Mercedes Moné Is BACK In AEW (AEW News)

Mercedes Moné made her shock AEW return in the Owen Hart Cup.

by Andrew Pollard
Mercedes Mone AEW
AEW

To the surprise of many, Mercedes Moné made her shocking return to AEW on last night's Dynamite as the mystery wild card in the women's Owen Hart Cup.

Having been absent from AEW programming since January, Mercedes was Alex Windsor's surprise opponent, making the Brit tap out to the Moné Maker and booking herself a spot in the tournament's semi-finals, where she'll take on the winner of this week's Collision's Persephone vs. Hazuki contest.

The last time we saw Mercedes Moné in AEW, the CEO had her face dumped into a cake as part of Willow Nightingale's TBS Championship celebration, fresh off of Willow defeating Moné for that prize at New Year's Smash.

As for Mercedes' return, that coincidentally saw her replace Willow Nightingale after Willow was unfortunately forced to give up her spot in the Owen and the TNT Title due to injury. With AEW hyping up a wild card replacement to face Alex Windsor, it was Moné who was revealed as that wild card last night.

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What makes this particular surprising is that, while some thought Mercedes Moné might be Nightingale's replacement, many thought that any such return would've taken place on Double or Nothing last weekend, rather than happen on Dynamite. Even more so, when Nightingale vs. Windsor was initially scheduled for Double or Nothing, before the decision was made to run with Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa at DoN in the Owen, then bump Wild Card vs. Windsor to TV.

Either way, Mercedes Moné is now back in AEW, and is immediately cemented as the favourite to win this year's women's Owen Hart Cup, which would make her a two-time winner of that tournament following her success in last year's Owen.

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While she may not have been seen in AEW for nearly five months, Mercedes Moné has been busy away from AEW, dropping her remaining titles across the globe, including losing the CMLL Women's Title to Persephone in Mexico, the Bestya Women's Title to Swan in Italy, the EWA Women's Title to Mila Smidt in France, the BODYSLAM Women's Title and DW Women's Title to Alexxis Falcon in England, the PTW Women's Title to Diana Strong in Poland, the WPW Women's Title to Jody Threat in Canada, and vacating the APAC Women's Title due to travel issues.

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Senior Writer
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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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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 a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.