Mercedes Moné is ‘All Elite’, and we now know more about how the deal came together.
Last night’s episode of AEW Dynamite: Big Business saw the highly anticipated debut of former IWGP Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné, with the former Sasha Banks announcing her arrival at the top of the show before making the save for Willow Nightingale during the main event.
Following the show, Fightful Select, along with Mat Men‘s Andrew Zarian, were able to gain additional insight into how Moné officially became ‘All Elite’, first noting Moné is said to have been on the company’s payroll for over two months, with those that Fightful have spoken to claiming her to be on a multi-year deal.
“Sources confirmed to Fightful and Mat Men’s Andrew Zarian that Mone has been on the AEW payroll for well over two months, with some sources said that they believe the deal was effectively agreed upon back in December when Mercedes landed several trademarks in relation to her name. Those we have spoken to believe the contract is a multi-year deal. We’re working to confirm that.”
-Fightful Select
Moné had been out of action since May last year, having suffered a severe ankle injury during her NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship bout with Willow Nightingale. The report added that Mercedes required two surgeries to treat this issue and that it was even made clear during negotiations with AEW that she would be unable to make an in-ring return at that point.
Prior to her injury, Moné had been competing across New Japan Pro Wrestling and STARDOM, where she held the IWGP Women’s Championship and looked set to become the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion.
Per Fightful Select, it looks as though Moné is set to continue working with NJPW despite signing with AEW, with plans to pick up where the two sides left off reportedly being factored into the deal.
“In addition, we’re told that New Japan Pro Wrestling expects to be factored into this deal, and they were under the impression as of January that they would be able to continue to work with Mercedes in a big way. Sources in the company said they hoped they could pick up where they left off with her last year, but that AEW would be her priority.”
-Fightful Select
Mercedes Moné first appeared on screen for All Elite Wrestling during AEW All In last year at Wembley Stadium, with the camera panning to the former multi-time WWE Women’s Champion in the crowd, prompting a large reaction from the London crowd.
At the time, reports indicated that whilst the two sides hadn’t signed any sort of deal, there was an understanding that they’d work together. Fightful note that they were told that Moné’s injury status at the time was as bad as Mercedes indicated during a recent interview, and that AEW President Tony Khan didn’t want her first official appearance to be setting the fans up for something they wouldn’t be able to see for a while.
In following up on this in December, Fightful revealed that they learned that Mercedes and AEW no longer had working plans, and the two sides were apart on terms. At this point, Mercedes is said to have re-entered discussions with WWE by that point, who also could not come to terms with her.
On the topic of WWE, the report touched on the speculation regarding the advertisement of a “former WWE Champion” appearing at the Day 1 edition of RAW, noting that the company shut down suggestions that this would be a returning Sasha Banks, with WWE’s conversations with Moné described as friendly, wishing her luck as they expected her to sign elsewhere imminently, which it’s now apparent was indeed the case.
At that point, Fightful learned that Moné had re-entered talks with AEW and that they’d expected to land her. The report then adds that within the first week of January, there were already discussions about her debut, with some in the company even being told that both January 3 and 10 were possibilities. However, Mercedes was not anywhere near physically cleared by that point.
With speculation building in January about Moné’s future, reports emerged that NJPW had long planned or wanted to do a Mercedes Mone vs. Giulia match at NJPW Battle In The Valley. However, as Fightful point out in their report, Moné hadn’t indicated to the company that she’d be ready to return at that point, leading to many being frustrated by this speculation.
“Multiple frustrated sources within NJPW shot that notion down, and clarified to Fightful that at no point since Mercedes’ severe injury had it been indicated to them that she would be ready for Battle in the Valley, and it wasn’t in the plans. They also noted that if she would have been good to go for Battle in the Valley, they likely would have booked her for Wrestle Kingdom as well, and didn’t want fans to think they were “holding anything back” from either one of those shows.”
-Fightful Select
Throughout January, those within WWE are said to have been steadfast in their belief that Moné would be heading to WWE, with comments being made to Fightful around the time of the Royal Rumble clarifying that not only were they aware that Moné was unable to be cleared to compete at the time, but they also weren’t interested in tampering with her contract.
After Moné expectedly didn’t appear during the Royal Rumble, her impeding AEW debut became clear, with AEW staff and talent considering it a forgone conclusion, particularly after putting two and two together upon hearing of a show being set for the TD Garden in Boston in March, which ultimately turned out to be AEW Big Business.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Mercedes Moné joining AEW as soon as we hear more.
