Adrienne Reese is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under the ring name Ember Moon, performing on their developmental territory NXT. Moon previously wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Athena, competing regularly for promotions such as Shimmer Women Athletes, Women Superstars Uncensored, Inspire Pro Wrestling, and Anarchy Championship Wrestling, for which she is a former three-time ACW American Joshi Champion.
Early career and Anarchy Championship Wrestling (2007–2012)
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 for the promotion under the ring name Trouble in 2007. Under the ring name Athena, she debuted for Professional Championship Wrestling (PCW) on November 10, 2007, teaming with Mace Malone in a losing effort to Claudia and Mike Foxx. She began competing regularly for PCW throughout early 2008, and unsuccessfully challenged the PCW Tag Team Champions Jerome Daniels and Nobe Bryant for their titles on May 17, with partner Brandon Collins.
Athena also competed for various other Texas-based promotions, most notably Anarchy Championship Wrestling (ACW), based in Austin. On February 21, 2010, she challenged Rachel Summerlyn for the ACW American Joshi Championship, but failed to win. On May 29, she defeated Summerlyn to win the American Joshi Championship in a three-way match also involving Lillie Mae. On June 12, she defeated Malia Hosaka. The following day, Athena successfully retained the championship against Mae, but lost it to Summerlyn afterwards. On September 19, she failed to win the championship from Portia Perez, and failed again on February 10 in a four-way match that also involved Perez, Amanda Fox and Jen-Alise. In June 2011, she entered a tournament to determine the number one contender to the ACW American Joshi Championship; she defeated Angel Blue in the first round, Amanda Fox in the semi-finals, but lost to Rachel Summerlyn in the finals. On September 18, Athena defeated Lady Poison to win the American Joshi Championship for a second time. On October 23, she successfully retained the championship against Barbi Hayden, Lillie Mae and Portia Perez in four-way match, and went on to defeat Mae and Jessica James to retain the title on November 4. On November 6 and December 11, respectively, she successfully retained the title in a six-way matches. On January 15, 2012, Athena lost the championship to Angel Blue. In June, she entered the 2012 ACW Queen of Queens tournament, where she defeated Su Yung in the first round, Christina Von Eerie in the semi-finals, and Jessicka Havok in the finals to win the tournament. She won the ACW American Joshi Championship a third time on January 18 by defeating Su Yung, but vacated the title on August 23 after leaving the company.
Shimmer Women Athletes (2010–2015)
Athena debuted in the all-female, Illinois based promotion Shimmer Women Athletes at Volume 33 on September 11, 2010, teaming with Bonesaw in a losing effort to Jessica James and Rachel Summerlyn. Over the next two days, Athena lost to Tenille at Volume 34, and Nevaeh at Volume 36.
She returned to Shimmer on October 1, 2011 at Volume 42, where she defeated Jessie McKay and Mia Yim in a three-way match. At Volume 43, she fought Mercedes Martinez to a double count-out, and defeated her by disqualification at Volume 44. At Volume 45, she defeated Martinez by pinfall, and went on to defeat Sassy Stephie at Volume 47, and Ray at Volume 48. At Volume 49 in October, Athena unsuccessfully challenged Saraya Knight for the Shimmer Championship. At Volume 50, she defeated Tomoka Nakagawa.
At Volume 55, she defeated Taylor Made, and at Volume 57, she defeated Kimber Lee. At Volume 62, Athena defeated Candice LeRae. At Volume 64, she defeated Cherry Bomb, and Kay Lee Ray at Volume 65. In the main event of Volume 68, Athena competed in a four-way match against Madison Eagles, Cheerleader Melissa and Nicole Matthews for the Shimmer Championship, which was won by Matthews. At Volume 72, she defeated Mia Yim in a two out of three falls match.
Women Superstars Uncensored (2011–2015)
Athena debuted for Women Superstars Uncensored (WSU) at WSU The Final Chapter on January 11, 2011, losing to Niya. She returned to WSU on March 5 at their 4th Anniversary Show, defeating Leva Bates. At their 5th Anniversary Show on March 5, 2012, she once again defeated Bates. In April, Athena entered the 2012 J-Cup Tournament and defeated Kimber Lee in the first round, but lost to Brittney Savage in the finals. At WSU Y.O.L.O. on April 28, she lost to Rain. At WSU An Ultraviolent Affair on February 9, 2013, she failed to win the WSU Championship from Jessicka Havok.
At the 2013 WSU King and Queen of the Ring tournament in May, Athena teamed up with AR Fox; they defeated Ezavel Suena and Latin Dragon in the first round and Addy Starr and Matt Tremont in the second round to advance to the finals, where they defeated Drew Gulak and Kimber Lee. After a hiatus due to injury, Athena returned to WSU on February 7, 2014, defeating Hania Howling Huntress. The following day, she lost to LuFisto in a WSU Championship number one contender's match. On February 21, 2015, Athena defeated Hania Huntress in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. On May 9, 2015, she defeated Niya to become the number one contender to the WSU Spirit Championship.
Other promotions (2012–2015)
Athena debuted for All American Wrestling (AAW) on March 16, 2012, where she teamed with Christina Von Eerie and MsChif to defeat the team of Sara Del Rey, Portia Perez and Nicole Matthews. At the Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) event Girls Night Out 7, Athena defeated Sassy Stephie. She wrestled for the Canadian promotion NCW Femmes Fatales on November 3, defeating Cheerleader Melissa and Angie Skye to earn a shot at the NCW Femmes Fatales Championship later that night, which she lost to defending champion Kalamity. Athena debuted for Shine Wrestling at the SHINE 5 iPPV on November 16, defeating Ivelisse Vélez. She debuted for Ring of Honor (ROH) in February 2013, losing to MsChif. At the AIW event Girls Night Out 8, she defeated Kimber Lee in a Climb the Rank qualifying match, and lost a four-way match to Veda Scott later that night. She returned to ROH on April 6, where she defeated Cherry Bomb, MsChif and Scarlett Bordeaux in a four-way match. At the ROH event In the Heart of Texas on June 1, she defeated Barbi Hayden. At the ROH event Reclamation Night 1 on July 11, she defeated MsChif, but lost to her the following night at Reclamation Night 2 in a four-way match.
At the AIW event Girls Night Out 12 in March 2014, Athena defeated Mia Yim. She then defeated Allysin Kay in a no count-out, no disqualification match to win the AIW Women's Championship. She successfully retained the championship at AIW All In on July 26 against Heidi Lovelace. At AIW Battle of the Sexes that same day, she defeated Louis Lyndon. At Girls Night Out 14, Athena defended and retained the championship against Veda Scott, and at the October 12 ACW event against KC Warfield and Paige Turner. On April 24, 2015, she retained the title in a four-way match that also involved Veda Scott, Candice LeRae and Mickie James. At AIW Faith No More on September 11, she lost the championship to Heidi Lovelace.
WWE
NXT (2015–present)
On September 11, 2015, it was reported that Reese had signed a contract with WWE, and would be assigned to their developmental territory, WWE NXT, based at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. She made her in–ring debut at an NXT live event on October 10, in a tag team match. She wrestled as Adrien Reese or Adrienne Reese from October 2015 until June 2016. At NXT TakeOver: The End on June 8, 2016, she defeated Peyton Royce during a dark match under her new ring name, Ember Moon. After a series of introductory vignettes, Moon made her televised debut at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II on August 20, where she defeated Billie Kay. Upon her arrival, Moon started a winning streak both in tag team and singles matches throughout the following months