12 Ups & 2 Downs For AEW All In 2023

1. Why No Mercedes For The Women's Match?

Mercedes Moné was highly spotlighted during the Zero Hour pre-show, which many people may not have seen. There, she was shown sat in the crowd at Wembley Stadium, zoomed in on and made a big fuss of.

Okay, that was great, but then surely AEW wouldn't only show Mercedes on the pre-show, right? Well, they didn't, but they bizarrely didn't show her during the sole women's match on the PPV.

Moné would be shown during the AEW Trios Titles contest, but it felt odd that she was referenced but not shown as Hikaru Shida defended the AEW Women's Championship. This isn't saying Mercedes needed to hit the ring or even appear at the top of the entrance aisle, but surely it would've made sense to show the Blue Print as the Women's Title was being contested in a four-way bout; a four-way bout ultimately won by Mercedes' real-life friend Saraya.

It was just weird how Moné was referenced during and after the AEW Women's Title match, but was never actually shown during this contest.

Also, it's once again a huge frustration to see AEW's women's roster get such short shrift in general. As in, on a four-hour PPV - complete with a two-hour pre-show - there was just one solitary women's match, which was bafflingly only afforded less than nine minutes of in-ring action.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.