The One Match Mercedes Mone Refuses To Watch Back

There’s one match Mercedes Mone never plans to watch again.

After leaving WWE in 2022, Mercedes Mone next resurfaced at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 in January 2023, where she laid down a challenge for Kairi Sane’s IWGP Women’s Championship. The following month, The CEO defeated Sane to win the gold. Mone went on to defend the title in both NJPW and its sister promotion, STARDOM before losing it to Mayu Iwatani after a 64-day reign.

That May, Mone was part of a tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s championship. In the final, as she took on AEW’s Willow Nightingale, disaster struck when Mone came off the turnbuckle and dropped to the floor on the outside, injuring her ankle.

During a recent interview with ESPN, Mone admitted that she can’t watch footage of the accident, saying it scares her.

“I can’t watch that video back. It scares me. It makes me nervous. I don’t know if I slipped. I don’t know if it was a freak accident. I don’t know if Willow pushed me on purpose. I really don’t know.”

The former Sasha Banks was in shock after the injury, but eventually realised it could be her body telling her to slow down.

“It was the hardest time of my life. When the injury first happened, I was so in shock. I was so confused. I was like, ‘Oh, wait, no,’ because I was on a mission. I had so many goals of going to Mexico, the [United Kingdom], Japan, all over the United States. We were preparing for so much.

“But I think maybe my body and the universe was just like, ‘Maybe you’re just going a little too fast. Maybe you need to slow down. You’re not done healing inside.'”

Mercedes Mone was told her injury was career-ending, but she overcame the dire prognosis to make her triumphant AEW debut at Big Business on March 13th.

Mercedes Mone Is Always After The Bag

During the same interview, Mercedes Mone revealed the reasons behind her signing with AEW. While factors included the outside opportunities available to her, she also admitted that the money didn’t hurt, saying she’s “always about that bag.”