It’s been over two years since Mercedes Moné walked out of WWE in search of greener pastures. She quickly rebranded herself as Mercedes, which is her birth name, with a nod to her past as Sasha Banks with the money connection. Many have questioned her decision to change her name, with people just now coming around to the change. For Mercedes, it’s clear that for the first time since signing with WWE, she wants ownership over her character, her person.
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“I love being able to go by my birth name, Mercedes. Because in wrestling for 14 years, and really 10 years in WWE, I was so used to carrying the name Sasha all the time,” Moné told WFan Sports Radio. “I’m not Sasha; I wasn’t born as Sasha, I don’t own the name Sasha, so I can’t own that as a person. I can’t be that as a person and I don’t identity with her as a person. “But Mercedes Moné? Went from a “Legit Boss” to a CEO, the bosses of all bosses, this is who I was born to be.”
She lit the professional wrestling landscape on fire with her unforgettable New Japan Pro Wrestling debut at Wrestle Kingdom 17, confronting then champion KAIRI. She’d go on to win the IWGP Women’s Championship and nearly clinch the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship as well, but her unfortunate near career-ending injury would prevent that. She was out for nearly an entire year before she made the decision to sign with AEW which she has been candid in saying she wants to help start a revolution there.
A revolution certainly seems to be happening as this weekend’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view marks the first time an AEW branded event has four women’s matches on the card. That’s a giant step in the right direction, especially because several of those matches are part of larger storylines that have been carried out over the last few months. Moné, the current TBS Champion, will go against Stephanie Vaquer, a decorated and highly-respected CMLL and NJPW wrestler whom she has already beaten once before. Whoever wins their match will hold both the TBS Championship and the NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship simultaneously for the first time ever.
Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on AEW and Mercedes Moné.
