Athena is heading to NJPW.
The ROH Women’s World Champion has called for a match against Syuri for NJPW’s February 27 New Beginning USA card in Trenton, New Jersey. While currently on a 1,150-day run with her ROH belt, Athena wants to now challenge for Syuri’s IWGP Women’s Championship, she recently revealed.
BREAKING@AthenaPalmer_FG is headed to New Beginning USA February 27- and is challenging @syuri_wv3s for the IWGP Women's title!@CUREarena TICKETS:https://t.co/bTJqdj5yL3#njnbgusa pic.twitter.com/Yu5xugPoL5
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 3, 2026
Athena stated in a recent promo that she wants to stop people from underestimating her, and believes the best way to fight those beliefs is heading into a new territory and claiming a second title.
The upcoming booking will be Athena’s first-ever appearance on a show solely promoted by NJPW. She has previously competed on co-promoted cards with AEW and has wrestled for sister promotion STARDOM in the past.
Syuri has held the IWGP women’s belt since October, when she dethroned Sareee in Ryogoku Sumo Hall. She had a stand-out performance as part of last month’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom card, beating Saya Kamitani in a title-versus-title clash.
If confirmed, here’s what the updated lineup for NJPW’s show at the CURE Insurance Arena looks like thus far:
- Syuri vs. Athena (IWGP Women’s Championship)
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Boltin Oleg (NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship)
- El Phantasmo vs. Konosuke Takeshita (NJPW World Television Championship)
