Athena On Lacking The Confidence To Speak Up In WWE, Who Encouraged Her To Do So

Athena is more assertive in speaking up for herself in AEW, but she didn’t have that confidence during her time in WWE and she recently discussed why. The AEW star appeared on Busted Open Radio with Mickie James and Tommy Dreamer and discussed how her own passive and shy nature led to her not speaking up, though she credited several members of the roster with helping her to gain confidence enough to do so. You can check out some highlights below:

On not advocating for herself creatively: “The reason why travel was the worst part for me is because I didn’t involve myself with any of the other stuff. It was like, ‘Hey, go to wrestle.’ When you pitch creative, it only goes so far. And it’s out of your control. So once it was like, ‘Well, I spoke my piece. They’re going to like it, hate it, or tell me what they think otherwise.’ But you know, at times I was afraid to speak out and say those things.”

On stars encouraging her to speak up: “Through Mickie [James] and Nattie, even Charlotte [Flair] and some of them, they would be like, ‘Hey, you have to do this.’ And I think because I’m so naturally shy that it took people going, ‘Alright girl, you ready to swim? You’ve been doing these lessons for a long time!’ You know, like giving that big push for me to actually get the confidence to do that. And I think that’s something that’s carried over now, is me trying to have that confidence. It’s like, not only am I one of the most experienced people in the locker room, people come to me sometimes and they’re like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Busted Open Radio with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.