Mercedes Mone will be at UBS Arena on Sunday night, the AEW TBS Champion set to take on New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Stephanie Vaquer as part of the Forbidden Door pay-per-view, her title on the line against Vaquer’s NJPW Strong Women’s Championship in a winner-take-all bout.
But on Thursday, she was inside our lower Manhattan studios chatting it up with BT & Sal in a rare moment out of the grind of the professional wrestling lifestyle – and among all the talk about the show itself, AEW, and her wrestling career in general, we found out that Mercedes is…sadly, from Boston, and thus a Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics fan.
“I love everything about Boston because we are the city of champions, baby!” she laughed. “I loved Tom Brady, and I have so much respect for Bill Belichick for what he did for the team and all the championships he got for the team as well. That duo together is history forever.”
Okay, everyone has flaws, but one thing she does know about is something the Knicks and Nets are currently about to deal with: free agency, and for her specifically, the choices she had when her WWE contract ran out and she was free to ply her craft anywhere in the world.
“In a sense I enjoyed it because I was like, I can't believe how many companies want me so bad, and how many lucrative deals were just put on the table for me,” Mone said. “I was like, which one do I choose and do I want? But it was also scary at the same time because WWE is WWE, and I was like, do I go back? My heart was saying, don't go back, go forward, and I just kept hearing that voice in my head say keep going forward. They kept offering me things and asked me to come back, but New Japan came about, CMLL (in Mexico), and AEW, and just having the conversation with Tony…it took about two years of just having conversations back and forth to see if my heart wanted it, and finally, I went to All In in London last year, and seeing 80,000 fans there, I was like, this is where I want to be, and this company feels aligned with my soul.”
The ‘most amazing contract in wrestling history’ helped, sure, but it was proof that the atmosphere really can sell a free agent, the sizzle helps seal that steak.
“I could watch it on TV every week, but I had to be there in person to get a sense of the talent, get a sense of the audience and just get a sense of how they all operated,” Mone said. “And out there, I was just like, ‘wow, this is so amazing to have 80,000 fans in the UK.’ That just let me know that wrestling is just so special, and there doesn't have to be one place for wrestling.”
Don’t miss AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door on Sunday, live at UBS Arena and on pay-per-view, and listen to Mone’s entire visit with BT & Sal above!
Most Popular
Comments / 0