, why AEW fans should tune into ROH, her upcoming Survivor of the Fittest match, and more!
PWJ Women’s Champion Emily Jaye appeared on The Magic of Wrestling about the full circle nature of her in-ring career, her adventures during WrestleMania 42 week, her love for Monster energy drinks, becoming the inaugural PWJ Women’s Champion, training at Flatbacks, and more.
