AEW’s Athena took on Jody Threat on this week’s Elevation episode.
This was Threat’s first match in an AEW ring. The match caught the eye of many on social media stating that Athena in particular was being too stiff/aggressive during the match. Athena also had to switch to the heel role despite being a babyface due to the direction the crowd took with their response. This was in Threat’s hometown.
Fightful reached out to those close to Athena and found out more information from the situation. the match became noticeably more physical after a slip up by Threat. Trying to get the match back on track saw some break down in communication.
Per Fightful Select –
“The match between Athena and local standout Jody Threat got a lot of attention for reasons that weren’t evident at the start of the match. Threat got a great ovation, and Athena ended up working heel opposite Threat, but ended up getting too aggressive in the ring for AEW management.
There was a spot where Jody Threat slipped on what her comeback was supposed to be, We’re told Jody Threat was a little lost and had asked Athena what was next in the match to get back on track, and then the match devolved into more physicality. Several were quick to note that while they’re confident Jody Threat has no problem handling that physicality, that it shouldn’t have happened anyway and the communication should have been clearer.
Those close to Athena indicated that each woman were approached by management after the match, to make sure everything was okay. One source familiar with the situation believed that should have been an opportunity to lead by example as oppose to letting it devolve. Those close to Athena believed that this was the way the match was going to go because of her having to switch to the heel role due to Jody’s babyface reaction. We didn’t hear of any confrontation or anything of the sort between the two women after the match.
It was reiterated to us that not everything that is being micro-analyzed on social media was a result of this situation.
We’re told that Jody Threat herself didn’t complain about how the match went, and hasn’t spoke on the match, the situation or indicated anything out of the normal publicly. All we’ve heard from her side of things is that she’s not big on all the attention that emanates from situations such as these, and generally tries to keep her head down to avoid political aspects of wrestling.”
Threat posted on social media after the match being thankful for the opportunity.
