Backstage Details On Mercedes Moné Signing With AEW

After months of speculation, Mercedes Moné is officially #AllElite.

by Andrew Pollard
Mercedes Moné
AEW

With Mercedes Moné having debuted at AEW Dynamite: Big Business and officially become #AllElite, there now comes plenty of details about how the CEO's AEW arrival came about.

Via Fightful Select, whilst Moné's AEW debut happened last night, the former Sasha Banks has actually been signed to the company for a little while. In fact, this report notes that Mercedes has been on the AEW payroll for "well over two months", with the belief that a deal between the two parties may have been agreed upon back in December when the star filed several trademarks related to her name.

While it's yet to be confirmed, the understanding is that Mercedes Moné has signed a multi-year deal contract that also factors in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. By that, as of January, NJPW was under the impression they'd be able to continue working with Mercedes in a significant way, with the company hopeful of picking things up with Moné from where they were left last year. Clearly, though, AEW is the Blueprint's priority.

Advertisement

As for Mercedes' ankle injury suffered last May, that required two operations and it was made clear during AEW negotiations that she wasn't ready to return to the ring. Moné's appearance at All In at Wembley Stadium in August was done with the expectation that AEW and Mercedes would work together at some point. Tony Khan didn't want Mercedes Moné to appear on AEW TV whilst in a walking boot or on crutches, for he didn't want to raise fans hope that she'd be able to wrestle - which is something that's bizarrely been the case for Adam Cole in recent months.

For those wondering about any WWE involvement, Mercedes did have talks with the market leader about returning to the fold, but those discussions had seemingly ended by the turn of the year. The conversations with WWE are said to have been friendly, with the organisation wishing her will and of the understanding that Moné would be signing with another company "imminently".

In terms of AEW, there were some talks about debuting Mercedes Moné as early as the 3 or 10 January editions of Dynamite, but the Boss simply was nowhere near close to being cleared at that period. If Moné was able to wrestle at that point, New Japan would've used her for both Wrestle Kingdom 18 and Battle in the Valley.

Advertisement
 
Posted On: 
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.