Athena (wrestler)

Adrienne Palmer (née Reese) (born August 31, 1988) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under her ring name Athena.

She also appears in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where she is the current ROH Women's World Champion in her first reign, which is the longest reign for the title.

She is also known for her time in WWE, where she worked under the name Ember Moon, where she is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion and a former NXT Women's Champion.

Before going to WWE, she wrestled on the independent circuit as Athena for promotions such as Shimmer Women Athletes or, Women Superstars Uncensored.

In WWE's developmental territory NXT, she held the NXT Women's Championship and NXT Women's Tag Team Championship, being the first person to have held both titles.

Reese was born in Garland, Texas on August 31, 1988.

She attended Lakeview Centennial High School where she played tennis and softball as well as participating in the school's chess club and the mathlete program.

During her time in high school, Reese was maliciously bullied by her peers for her interests in video games and wrestling.

Reese was first introduced to professional wrestling by her grandfather, and she began training under Skandor Akbar in April 2007.

She later trained at Booker T's Pro Wrestling Alliance (now named Reality of Wrestling) based in Houston, Texas, and began wrestling as Trouble in 2007 and later, Athena.

Athena also wrestled for various other Texas-based promotions, most notably Anarchy Championship Wrestling (ACW), based in Austin where she won the women's title, ACW American Joshi Championship three times, as well the ACW Television Championship.

From 2010 to 2015, she also worked for the all-female promotions Shimmer Women Athletes and Women Superstars Uncensored.

Between 2013 and 2015, Reese worked for Ring of Honor (ROH) as part of a stable by the name of Team RnB alongside A.C.H. who joined TaDarius Thomas and then the two became a ROH tag team by the name of Adrenaline Rush consisting of A.C.H and TaDarius Thomas only.

Also during this time period in ROH in the ROH Women of Honor division Athena competed in matches against talent such as MsChif, Barbi Hayden, Cherry Bomb, Scarlett Bordeaux and more before silently being departed from ROH in 2015.

In September 2015 Reese signed a contract with WWE, and was assigned to their developmental territory, NXT.

She wrestled as Adrien Reese or Adrienne Reese from October 2015 until June 2016, when her name was changed to Ember Moon.

After a series of introductory vignettes, Moon made her television debut at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, defeating Billie Kay.

Throughout the following months, Ember Moon went on a winning streak both in tag team and singles matches until losing to NXT Women's Champion Asuka at NXT TakeOver: Orlando on April 1.

In May Moon sustained a shoulder injury after being thrown out of the ring by Asuka.

After she returned on June, she faced Asuka again for the championship at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, but was once again defeated.

In August, Asuka had to vacate the NXT Women's Championship due to an injury.

On November 18, Moon won the vacant NXT Women's Championship in a fatal-four-way match, defeating Royce, Nikki Cross, and Kairi Sane.

As champion, Moon held the title for 140 days, feuding with Shayna Baszler.

At NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, Moon retained her title against her, but lost it at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.

Reese first appearance on the main roster happened at 2018 Royal Rumble, where she participated in the first women's Royal Rumble match.

After losing the NXT Women's Title, she was promoted to the main roster.

At Money in the Bank, she participated in the Money in the Bank ladder match, but failed to win the briefcase.

At WWE Evolution she participated in a battle royal and was the last participant eliminated by Nia Jax.

At the 2019 Royal Rumble event, Moon participated in the women's Royal Rumble match, entering at number six and lasting 52 minutes before being eliminated by Alexa Bliss.

During the match, she suffered an elbow injury, the recovery from which necessitated surgery, keeping her out of action for a while.

She returned at WrestleMania 35 in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal, from which she was eliminated by Lana.

During the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Moon was moved to the SmackDown brand.

In June, she participated in her second Money in the Bank ladder match but was unsuccessful.

Throughout June and July, Moon feuded with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, who bullied her.

After losing singles matches to both Deville and Rose on the June 25 and the July 2 episodes of SmackDown, respectively, Moon teamed up with SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley to defeat Rose and Deville on the July 16 episode, ending the feud.

After the match, Bayley picked Moon as her challenger for SummerSlam.

However, Moon lost the match and started a losing streak, going winless in five straight televised matches.

Moon would then suffer an ankle injury, and she was not in either of the draft pools for the 2019 WWE Draft in October.

She appeared on the November 19 episode of WWE Backstage as an analyst and stated she would be out of action for an indefinite period of time.

Resse was assigned back to NXT, where she came back with a new character.