NXT’s Mercedes Martinez Reveals Why She Departed Retribution

Mercedes Martinez wasn’t too far into her NXT run before she was recruited to head over to Monday Night Raw, and it turns out the move was to be part of a new stable that would turn out to be Retribution. Retribution, led by Mustafa Ali, also featured several other NXT stars, but soon after she was revealed to be part of the group as Retaliation, Martinez departed the group and Raw as a whole, eventually leading to her return to the black and gold brand. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to speak to Martinez about being part of the group, why she left, and what she took away from the whole experience.

“Sometimes, at the end part of your career, opportunities are there, and I always take the opportunities, ” Martinez said. “Sometimes those opportunities don’t fit the mold or don’t fit what you want for your career. I’m going into 20 years, and I think, at this point in my career, I wanted something more and something different, and I wanted to prove my legacy out there.”

“As much as I love the opportunity for Raw and Retribution, you can’t hide the fact that I was behind the mask. You can’t hide me. It’s just the fact that, tattoos and everything. I didn’t want to be a part of a group that I didn’t put my heart into, and I really wanted to blaze my own trail my way. Not to take away from anybody from the group. I really want them to have success and achieve everything that they want to be. I just think I wasn’t maybe the right fit. It wasn’t the right mold for me, and what I wanted for my career.it can benefit you and sometimes it can not.”

As for why she decided to return to NXT, it was about being in the ring with the best Women’s division around.

“The Women’s division is stacked in NXT, and I wanted to prove myself there before I jumped on something else that maybe was part of a faction and maybe I could challenge myself. Really, at this stage in my career, I just want the challenges,” Martinez said. “I just want to wrestle, wrestle every week and put a clinic out there every week if I can. And that’s really where I want to go with my career.”

“So like I said, opportunities come and go, and I took the opportunity, and sometimes those opportunities don’t mesh with what you want for your career. That’s really what it was, and there are no hard feelings. It was all good. Everyone was on the same page, and here I am, and making a big change, hopefully, in the NXT women’s division.”

You can catch Martinez in action on tonight’s NXT on USA Network, and for live coverage you can follow along right here on ComicBook.com or as always you can talk all things NXT with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!