Blake Monroe discusses moving away from the ‘Mariah May’ name.
On the June 3 edition of NXT, Mariah May made her WWE debut. However, the following week, a video package aired revealing that the former AEW Women’s World Champion had changed her name to ‘Blake Monroe’. Now, the 27-year-old has opened up moving on from using her real name in wrestling.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Monroe revealed she likes that the ‘Mariah May’ name died, saying she wishes she never used her real name.
“No. If you’re familiar with my prior name, I feel like it was the end of a story, and I cherish that. It’s kind of cool that she died and that’s done. Mariah is my real name, and I wish I had never used that in wrestling because it’s weird. I did it and can’t change it. The chance to start something new, and with WWE, we’re going to make this new thing and make it a megastar. Week by week, we do that. I love it, and it’s a tribute to my niece. My niece is Blake. We used to watch WWE together and she’d jump on the bed and be so excited. When they said, ‘How would you feel about the name? Would you be open to changing it?’ I said, ‘I absolutely would.’ Monroe was the first wrestling name I ever wrote down. I still have it in a book and a screenshot from 2017. I didn’t start wrestling until 2020. I wanted to do Monroe as a first name. The more I thought about it, people don’t like the name because they think it’s boyish, but that’s why I like the name. I feel if you’re in a really intense feud, it’s like, ‘Monroe,” while ‘Blake’ is more serious. Blake is my niece and it’s unisex, and Monroe is so pretty, but a little gimmicky. I thought putting the two together was different. The name was a little controversial, which I like because people are talking about me.”
-Blake Monroe
The former AEW Women’s World Champion is currently a major player on NXT, and has recently been involved in a feud with Jordynne Grace. Most recently, she took on ‘The Juggernaut’ in a Weaponised Steel Cage at No Mercy.
Elsewhere in the interview, Monroe discussed weighing up a return to Japan after she left AEW. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Blake Monroe as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
