Mercedes Mone has talked about her AEW arrival and recovery from injury.
On the June 13 edition of AEW Dynamite, Mercedes Mone made her debut as a member of the All Elite Wrestling roster after weeks and months of speculation over her arrival. The show itself, labelled ‘Big Business’, was built around her as a new signing, with the company heavily hinted at her presence without directly announcing it. Ultimately, fans weren’t disappointed as The CEO became ‘All Elite’.
Now, sitting down with Sports Illustrated, Mercedes Mone has discussed everything that has happened over the last 12 months, beginning by talking about how she wants and needs to be in AEW because of the work that the company’s women’s division had done before she arrived.
“I want to be here, I need to be here, and it’s because of the women’s division. The women here laid the foundation. They’re the reason I want to be in AEW. We’re going to make so much magic here.”
-Mercedes Mone
The debut on this week’s Dynamite ended a period of absence for Mone in the wrestling world, having to take time off to deal with an ankle injury she sustained in May 2023. On this, she revealed that she was initially told that her injury was career-ending. Not to be deterred, Mercedes emphasised how she always knew she’d be back and had to fight every day to make it possible.
“I got an MRI in May, and the surgeon told me, ‘This is career-ending,’. That was the biggest shock in my whole life. I’d never really been injured like this before. My worst injury before this was from Hell in a Cell in 2019, when my pelvis was out of place for eight months. This was so much more painful. People thought it was just a broken ankle. I was non-weight bearing for three months. It was a fight every day. It was devastating when I was told I was never going to come back. But I always knew I would be back, and I told that to my surgeon. Now I’m healthy and my surgeon is calling his mentor saying, ‘Look at what happened here, it’s incredible.’ I don’t like being told no. I always believed I would be back, and now it’s true.”
-Mercedes Mone
When ‘Big Business’ was announced and it became clear that Mercedes would be coming into AEW, many began to wonder what she would say when she got the chance to address the crowd. Her promo reflected on how the fans had stuck by her since leaving WWE and the path she’d been on from beginning wrestling training to now.
Expanding on this, she told Sports Illustrated that she had been thinking about what she wanted to say for around a year, and that preparation only increased when she officially signed with AEW. It was important to her to mention how important her hometown had been in her journey and to recognise the places that she had trained.
“This is a global revolution, that’s why I’m here. You don’t think I can take this around the globe? Well then, let me show you I can. My heart is here. My dreams are here. I love wrestling. I’m a leader, and I’m going to lead. And I’ve honestly been thinking about what I wanted to say for the past year. When I finally signed with AEW, I put even more thought into it. I decided to speak from my heart. That’s what I did, and the crowd made it so special for me. Everything started in Boston. I wouldn’t be ‘The CEO’ if it wasn’t for my time here. That’s why I mentioned wrestling in North Andover. I remember looking up and reading about so many wrestling schools. I learned about Chaotic Wrestling when I was 12. When I was 16, I emailed them–but I was too young. When I was 18, I signed up for a fantasy camp. I was the only woman there. I won it, got to train at Chaotic for free, and they created a championship for me so women could come and wrestle me. And I was only 18. That place created so much magic for me. It was a place for me to dream and become who I am.”
-Mercedes Mone
Given that Mercedes’ debut was heavily teased by AEW and that the large majority of fans thought she’d show up, the crowd inside the TD Garden were electric to see The CEO. To close, Mone discussed the fan support and how it was unbelievable that people had come from across the world to come to the special edition of Dynamite to see her arrival.
“The fans are unbelievable. There were people who flew in from the U.K. and Mexico to come to Boston. This wasn’t even a pay-per-view match, and they still came. They know what’s about to happen. Just wait. We’re only getting started.”
-Mercedes Mone
At the end of Dynamite, Mone ran down to save Willow Nightingale from a two-on-one beatdown from Julia Hart and Skye Blue, setting up future matches against the pair. Also, it’s likely that AEW will play off the fact that Mercedes’ injury occurred in a match against Willow, which caused an audible to be called and Nightingale to win the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Mercedes Mone’s AEW debut as soon as we hear more.
