{"id":216558,"date":"2026-05-15T16:26:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=216558"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T21:26:51","slug":"tony-khan-discusses-athenas-roh-legacy-womens-division-focus-jazwares-uncertainty-ahead-of-supercard-of-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/05\/15\/tony-khan-discusses-athenas-roh-legacy-womens-division-focus-jazwares-uncertainty-ahead-of-supercard-of-honor\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Khan discusses Athena\u2019s ROH legacy, Women\u2019s Division focus, Jazwares uncertainty ahead of Supercard of Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2477968972\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>Ahead of tonight\u2019s ROH Supercard of Honor event in Salisbury, Md,, AEW and ROH President Tony Khan spoke with wrestling media Thursday afternoon to preview the show, discuss Athena\u2019s historic title reign, the state of ROH\u2019s Women\u2019s Division, AEW\u2019s relationship with Jazwares, and more.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>\u2022Athena balancing ROH identity and AEW exposure:<\/strong> I asked Tony Khan about ROH Women\u2019s World Champion Athena and how AEW balances protecting ROH\u2019s brand identity while recognizing fan demand to see Athena featured more prominently across AEW programming.<\/p>\n<p>Khan praised Athena\u2019s historic title reign, calling her dominance \u201cthe stuff legends are made of,\u201d while emphasizing how closely associated Athena has become with the modern ROH brand.<\/p>\n<p>Khan also referenced both Athena and ROH World Champion Bandido participating in the upcoming Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, noting that each champion could potentially enter the tournament still holding their respective championships following Supercard of Honor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Women\u2019s Wrestling Talk asks about ROH\u2019s Women\u2019s Division momentum: <\/strong>When asked whether ROH\u2019s presentation of women\u2019s wrestling could potentially serve as a blueprint for future AEW Women\u2019s Division pay-per-view main events, Khan said ROH has featured some of the best women\u2019s wrestling in the industry over the last several years and pointed to the company\u2019s continued emphasis on the division across television and pay-per-view.<\/p>\n<p>During the response, Khan confirmed Persephone had been removed from the Survival of the Fittest match due to injury, but said both Persephone and Saraya are still expected to participate in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament later this summer if recovery timelines remain on schedule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Athena competing in Survival of the Fittest: <\/strong>Khan clarified that the elimination-style rules still require Athena to be pinned or submitted in order to lose the championship. He added that the multi-person format poses a very different challenge than Athena\u2019s traditional one-on-one title defenses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022AEW\u2019s relationship with toy partner Jazwares:<\/strong> Khan did not directly confirm any pending changes but acknowledged. \u201cThere\u2019s probably something to what you\u2019re asking about,\u201d he said, while suggesting that any potential shift could ultimately benefit AEW and fans.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1264710504\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of &#8220;Wrestling Coast to Coast&#8221; with Chris Maitland and Justin McClelland, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: C<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/wrestling-coast-to-coast-maitland-mcclelland-review-focus-pro-wrestling-s-all-the-small-things-including-kazarian-vs-ariez-more--72000567\">LICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cpwtorch\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wrestling Coast to Coast - Maitland &amp; McClelland review Focus Pro Wrestling's All the Small Things including Kazarian vs. Ariez, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=72000567&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>\u2022The status of Persephone and Saraya within the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament bracket: <\/strong>Khan stated the current expectation is for both performers to return in June and remain part of the tournament schedule leading into Forbidden Door.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022The importance of ROH having three women\u2019s champions: <\/strong>With ROH having champions in Athena, Deonna Purrazzo, and Red Velvet, Khan praised Purrazzo\u2019s rivalry with Diamante, highlighted Red Velvet\u2019s recent international appearances in CMLL, and continued to emphasize Athena\u2019s dominance atop the ROH Women\u2019s Division heading into Supercard of Honor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Updated thoughts on Nielsen metrics and MyAEW data: <\/strong>Regarding how AEW currently evaluates business performance metrics given fluctuations in Nielsen ratings methodology and the addition of streaming distribution through Max and MyAEW internationally, Khan said Nielsen remains his primary source of performance data, while also praising AEW\u2019s international rollout of MyAEW. Khan further emphasized that Warner Bros. Discovery remains the company\u2019s most important media relationship in the United States.<\/p>\n<h3>Other Notes:<\/h3>\n<p>\u2022Khan praised Lacey Lane\u2019s recent performances and called her a \u201ctremendous wrestler.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Regarding Lio Rush\u2019s recent character presentation changes. Khan said Rush recently approached him with several new creative ideas and described Rush as a performer with \u201cmultiple sides\u201d to his personality.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Regarding the impact of taping ROH television regularly at WJCT Studios in Jacksonville, Khan said the setup has helped improve both consistency and overall TV quality.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Regarding Blake Christian\u2019s recent momentum heading into his ROH World Championship match against Bandido, Khan praised Christian\u2019s recent performances and said he believes Christian has the potential to become a future ROH World Champion.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-685629590\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (5\/13) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Adams\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QAXTC_hT3ag?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2377457578\"><div id=\"pwtor-1100403862\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Ahead of tonight\u2019s ROH Supercard of Honor event in Salisbury, Md,, AEW and ROH President Tony Khan spoke with wrestling media Thursday afternoon to preview the show, discuss Athena\u2019s historic title reign, the state of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/05\/15\/tony-khan-discusses-athenas-roh-legacy-womens-division-focus-jazwares-uncertainty-ahead-of-supercard-of-honor\/\" title=\"Tony Khan discusses Athena\u2019s ROH legacy, Women\u2019s Division focus, Jazwares uncertainty ahead of Supercard of Honor\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6163,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-216558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew-news","category-prowrestlingnews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2023\/05\/Screenshot-2023-05-14-at-1.40.57-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216560,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216558\/revisions\/216560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}