Mercedes Mone is officially All Elite, and “The CEO” has arrived in AEW.
Mone made her debut to open “AEW Dynamite: Big Business” in Boston, to raucous “CEO” chants from her hometown crowd. Mone thanked the crowd for having her back for the past two years and giving her the courage and strength to be there. She said she will be creating “so many moments” with the fans because every single fan is the reason she is now in AEW.
“If you only knew how much tonight means to me… how much wrestling means to me,” Mone said. She also shouted out her childhood hero, Eddie Guerrero. She said he always gave her hope that she too could wrestle one day. She looked to the heavens in the middle of the ring and thanked him. Mone also mentioned leading a women’s evolution, and that her dreams made her become the first-ever woman to main event a pay-per-view, in the same building “Dynamite” was being held in, TD Garden.
Mone said she has been watching “Dynamite” week after week, and she can’t wait to tear it up with every woman in the locker room. Mone specifically called out Willow Nightingale, as the crowd booed, and said they have unfinished business. Mone suffered a serious ankle injury while facing Nightingale during the finals of the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship tournament. The match’s finish reportedly had to be changed on the fly, with Nightingale becoming the first ever NJPW Strong Women’s Champion. It had been rumored for weeks that Mone would make her debut, and the rumors were fueled by AEW President Tony Khan branding the show “Big Business.” Mone reportedly has been signed to the company since the beginning of 2024.
Capping the “Big Business” episode of “AEW Dynamite,” Willow Nightingale fought off a game Riho in the main event before the lights went out and she was confronted by House of Black’s Julia Hart and attacked from behind by Skye Blue. With the crowd chanting “CEO,” the newest addition to AEW’s roster, Mercedes Mone, emerged from the back to make the save, dropping Blue on the ramp and delivering a boot to the face to Hart before taking her down with the Mone Maker.
Mone’s involvement after the main event means she bookended the show, after kicking things off in spectacular fashion, featuring a new song and an updated look, while sending the crowd into a frenzy. Her debut was long-rumored, and heavily implied since the announcement of “Big Business,” but that took away nothing from the crowd’s enjoyment, and they bought right in, imploring her to make the save for Nightingale, and rejoicing once again when she came back out, wardrobe change and all, ready to take care of business, fittingly.
Nightingale, who finished Riho after a Doctor Bomb, was Mone’s last opponent, besting her at New Japan Pro-Wrestling STRONG Resurgence back in May of 2023 to capture the vacant NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship. In that match, Mone suffered an ankle injury that she later revealed was feared to be career-threatening for a time. The former Sasha Banks was reportedly set to win the title that night, with her injury forcing the outcome to be changed on the fly.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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